Sophie Cornish is co-founder of the award-winning online marketplace notonthehighstreet.com. This week Sophie and her business partner Holly Tucker will be celebrating five years of online success for 1,800 of the UK’s most original small businesses. From garden to gourmet, lingerie to linen, bracelets to handbags, cushions to clothes, scarves to stationery, notonthehighstreet.com has a fantastic range of beautifully made, unique products, many of which can be customised.

Sophie and Holly’s passion behind their company is simple. They want to inspire shoppers looking for style, originality and quality, but who never seem to find it on the high street. The company’s broad and beautiful range is available online and through its regularly published catalogues.

2011 is an exciting time for the ambitious duo and their website with the release of a new wedding department, in-house partner awards and further expansion. Happy birthday to notonthehighstreet.com.

SOPHIE'S FAVOURITE SITES

The Sartorialist - I've always been much more inspired by the people who wear the clothes than by fashion itself, and this now-famous blog is the perfect vehicle by which to check out the coolest looking people on the planet. Just stunning.

Light Locations - A photographic locations website that I use more for interiors inspiration and sheer joy than I do for work! All the houses are beautifully light and pure, and there are lots of them to pore over, with new houses coming on all the time. If you're working on your house, and white is your thing (or even if it isn't) this site really shows you how it's done.

Safari and Beach - My husband, Simon, and I are always planning the next trip, and safari has been a long held dream. We’ve planned to take our children for years (first they're too young, then too old!), and this is our regular inspiration. Rich with reliable information and ideas, the people at Safari and Beach really know Africa and how to get the very best from it.

Because I am a Girl This is a special project from the charity, Plan, dedicated to lifting women out of poverty. With all the opportunity women are given in the West, it's easy to think that the problems of sex discrimination are all-but-over. I would urge every woman who has ever taken a moment to count her blessings to take a look at this site and see how you can help.

BBC News - A great resource, of course, but the main reason I use this site so much is because I'm slightly obsessive about correct punctuation, grammar and English usage. When in doubt, rightly or wrongly, I take the view that what's good enough for the Beeb is good enough for me. I wish I could say the same about the rest of the media, where standards are often so appalling it makes me weep. Told you I was obsessed... and that still doesn't mean I always get it right, by any means!

Martha Stewart - I have a bit of a thing about Martha. Her tycoon approach to creativity and domesticity was one of the inspirations for notonthehighstreet.com and I still look on the site regularly. I even like the way she makes me feel slightly inadequate and that I really must try harder. I'm just a little bit baffled as to why she never looks any older.

5 April 2011