12 great affordable Christmas gifts for farming families
© Pasko Maksim/Adobe Stock It’s not always simple, picking the perfect pressie for your nearest and dearest – especially at a time when we’re all mindful of money.
So in a bid to provide a little inspiration, we’ve come up with a selection of gifts to suit family and friends.
Hopefully they’ll take a little bit of the stress out of shopping and help ensure you put a smile on your loved ones’ faces this Christmas.
See also: Christmas on the farm photo gallery 2021
Make it personal
© Letterfest
Letterfest, a Devon-based company that creates handmade personalised gifts, offers these pots, which you can personalise with your what3words location.
What3words is a concept familiar to many – it’s a service that claims to make life “safer, more efficient and less frustrating” by allocating every spot a unique reference.
The world has been divided into 3m squares, with each one then given a unique combination of three words.
It can be popular with farmers because farmhouses – and specific spots on a farm – are not easy to find from a road name or postcard.
Price: £42 (32x13cm)
Cracking idea
© The Laser Boutique
Boiled eggs become wheels, keeping your child’s imagination turning with this personalised tractor egg board from The Laser Boutique.
Launched in 2014 by Philip and Abbey Tarnawskyj, the business has just relocated to a smallholding in Shropshire, with a farmhouse dating back to 1790 and a 1983 Massey tractor.
“We are so proud of what we have achieved and even more excited that we are still family-run.
“We work hard to balance our business and life around our three children,” says Philip.
Price: £17.99
Festive tipple
© Wildfox Distillery
The Holly & The Ivy is a great treat for gin fans.
It’s made by Lancashire-based Wild Fox Gin Distillery, which adds freshly picked damsons, Aga-dried clementine wheels and a blend of Christmas spices to its base-recipe gin.
“The aroma instantly transports you to the festive season, with hints of star anise and cinnamon,” says Lizzie Butler-Billington, who started the business on the family dairy farm in 2019.
“On the pallet, it gives a spiced, jammy flavour, which pairs beautifully with hot water and honey for our Lancashire take on the ‘hot toddy’.
“Or you could, of course, simply pair with it ice and a splash of Indian tonic water to create a festive G&T.”
“It was an attempt to put my product development passion and background to good use and create a product that represented the farm’s heritage without compromising its natural beauty,” she says.
Price: £42 (70cl bottle)
Moo selfie
© Lucy’s Farm
Cows are a popular subject for Dorset-based artist Lucy Tidbury.
Drawing her inspiration from “the stunning scenery” around her, she opened her studio in Swanage in 2017.
One of the popular pictures is “Moo Selfie at Gold Hill” (the hill immortalised in the Hovis TV advert) in Shaftesbury, with a curious Hereford cow peering in.
Tthe design is also available on tea towels, mugs and placemat/coaster sets.
“When I’m not painting, I’m usually walking around the Purbeck Hills with Ned, my sprocker spaniel,” says Lucy.
Price: £49.50 (A3 print with a natural oak frame)
Landy lovers
© Coach House Outfitters
A perfect present for Land Rover enthusiasts and puzzlers of all ages, this 1,000-piece jigsaw offers a great challenge for when the weather puts a halt to work.
With a finished size of 490x685mm, it’s part of the Through the Ages collection, celebrating transport classics from the past.
Price: £14.99
Christmas charcuterie
© Trealy Farm Charcuterie
Made from British free-range minced shoulder pork, this fennel salami is produced by Monmouthshire-based Trealy Farm Charcuterie.
Delicious alongside other salamis on a charcuterie board and popular as a pizza topping, it’s one of the firm’s bestsellers.
Fennel is known to aid digestion and is often used in Italian charcuterie, imparting a subtle aniseed flavour, according to the Trealy team, who aim to “use the finest British meats to forge new traditions, both borrowed from our European neighbours and building on those buried deep in British culinary history”.
Price: £22.50 (475g)
Welsh cuppa
© Peterston Tea
Tea lovers looking for a unique brew with a taste of Wales might like this product made in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Lucy George began growing Camellia sinensis on the family farm in 2014 and, what started as a mini project to see what was possible, soon became thousands of plants.
“Growing tea here is not exactly straightforward. But with much patience, learning and nurturing, we are successfully producing very special, completely unique teas.”
The new season 2022 offering, described as “light-bodied, very smooth with flavours of mixed fruit, hints of honey and the odd touch of hazelnut”, is available at £16 for 12g.
The gift that keeps on giving
Your week wouldn’t be quite the same without your favourite farming read landing on your doormat.
So if you know someone who enjoys up-to-the-minute news, views and farming advice, a Farmers Weekly gift subscription is the ideal choice.
Available as a six- or 12-month deal, it comes with unlimited access to the FWi website, along with the weekly digital edition – which can be read on a laptop, tablet or smartphone on the go.
Sign up for a subscription today to ensure it starts on the first issue of the new year, and take advantage of our exclusive festive 20% discount on the cover price, using the code XMASFW.
Clarkson capers
© Michael Joseph
There are more pearls of wisdom from one of the nation’s most well-known and best-loved farmers, Jeremy Clarkson, in Diddly Squat: ’Til the Cows Come Home.
The NFU said this former winner of the Farmers Weekly Farming Champion Award “has showcased the passion, humour and personalities of the people who work to grow the nation’s food… and brought an understanding of many of the issues faced by farmers to the British public”.
That said, the man himself admitted: “I don’t know anything about farming. It’s like David Attenborough doing jet-skiing, or Nicholas Witchell saying: “I’m going to be a cage fighter.”
Price: Starting at £9.49 in hardback from Michael Joseph (Penguin)
Kaleb’s world
© Quercus
Kaleb Cooper, who shot to fame in the TV show Clarkson’s Farm, shares his thoughts on topics as varied as philosophy, celebrities and why farming is the best job in the world in his great new book, The World According to Kaleb.
It’s full of deadpan gags and unique observations from the farming contractor from Oxfordshire, who plays a key role in all eight episodes of the hit Amazon Prime Video series.
Kaleb studied agriculture at Moreton Morrell and has worked in farming since he was at school.
He has strong views on lots of things, including goats (“they’re a proper good clear-up animal, they eat everything – no wonder they taste horrible”) and New York (“if it’s like London, where there are no tractors, that’s no good”).
And on YFC, he has this to say: “Young farmers go hard, or go home. Strictly speaking we do both, one after the other. Although the second one is optional, and often not accomplished on the same night.”
Price: From £8.49 (the illustrated edition available in hardback from Quercus)
Cosy creations
© The Wild Shepherdess
Lincolnshire-based Harriet Foster-Thornton, a first-generation sheep farmer, makes these luxurious British sheepskin rugs.
A big believer in utilising as much of an animal as possible, she uses skins from her own flock, along with ones from local farmers and abattoirs.
Harriet cures and prepares the skins before sending them to a UK tannery – the end result is a hand-prepared product that can decorate a room, add comfort to a bench, be thrown over a sofa or chair for style, or put beside a bed for a lovely feeling underfoot.
“They’re always a firm favourite with pets and children, too!” says Harriet.
Sizes vary, but the Natural Coloured British Sheepskin – 6L, which is 34x26in at its longest and widest points is priced at £75.
Bloomin’ marvellous
© Great British Florist
The Keeper’s Cottage Dried Flower Wreath from The Great British Florist features a mixture of dried flowers and foliage in deep reds, pale blues and natural tones.
It can be hung outside, but ideally in a sheltered spot such as a porch. If kept dry, it can last for months.
Price: £50 (40cm diameter)