the honest bit

What I keep, and why.

Name: Hart Studios
Address: Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, GB

A plain account of what this website holds about you when you write, join the list or buy a painting. No cookies, no advertising, and nothing passed on.

Last updated 3 November 2026

Who I am

The short version: Hart Studios is me, Rachel Hesketh, a painter working in Stoke-on-Trent, trading as a sole trader. This website is mine. If you want to know what I hold about you, or want it gone, email rachhartstudio@gmail.com and I will sort it within a few days.
Who else sees it: The website was built and is looked after by MyDiro Digital. They can see what the site stores in order to keep it running and fix things, and for nothing else. Nothing about you is sold, shared or passed on for marketing.

What I keep, and why

When you write to me: The contact, commission, workshop and "ask about this painting" forms keep your name, your email, what the note is about, anything you fill in (a size, a date, how many of you) and your message, plus which page you were on. I use it to reply to you and for nothing else. Notes are kept in the admin until I have dealt with them; ask and I will delete yours.
The mailing list: If you join, I keep your email address and when and where you joined. You get an email when new paintings go up, usually on a Friday, and nothing else. To leave, reply to any of those emails or write to me, and you are off the list within a day.
When you buy a painting: Your name, email, phone number, the delivery address (or that you are collecting), anything you wrote in the note box, the painting, the price and the invoice. I need these to invoice you, deliver the painting and keep the records the taxman requires, so order records are kept for six years.
Paying: You pay by bank transfer, from your own bank to mine, using the details on the invoice. No card number or bank login ever passes through this website.

Visiting the site

No cookies: The site sets no cookies and shows no advertising. Nothing follows you to other websites.
How visits are counted: The site counts its own visitors so I can see which paintings people look at and whether anyone found me from Instagram or a search. For each visit it records the page, the time, whether you are on a phone or a computer, the website you came from if any, and the country. To tell one visitor from another it uses a scrambled code made from your connection that cannot be turned back into you and that changes every day, so nobody can be followed from one day to the next. Your address itself is never saved.
Where it is stored: Everything above lives in a database in London and is sent to you, and to me, by an email service working on my behalf. The website itself is served by a hosting company that keeps ordinary, short-lived server logs, as every website host does.
Fonts and links: The typefaces on the pages load from Google Fonts, which means Google's servers see your device's address when a page loads, as they do on most of the web. Links to Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Etsy take you to those sites, which have their own privacy rules.

Your side of it

The legal footing: I keep order details because I need them to carry out your order. I reply to notes and count visits because that is the ordinary business of running a studio, which the law calls a legitimate interest. I email the mailing list because you asked me to, and you can withdraw that whenever you like.
Your rights: You can ask what I hold about you, have it corrected, or have it deleted (except the order records I must keep for tax). Email rachhartstudio@gmail.com. If you are unhappy with how I have handled anything, you can complain to the Information Commissioner at ico.org.uk.
Children: The site is not aimed at anyone under 16, and I do not knowingly keep details about them. Workshop bookings for children are made by an adult.
Changes: If the site starts doing something new with your details, this page changes first and the date below moves.

Anything you want to ask about it? Ask Rach.