What is a Cookie?

A cookie, also known as an HTTP cookie, web cookie, or browser cookie, is usually a small piece of data sent from a website and stored in a user's web browser while a user is browsing a website. When the user browses the same website in the future, the data stored in the cookie can be retrieved by the website to notify the website of the user's previous activity. Cookies were designed to be a reliable mechanism for websites to remember the state of the website or activity the user had taken in the past. This can include clicking particular buttons, logging in, or a record of which pages were visited by the user even months or years ago.

Although cookies cannot carry viruses, and cannot install malware on the host computer, tracking cookies and especially third-party tracking cookies are commonly used as way to compile long-term records of individuals' browsing histories — a major privacy concern that has prompted European and US law makers to take action.

Other kinds of cookies perform essential functions in the modern Web. Perhaps most importantly, authentication cookies are the most common method used by web servers to know whether the user is logged in or not, and which account they are logged in under. Without such a mechanism, the site would not know whether to send a page full of sensitive information, or a message saying "sorry, you need to log in". The security of an authentication cookie generally depends on the security of the issuing website and the user's web browser. If not implemented correctly, a cookie's data can be intercepted by a hacker to gain unapproved access to the user's data and possibly to the originating website.

Cookies on This Website

We use a small number of cookies to enhance your browsing experience:

First party cookies:

• gantry-win-switcher - An essential framework cookie

Third party cookies:

• PHPSESSID - A session cookie linked to our PayPal 'Buy Now' button. This cookie will usually be deleted when your browser is closed
• PREF - A cookie used when displaying video content from YouTube

How we use Cookies

These cookies do not contain any information that personally identifies you. The cookies used are only to improve your browsing experience.

Blocking Cookies

Most modern browsers allow you to block or restrict cookies, these settings can usually be found within the browser 'privacy settings'. As there are too many browser variations to list all instructions here, a great source of tips for a vast array of browsers can be found here: www.aboutcookies.org

Deleting Cookies

Deleting cookies is a very straight forward process, but please make sure that you want to remove cookies before doing so because most browsers only offer an all or nothing deletion process, meaning any stored information that makes web browsing more streamlined could be lost. If you are sure you want to delete cookies stored on your computer, please visit www.aboutcookies.org which has a vast array of instructions on how to do this in various browsers.

Contact Us

If you have any queries about our cookies or this policy, please contact us via email

Close (or press ESC or click the overlay)