We work wonders with WOOL

‘My ponchos are the ultimate comfort blanket’

Julie Leonard, 51, is based in Hay-on-Wye, Powys. As a designer of traditional ponchos with a contemporary twist, her business, The Welsh Girl, has grown organically since she left London to move back to the area she grew up in.

✢ THE IDEA

I had been a producer in London, working in the fashion and advertising world. After I got divorced and sold the house, I bought a home in Hay, near where I originally come from. Soon afterwards, I found a 70s cape in a vintage shop, made in Welsh tapestry. It was red, black and white. It took me back because my grandmother had made me a poncho in that exact same cloth when I was a little girl. The cape got me thinking, and I decided I’d go and see what mills were left in Wales. I took myself off for four or five days and by the time I