Walking into Gillian's - the South Shore Road, Devonshire beauty salon - one day last week found two women sitting in deep cushioned, plush antique armchairs sipping green tea and eating biscuits while they waited for their pedicures to set.

One of the women looked to the other and exclaimed about the diamonds decorating her newly polished toes, and said she was going to make sure she got those the next time she came in for a treatment.

The women chatted on and seemed contented enough to never want to move. Owner Gillian Edwards smiled and said: "They've been here for three hours. That is not unusual, we like it when clients feel at home and want to stay."

Of course, there isn't much that Gillian Edwards has not thought of in setting up an environment designed to make her clients feel completely at home. The salon - which is more like a spa with its offering of facials, body massages, reflexology and a host of other beauty treatments - is decorated in muted greens and beiges and filled with antique furniture. Wall murals were painted by Mrs. Edwards herself and there is comforting music playing through the rooms.

She laughs when the subject of music comes up: "One time a client said we should play a certain CD... well, the next time she came in for a treatment we had it on. I do try and do everything I can for clients."

That starts from the moment you walk in the door at Gillian's with the offering of a glass of white wine, tea (green or Darjeeling) or coffee - and with a splash of Tia Maria if you like.

In the treatment rooms, the massage beds adjust to a client's particular needs.

For example, Mrs. Edwards said, those with back problems may need a little more support in certain areas.

The beds can also be moved down to a more accessible level for those who are not as agile.

If that is not enough, a towel warmer and heating pads make it an altogether toasty experience - or not. Mrs. Edwards said the client is boss and she makes a mental note of what clients want, so that every time they come in, treatment is to their specifications.

Tucked away at the side of the Bermuda Florist building, and little more than a stone's throw to the east of the Botanical Gardens, Gillian's appears to be an oasis of calm. But did you even know it was there?

Mrs. Edwards said that her clientele is predominately made up of people who have been coming to her "for years" and that her business has grown by "word of mouth" alone.

Mrs. Edwards, who originally hails from England but has been in Bermuda for 20 years, opened the salon that carries her name, in April, 2002.

She had taken over the space a month earlier and did the renovations - from putting the floors and sinks in, painting, to figuring out the electrical breaker box, to installing glass shelving - herself.

Most of the work, she said, was done late into the night - after her son and daughter were tucked up in bed. Mrs. Edwards explained that she is lucky enough to live "just up the road" and to have had the full support of her husband, John Edwards.

"I have been working for 21 years and having my own business is a dream come true. I knew exactly how I wanted it (Gillian's) to be, but I still kept pinching myself."

Running her own salon is a far cry from where she was when she came out to Bermuda as a 19 year old. Mrs. Edwards had only been working in the UK for a year - at a salon in Harrogate where she started "at the bottom" making ?30 a week - when she was offered a position on the Island at Eden Hair and Beauty Salon.

Looking back Mrs. Edwards said she had no idea where Bermuda was, and had initially asked if it "was near London". But once she made up her mind that this was what she should do, she never looked back.

With the exception of a brief stint in Australia, where Mrs. Edwards did additional training, Bermuda has been home since she came to the Island. Love had a lot to do with that, with Mrs. Edwards meeting her husband - the proprietor of well-known Hamilton shop Otto Wurz - six weeks before she departed for Australia. "I was 23 then, and spent eight months in Australia. But love brought me back," she said, with the two marrying three years later. Last year, Mrs. Edwards was granted Bermudian status.

Life has taken her away from home, but even at 19, she said "my parents knew not to try and talk me out of it," adding "once I had made up my mind to do something, there would be no stopping me."

Mrs. Edwards had proven her stick-with-it-attitude by plugging away at school, even when it did not come easy to her - you see Mrs. Edwards is, as she describes it, "quite severely dyslexic".

She said school was a struggle but it got a bit better when she was diagnosed as dyslexic at 16 years old, as she was then allowed some extra time, especially in examinations.

Knowing that she wanted to go to beauty therapy school, Mrs. Edwards went on to sit, and achieve, her A/O-level in human biology.

"I knew I needed that to get in," she said, adding that she was able to get a place at a school in Birmingham where she boarded at the YWCA. Having a learning disability has not been easy, indeed Mrs. Edwards said reading and writing is still a struggle for her, but she pointed out that, at the same time, it has not stopped her from achieving her dreams. "My writing still looks like that of a seven year old. But it is not something to be ashamed about. I have tried to prove that I can get ahead, and never use it as an excuse. I hate failure and I have been determined to achieve."

It is a lesson, she said, that she tries to convey to her two children - daughter Haley, 9, and son, John, 7 - by letting them know that they can achieve whatever they set their mind to do. It is something they have no doubt picked up by Mrs. Edward's example as well as her words of encouragement.

From working at Eden, and later at Strand's, Mrs. Edwards seven years ago moved to offering beauty treatments to clients from her home. The seed money to set up her own beauty salon was savings that she had been putting away to buy a property in England.

With additional funds from her husband, that she "paid back along the way" - and no borrowing from the bank - Mrs. Edwards was in business. She started out small but is now up to three treatment rooms and a staff including two other full-time therapists, a part-time therapist and a receptionist.

The full-time therapists at Gillian's, Tina Lawson and Natalie Simmons, are both originally from the UK while Bermudian Clare Lindo fills in on evenings and weekends. Gillian's receptionist is Anna Benevides, a long-time client of Mrs. Edwards, who now "makes sure things run smoothly and hosts the clients".

"Everyone has a different speciality," Mrs. Edwards said. She said clients have called her "the master of facials" while Ms Simmons specialises in stone massages and was the recipient of the Bermudian Gold Award this year as the best manicurist.

Ms Lawson is known for her acrylic nail treatments and aromatherapy, while Ms Lindo has trained in Reiki.

Gearing up for a busy Christmas season, Mrs. Edwards said gift certificates - for men and women - were selling like hot cakes as well as some speciality items that have been imported including fragrant candles and aromatic teas.

"The clients like the candles and teas we have in the salon, so I brought them in to sell them as well."

She may be rushed off her feet as a mother and entrepreneur, but Mrs. Edwards is smiling: "This is my third child. Every client is different and there is never a dull moment."