We wash heaps of bike kit at the Pure Mountains farmhouse and decided to give eco wash balls a whirl instead of using washing detergent. The big question is, do they work?

And the answer seems to be yes. The wash comes out acceptably clean and pong-free. Clothes don't smell of damp wetsuits, but, slightly disappointingly, they don't smell of alpine meadows or Provençal lavender either: the aromas the washing powder manufacturers have conditioned us to associate with lovely, fresh laundry.

The big, perforated plastic balls contain little ceramic marbles and claim to ionize and modify the "molecular structure" of the water, increasing water penetration and so cleaning the clothes. Hmm.

The other big question is, of course, would the clothes come out just as clean using plain water and no eco wash balls? Who knows?

What do you think?