Dee Dee’s outdoors shop in Shoreditch, London, is named after the shed in her back garden.

“I live by the Lee Valley on the banks of the river Lee,” she explains, “We’ve got a little garden where we built a cabin to work out of. We called it The Brokedown Palace, a name which is from a Grateful Dead song about being by the river.”

When Dee Dee and her “life/business partner” Ian started their store in 2012 – which sells brands like Poler, Patagonia and Fjällräven plus smaller UK products such as Creamore Mill – it was a purely online affair.

Now, due to their success, the palace has a shopfront in Boxpark, a pop-up shopping mall in East London.

Dee Dee grew up in Yorkshire, camping, cycling, kayaking and generally being a badass

Dee Dee used to run a business selling vintage clothes. But she soon realised that she wanted to do something a little more in tune with her passion for the outdoors.

Growing up near the Ikley moors in Yorkshire meant she spent much of her childhood camping, cycling, kayaking and generally being a badass.

She’s just back from hiking in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Spain, and her next trip will be to the Scottish Highlands.

Her number one area to explore, however, is still inside the M25. “My favourite place I’ve been in the world is the Lee Valley,” she grins.

So when your job has so much in common with your hobbies, is keeping things separate difficult?

“It’s really difficult to switch off from work when you’re in your own space, especially when there’s so many crossovers,” Dee Dee admits. “I think I’d like to be more disciplined about it. We don’t sit at home talking about sales figures though.”

Although it can be difficult for her to find the right work/life balance, it’s hard to look at Dee Dee – who always seems cheery – and not want to immediately have a go in the world of outdoor retail.

She talks animatedly about her commitment to ethical products, and how eventually she wants to make sure the store’s stock is 50/50 male to female.

“The brands don’t have as strong an offering for women as they do for men. We’ll order women’s items and then they’ll get cancelled because we’re the only people that order them. So it can be hard, but we’re improving.”

What advice would she give to someone who wanted to start their own shop? “Grow your business slowly and sustainably,” she says. “And if you want to have an ethical business, it definitely has to be at the core of it.”