What started as a teenager’s school project at the kitchen table is now a thriving family business, selling products across the country.
Tasked with coming up with a viable business idea for homework in 2017, Noah Carlile-Swift began making candles with his mum Tara.
Noah was struggling at school so Tara wanted to ‘give him a purpose to use his incredible skills’ and teach him how a business works as she sensed his entrepreneurial instinct.
Tara Carlile-Swift of Freckleface Home Fragrance, outside the workshop in Pode Hole near Spalding
With the homemade products going down a treat with family and friends, it wasn’t long before the mum and son saw the potential for a proper business. Freckleface was born.
Tara, who has a background in brand design, said: “When we went to our first Christmas fair we sold out and made £600 profit.
“We knew we were on to something brilliant.”
Freckleface candles being made at the workshop in Dozen’s Bank, Pode Hole
The scents back then included firm favourites today such as orange, lime and basil and clean laundry.
While juggling the new business with fostering a baby and raising a teenage son, Tara would spend hours on the road visiting trade fairs.
But it wasn’t until 2020 she decided it was time to take the business more seriously and in August that year, the flagship shop in Stamford was opened.
The pandemic could have derailed production but instead sales were boosted by people spending more time at home.
Tara Carlile-Swift of Freckleface Home Fragrance
Tara, 50, said: “From really early on we knew it was a success.
“We got the most incredible feedback from customers, who have been so loyal and supportive of a small business.
“The Stamford store still warms my heart – it’s our favourite.
“The support from other businesses is also what helps the business to grow and gives you confidence.”
A candle at Freckleface before it is sent off to the store
With the Stamford store thriving, the Freckleface team has continued to expand with two stores in York, including in the iconic street The Shambles, and shops in Cambridge and Lincoln – all of which have been profitable within the first six months.
“The shops are just a tiny fraction of what we do but they are the most fun thing as you have that connection with the customer,” said Tara.
The biggest part of the business today is the 850 shops and department stores which stock the Freckleface brand including many across Lincolnshire.
Noah and Tara Carlile-Swift
To keep up with demand, in the past year the workshop team has created 1,000 candles and more than 7,000 wax melts – the most popular product.
Freckleface has also collaborated with big names including Laura Ashley and The Royal Horticultural Society, and early this year (2025) will be releasing a collection with the Historic Royal Palaces.
“The inspiration for the fragrances is from a massive 600 year history,” said Tara, who now employs a workforce of 65 people.
Simon and Tara Carlile-Swift at their new shop – Freckleface Home Fragrance which opened on Monday 12th. Picture: Keith Heppell.
“The Royal Horticultural Society was developed so quickly and easily, as was Laura Ashley but where do you start with the kings and queens?
“The fragrances reflect the brand as a whole – they are luxury and make you feel regal.”
She added: “How we have gone from the kitchen table to working for the Historic Royal Palaces in four years is mindblowing.”
Freckleface Home Fragrance in Stamford
Already renowned for wax melts and candles, Tara hopes to develop the wellbeing side of the business further by expanding its range of diffusers, roller balls and essential oils.
Taking the business international is another goal on the list for next year.
Inside the Freckleface workshop, which moved from Bourne to Dozen’s Bank in Pode Hole near Spalding, the manufacturing process remains the same as when the mum and son first created the products from their kitchen.
Tara and Noah Carlile-Swift of Freckleface
Tara comes up with the scents, which can vary in time as a process, and works with a fragrance house, which is kept top secret, to concoct them.
What started as a handful of scents has become a range of more than 40 fragrances with everything from coconut and sea salt, floral oud and orange blossom to cranberry marmalade, cinnamon latte and spiced nutmeg.
Although there is a fragrance for everyone, the mission to come up with new scents doesn’t stop.
L-R George Farrar, Tara Carlile-Swift, Noah Carlile-Swift.
“I base everything around nature and the world,” Tara said.
“The scents are based on core memories, somewhere I’ve been and feelings or experiences,
“Wonderfully, travelling has become a necessity.”
Clean laundry, still one of the most popular scents, was inspired by visits to Tara’s mum’s house when Noah was a baby, when she would be briefly relieved of her parenting duties and able to curl up under freshly washed sheets in bed. While lemon and pine was created to mask odours from the family’s dog.
Freckleface has previously won a Mercury Business Award
The fragrance is combined with melted soya wax and poured into moulds or candle jars before being packaged up and shipped to stores and stockists across the country.
Sustainability has always been key so products are vegan, ingredients are ethical, and the business is plastic-free where possible.
Tara said: “I think our success is down to deciding what brand we wanted to be early on and sticking to our morals.
“We will always be family, staff and environment first rather than chasing profit margins and following trends.
“We do what feels true to us.”
Noah, now 21, has taken on the retail side of the business and oversees a team of 30 members of staff, working alongside mum Tara and dad Simon, who joined the business a few years ago.
In 2022 the young entrepreneur opened Freckleface Coffee Co in Stamford, just a few doors down from the shop, as part of a long-term plan to combine cafes and fragrance stores.
Everyday is a lesson as one day he will take over Tara’s role as managing director.
“We get a lot of feedback which I get defensive about saying as we grow it won’t be the same,” said Tara.
“We make everything the same as it was on the kitchen table.
“Our ethos remains the same – we are a family business at heart and always will be.”