MUD, mud, glorious mud could put a Kent village on the global map.

Kingswood, near Maidstone, is the unlikely hub of a business that has been going more than 30 years but is only now cranking up its operation to take on the world.

Moor at Home, a company founded by Bill Unruh in the 1970s to promote the health-giving claims of 20,000-year old European mud, has just moved from Sussex to Kingswood.

Bill's son Peter has teamed up with partner Carol Harvey, who comes from Walderslade, to boost sales of a wide range of products that are claimed to promote "health, rejuvenation and beauty".

The "Healing" or Lowland Moors of Austria, Hungary, Germany and elsewhere provide the raw materials that British factories turn into products for Moor at Home.

They are distributed from a centre in Swaffham, Norfolk, and the whole operation is controlled in Kent.

The firm's new strategy is to promote sales through party plans and exports to Australia, the United States and even Germany. That, says Mr Unruh, is like selling coals to Newcastle.

Europeans have long taken spa treatments as routine, but not so in Britain. He believes this is beginning to change.

The beneficial use of mud to help skincare and other conditions such as insomnia, muscle aches and pains, has long been known. Mud-based products have a sizeable global market and Peter and Carol believe they can tap into this solid growth.

Mr Unruh said: "We're talking about the roots of a company that has its foundation in Kent and is going worldwide. It's got to go onto a new level. It will be huge. This will be a multi-million pound company.

"I wouldn't have invested half a million pounds into this company if I didn't think my return would be a hundredfold."

He says that there is no equivalent mud - or peat - in Britain or Ireland. From an environmental point of view, he says the moors are not over-harvested and extraction is suspended from time to time to allow regeneration.

Carol has a background in beauty treatments and helps party plan organisers - or consultants - get their first ones off the ground, preparing demonstration masks on volunteers.

She says organic properties in the mud - it is claimed that there are more than 300 - go through the layers of the skin and get blood circulating.

"It gets to the rubbish under the skin," she says. That is particularly good for acne sufferers, she adds.

A television documentary about Moor at Home has been shown on the Travel Shop channel, with Carol taking a leading part. Much of it was filmed at their new home in Kingswood. She said: "I have always loved this area and would love to get it buzzing."

Consultants are being sought across the county, with the promise of 30 per cent commission on all products sold. "Set-up costs are mimimal," said Mr Unruh. "They can recoup them after two parties."

* Would-be consultants should contact Carol Harvey on 01622 844944 or 07974 374969.