About Us

Country Innovation was established in 1996 by Maria Chilvers. Her career had been running a buying office for outdoor products and she saw a gap in the market for specialist clothing for the bird/wildlife enthusiast. Plunging into the unknown, she gave up her well paid job, company car and company pension scheme and developed the Rover jacket made from Ventile®, a 100% cotton fabric developed during the war to keep RAF pilots alive if they had to ditch into the sea. So successful was it that it still remains Country Innovation's best selling garment to this day. The company initially supplied products via mail order, and the product range soon grew from one jacket to a whole range of jackets, fleeces, boots, bags and accessories.

The famous TV celebrity, Bill Oddie has been a fan of Country Innovation products right from the start and is instrumental in the design of many of the specific birding garments. He can regularly be seen on television sporting many of the Country Innovation jackets. Nick Baker of the The Really Wild Show also wears Country Innovation jackets when he is 'out in the field'. Kate Humble from Springwatch also wears the Lady Falcon Jacket.

As well as having a mail order business, Country Innovation now attend many shows and events and also supply the shops on selected RSPB and WWT reserves. October 2003 saw the opening of the Country Innovation shop in Broad Street, Congresbury, North Somerset. The shop offers a full range of products for all the family and is certainly worth a visit. You will always receive a warm and friendly welcome from the Country Innovation team. Our trained staff are always available to assist with fitting advice and even if we haven't got exactly what you are looking for we will always go that little bit further and see if we can get it.  We stock the full Country Innovation range and have complimented this with a great range of Brasher Boots, Tilley Hats and Healthy Back Bags.