This morning, as I came downstairs, there was an overwhelming aroma of Mulberry filling my kitchen and living room.
 Now, I love that scent but on this occasion, it distressed me because I knew that it meant that my husband had forgotten to blow the candle out before he came to bed last night.
 Sure enough, I went into the kitchen and there on a shelf, I reached up and saw that my Mulberry candle was burning away.
Fortunately, I was burning one of our own quality candles.
 It has a handle on the jar that does not heat up otherwise that jar would have been burning hot and too hot to handle.
 It's the second time this week that my husband has lit a candle and forgotten to blow it out before coming to bed.
 Both times I've been grateful that we only burn our own candles, which really should go out by themselves at the end of their long burning life.
 They really are relatively safe but obviously, you can never be too careful with candles.
My uncle is a fire officer and I remember him once telling me that a very common cause of house fires are from candles, especially cheap tea-lights that have been lit and placed on top of television sets.
 Because of the poor quality, they have melted through the television cover and caused a house fire.
 I remember sinking low in my chair, mainly with embarrassment (but also with relief) as I had done this with tea-lights many times.
 I did not realise how poor quality could be reflected in the price.
 To me, a candle was a candle, and therefore the cheaper the better.
 Now that I run a candle business, I am more aware of the benefits of quality candles.
I lived in the States and Canada for a total of four years.
 It was in North America that I first discovered scented candles (apart from vanilla, which I believe was one of the only scents you could get in England at the time).
 My mum came over to visit me and was in her element when she smelled the different scents.
 She bought quite a variety of candles but I'll always remember her comments from the 'cheap' ones (the ones that we thought were SUCH a bargain).
 She was so disappointed that although the scent seemed great, that it didn't remain once the candle was lit.
 Also, they burned so quickly and would not light any more even though a lot of wax was left.
With candles, you do get what you pay for.
 They may look pretty and even smell nice, but quality candles will burn evenly, using most of the wax and retaining their scent for the life of the candle.
 Remember that quality candles will tell you how long they burn for and this will give you a good indication of their true value for money.
All candles should be looked after to achieve the most from them.
 Remember on the first burn, that the candle should be left alight one hour for each inch that the candle is wide, to allow the wax to melt all the way to the sides.
 This will harden the wax and cause the candle to burn more evenly.
 Also, always trim the wick to a quarter inch before burning.
 If there's a lot of smoke or if your wick mushrooms, blow the candle out and trim the wick a bit more.
 You can always get more from your candles by looking after them but really the benefits of buying better quality will be reflected in their safety, their long lasting scent, and their good even burning.