A mother has given homespun hints and tips a 21st Century twist - and created a surprise internet hit.

June Jackson, 58, put together a web site featuring all the pearls of wisdom for which grandmothers were once famous, from how to start up a plot on an allotment to making perfect lump-free gravy.

Now www.hintsandthings.co.uk, a cornucopia of home wisdom run from her house in Pease Pottage, is attracting thousands of web surfers every month.

Mrs Jackson said she has always enjoyed researching information and was inspired to start collecting useful snippets when her daughter phoned to ask what "simmer" meant.

She said: "It's the same thing with knitting patterns - they tell you what various abbreviations mean but not how to carry out the operation.

"I feared that all the hints, tips and pearls of wisdom which used to be passed down from generation to generation were in danger of being lost in today's fast-living society."

Mrs Jackson got hold of a home computer and started work on her compilation of facts.

She said: "I realised there was a tremendous thirst for information and the internet was a great medium. The more I thought about it the more ideas came to mind."

Her son Carl came up with the idea of using a virtual "house" to divide the snippets into themes - ideas for the kitchen, the living room, the garage and so on.

She said: "With fourteen rooms in the house it took a long time and a lot of effort to produce enough content to put on line but eventually I made it in June 2000."

Soon afterwards, the site was picked as Web Site Of The Day by online magazine Emazing.com and Mrs Jackson was inundated with ideas and responses.

She said: "I received 400 emails which all had to be answered over a weekend. Normally, I receive six or seven questions each day."

"Apart from occasional technical help from my son I handle everything, which includes finding and producing content and answering queries.

Until now, the site has only been a hobby paid for out of Mrs Jackson's pocket.

She said: "It has grown beyond my wildest dreams and now gets over 110,000 visitors each month.

"I also produce a free monthly ezine which has over 1,000 subscribers. I have made a concerted effort to keep away from advertising as I dislike banners when surfing the net - but it would be nice to recoup some of my expenses.

"When I retire, and if hints and things is still going strong, I will have more time for promotion and development. Maybe I will be able to get some companies to sponsor some of the pages. Who knows what the future holds?"