Now that you have shorn or purchased your fibre, please ensure you have sorted it thoroughly to remove the bellies, dags, any matted parts, stock marker or raddle marks and as much vegetation matter as possible. If you are unsure about the sorting please don’t hesitate to contact us for advice.
If you wish to deliver your fibre personally to the mill, this is fine, but you must contact us in advance to arrange a time to drop it off.
If you plan to send in your fibre, then while you can pack your fibre however you like to send it to us, we have made a quick guide below as to the most cost effective way to send it.
STEP 1
Purchase some cheap household vacuum pack bags, very approximately a 60x40cm bag will hold 2kg of raw wool (about a typical fleece) or larger bags available will hold around 3-4kgs each. We will return your vacuum bags with your finished product for reuse.
Then find a suitably sized cardboard box ideally under 60x45x45cm (24x18x18 inches) which depending on the amount of fibre you have to send in you might need more than one box.
STEP 2
Put appropriate amounts of your sorted raw fleece inside each bag before sealing it up and vacuuming the bag down. A good tip is to mould the bag to the right shape of your cardboard box as it compresses as can be seen in the picture below where a similar amount of raw fibre has been vacuumed flat and into a cube.
For those who are worried about damaging their fibre as it is compressed, don’t! It will not hurt the fibre for the short time it is packed and in transit, we have been vacuum packing raw fibre for over 15 years without a problem.
STEP 3
Put your vacuum packed fibre into your cardboard box, which depending on your moulding it can be placed flat, or folded. If it really doesn’t fit, but should, then allow the air back into the bag and re-vacuum it into a different shape.
STEP 4
The most important step – print off and fill in one of our processing forms from the ‘Processing order forms’ page in the menu or write on a bit of paper your contact details and put it inside the box so we know the fibre belongs to you. We receive many deliveries of raw fleece each week and it is vital that we know who the fleece belongs to and how to contact you.
STEP 5
Securely tape up your box(es) and get them ready to post, to our address at: Rampisham Hill Farm & Mill, Hooke, Beaminster, Dorset, DT8 3PE.
We advise using ROYAL MAIL STANDARD 48hr PARCEL SERVICE. This is a tracked service so please don’t go to the expense of buying a signed delivery or a special delivery. The 48hr standard service is very reasonably priced, and have price breaks at 2kgs, 10kgs and up to a maximum of 20kgs. Royal Mail will accept boxes of up to 61x45x45cm (24x18x18 inches) under a ‘medium parcel’ size, which for most breeds this can be 10-15kgs of raw fibre in one box.. If you book the parcel for collection via the Royal Mail website (no account needed) then they will collect it from your home or work address, so you don’t even need to visit a post office.
If you have more than three boxes then sometimes couriers such as DPD or Parcel Force can be cheaper, and there are various online parcel delivery websites that can give you quotes to compare if you desire, but if you are unsure please just contact us first.
STEP 6
Please let us know you have sent your fibre in to us so we can expect the box(es) and let you know when it has arrived.