Just 3 hours flying time from London, or an hour on the fast ferry from the south of Spain, Morocco is the closest place to Europe where as a European you are truly stranger in a strange land!  It looks different, smells different, sounds different.  It truly is different.

In the ancient souks of Marrakesh and Fez you feel as if you are an extra in the 1001 Arabian Nights, as if you have been transported back in time to a time when talented artisans sell the things that they had made themselves, either on their stalls in the markets or if they couldn’t afford a stall then from a blanket on the ground.

In fact it is not far from the truth. In our recent trip to Marrakesh, we discovered a whole warren of workshops in the back streets where artisans were making all nature of handmade goods, from metal lamps to furniture.

We were very impressed with the standard of the work and the fact that the artisans were working for themselves. In for the most part conditions were safe and working times were reasonable, so we decided to add some Moroccan suppliers to our network of fair trade producers.