Hotpod News from 2008
Keep up to date with the news and press on Hotpod.
Click on the month to find out more:
The Hotpod continues to evolve.
At the moment Dan is spending all his time making the limited edition Hotpod’s. Hopefully, the new cast Unlimited Hotpod, made from recycled iron in Dudley, Birmingham (still hand finished here in Cornwall) will allow him to have a little more time to do what he does best - creating and innovating (watch this space!)
The Hotpod Team
We've grown.
As you may know from the BBC2 programme "pay off your mortgage in 2 years", we are not naturally business-minded people,
so we were really pleased when Rene Carayol introduced us to his business partner,
David Wilkinson, and they both joined us as partners in the Hotpod business.
David has been helping us take the Hotpod to the next stage - with the launch of the Hotpod Unlimited.
Our friend Phoebe has also joined the team to help with some of the admin and marketing.
Partners
We are continuing to work with a great creative company called Seed, who are based
here in Cornwall. Among other work we are doing with Seed, they are re-vamping
our website (coming soon!).
We all have (surf) 'board' meetings in the sea - although we're still trying to convince David and Rene to don wetsuits and join in the fun!
Rene Carayol : www.carayol.com
Seed : www.seedbrand.co.uk
When we're not making Hotpods...we go surfing
and then..
No it is not make-up! Lucy managed to break her nose and fracture her face out surfing at Godrevy a few months ago. She was towed in from the sea by a local surfer, carried up the beach by another and then taken off to Truro hospital in an ambulance! She has not made it back in the water yet, as she isnt allowed to get any water up her nose "I was not even allowed to blow my nose because the pressure could be too much. Now that my nose has been re-set I am waiting for some clean, quiet surf to try again."
Yoga
Fortunately, Lucy has still been able to practice Yoga and still teach her Yoga holidays
(off to Turkey next month, wanna come?!) which have been great fun. she is very much looking
forward to going to the Island Hotel on Tresco (Scilly Isles) in October and then
the Red Sea in November.
Hotpod PR
We are really pleased to be working with Charl at Monsta PR, who, in only a month or two has got us into some great publications including:
Volksworld Camper and Bus Magazine
Inside Cornwall Magazine and
The Telegraph
Charl has also lined us up for several more articles over the coming months - watch this space!
We are also really proud to have been awarded the 'Hot Product Award' for October from the Hot Brands Cool Places website.
Monsta
http://www.monsta.biz
We're now beginning to feel the first chills of Autumn, and are starting to light our Hotpod in the evenings out of necessity rather than pure aesthetics and lucy has occasionally used it to cook supper.
Once again, we've been busy here at Hotpod, with testing the Limited Edition Hotpod, gearing up for the launch of the new Hotpod Unlimited, and judging the 'Hotpods in their Homes' photo competition took some time to decide! See below for the great pictures and results.
What's new at Hotpod HQ?
The Hotpod now complies with the EN13240...which, to non-stove-geeks, (!) means it complies to the European Standard for Freestanding Multifuel Stoves. In September, stove design guru, Glyn Hughes from the Solid Fuel Technology Institute, visited the forge here in Cornwall to help Dan test the Hotpod.
They tested the new Hotpod liner and baffle, and were stoked with the results - although we always knew the Hotpod was good!
The weekend inspired Dan to invest in testing equipment so he can continue to evolve the Hotpod's design and performance.
The next step to get full CE certification is to have the results independently verified by a test lab . . . Europe here we come! To show our appreciation to Glyn, we introduced the Lancashire lad to as many different Cornish ales as we could lay our hands on! It was an all round good weekend! Huge thanks to both Glyn and Vicky, and their two dogs, who camped in the rain for the weekend to make this possible
Hotpod Owners
Finally! We have the results of our Hotpods In Their Homes competition! Firstly, a huge thank you to all of you who sent in photos of your Hotpod. We couldn't make up our minds on which was the best, so have had to choose 2 winners, which I'm sure you'll agree are both just stunning. Both Paul Blair (and family!) and Nicola Smith will receive a Saw Tooth Pasty O'Clock as a thank you for their contribution.
As the other photographs you sent in are also lovely, we will post them on our 'members site' to share. We are always keen to hear how the Hotpods are settling in, so those of you who have not sent us a photo yet please feel free to! Also, any stories of how you're getting on with your Hotpod would be gratefully received.
Gorhemynadow a'n Seson dhyworth Hotpod
Or
Seasons greetings from all at Hotpod
What's new at Hotpod HQ
Dan is now a "competent person". He passed the Hetas training course with distinction. Dan had a few days in Exeter Camping in our VW. He took the Hetas " competent persons" training course to gain a better understanding of stove fitting and regulations, and having passed (with distinction) is now back at Hotpod HQ getting the last few Hotpods out before Christmas.
You are now required to make sure that your stove is fitted by a competent person. Hetas offer such training but there are other bodies offering similar training. see: http://www.soliftec.com
Phoebe has disappeared off around the world with Angelo, leaving Dan and Lucy Home alone without an organizer !! Please leave a message and she will get back to us as soon as she can. Phoebe is on the other side of the world with Angelo, spending Christmas in New Zealand with our good freinds Jules and Deano. Leaving us to fend for ourselves, keeping the newsletter going (which is why it is a little late) keeping our data base up to date, replying to emails etc etc.
Grandad had a brainwave last week and finally we have a prototype of the Hotrod shovel and it is 100% Volkswagen.
Lucy Loves Christmas...
.. and all that goes with it; "I enjoy spending time with my family in front of our hotpod. Watching old movies, eating roast chestnuts (just prick them and stick them on top of the hotpod until you can smell hot chestnuts. easy. ) and drinking mulled wine or spiced ale (kept warm on our hotpod of course). I also really enjoy the excuse to be creative, decorations are quite expensive but I remembered how much fun I used to have making paper chains at school and salt dough hanging decorations made from pastry that is easy to mould baked, painted and varnished. Every year the boys make me a decoration, each one brings back a different memory of past Christmases.
