The woods family name has been synonumous with Fine Linens since the 18th century. Can you tell us how it all began.

In 1733, my ancestor, William Woods, was a Mercer in Laugharne, South Wales, importing all manner of exotic textile and linen products directly from Europe. That trade was then passed down to Thomas Woods, it was then Thomas’ son George Woods who owned and ran the Castle Mill, Knaresborough flax mill in the early 19th Century, famous for weaving fine linens and contributing to the area’s famous association with superior textile production.

Woods and Pratesi have a long-standing and cherished relationship, when did you first start carrying Pratesi and what lead to the partnership?

Our journey with Pratesi started over 80 years ago, we always sought out the finest linens available and Pratesi was an intriguing company with peerless embroidery skills from their artisan workshops and they defined a romanticism in their bed linen in extraordinary ways. Pratesi is a love story, I suppose we too, fell in love. Even then it had been an historically important company born from a passion in Remigio Pratesi. Something I was very much drawn to.

With so much history between our brands, do you have an interesting Pratesi anecdote to share with us?

No real anecdotes but memories of Pratesi's agent in the 1980’s, Morandi and Harris who were exclusive Italian textile agents based in London and way back then it was only Roy Cox (the famous linen buyer at Harrods), The White House in Bond Street and Woods of Harrogate who were Pratesi's stockists in the UK. Despite the demise of so many famous linen shops it is indeed an honor to have survived all these years and still have our name associated with the iconic Pratesi brand.