Find the perfect farm-themed Christmas gift

With the festive season kicking off across the country, it is time to gather gifts and stocking treats for your loved ones. Hayley Parrott ventures beyond the high street to bring you some fabulous country- and farm-themed items for under the tree.

 

 

 

Herd about these mugs?

What about a festive flock for your loved ones? These lovely pieces of kitchenware from the Herdy Company come in a range of colours. Herdy was born in 2007 in the English Lake District and all of its products are inspired by the area’s Herdwick sheep. The company policy is to “give a little back” and so far it has donated to the Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association, a local shepherds meet and funded training for skills such as dry stonewalling. The range includes mugs, egg cups, planters and salt and pepper shakers.

Visit the Herdy website to view the whole range.

Paws and hands tell the time

There’s nothing cheerier than a dog’s wagging tail. The Labrador Company has designed one more way to bring these into your kitchen by adding a tail that acts as a pendulum on these clocks.  With 16 dogs, one cat and four horses to choose from, there’s a clock to suit most people.

The company is based in Dorset and all the clocks are made in Great Britain. You can see all of the designs online.

Clocks are priced at £45, with free delivery.

A ‘smart’ purchase

Smartphones have become an essential tool for many farmers these days, but they’re not always the most robust pieces of kit. Otterbox provides a range of cases that protect your phone from drops, bumps, dust and scratches. Cases are available for phones from Apple, Samsung, Nokia, LG, Motorola and HTC. The Motorola and Apple models below both retail at £47.99.

You can find the right case on the Otterbox website.

A chocolate conformation

What’s not to like about a chocolate-on-chocolate sheep? Christmas is a time when people flock to the chocs, so why don’t ewe buy these as a lovely stocking filler? Enough of the puns, but these do look cute and very tasty.

Find them online on Notonthehighstreet.com.

Raise a glass to country tipples

From the brambles to the bottle and the hedge to the hipflask. Raisthorpe Manor uses family recipes to create a range of gins and liqueurs from the finest fruits and ingredients. Raisthorpe Farm is situated in North Yorkshire and the boozy side of its business began in 2008. The products have won numerous awards and are currently being used in the cocktail bar at Harvey Nichols stores nationwide. The country collection includes tipples such as Stirrup Cup Special Port and Shoot Shots Sloe Gin.

To view all the beverages, preserves and chocolates on offer, visit the online shop.

Avoid becoming hopping mad

Hopping around on one foot, whacking your heel against the ground while trying to get your muddy boots off before you get in the vehicle – sound familiar?

Well, we have found a much easier way to get those wellies off prior to hopping in the truck – the tow bar wellie boot pull!

Priced at £21.50 (+P&P), this practical present is available online.

Lend a helping hand

Making a donation to a farming charity on behalf of someone can be a lovely present with a difference. You can pick the charity to suit the person’s particular concerns, but one good option is RABI, which provides care and support for farmers, farmworkers, farm managers and their dependents throughout England and Wales. Their sister charity, RSABI, does similarly great work in Scotland. Alternatively, if you’d like to help fellow farmers overseas, you could make a donation to Farm Africa, which helps African farmers “grow themselves out of poverty and end hunger forever”.

Find out more and donate at Farmafrica.org, Rabi.org.uk and Rsabi.org.uk.

Rucksacks for cool kids’ backs

Rucksacks suitable for the coolest kids in town – or the village.

There’s a pink design for pony lovers and a blue backpack that features tractors, pick-ups, diggers and dumper trucks, among other machines.

Find them online at Wedofarmtoys.co.uk

Create an indoor farm

If you know a little one who is mad about agriculture, they can run their own estate with this farm in a tin from Country Garden Gifts.

With a mat and little wooden animals, fences and trees, the mini farm manager can decide exactly where they want everything on their farm.

The Farm In a Tin costs £14.24 (+£3.80 UK postage) and is available to buy online at Countrygardengifts.co.uk.

 Learning and fun with Ted

The Tractor Ted founder David Horler was crowned Diversification Farmer of the Year at this year’s Farmers Weekly Awards. Tractor Ted is a lovable children’s fiction character and this year he features in a special Christmas set, including a DVD and book.

Perfect for pre-school children, there are lots of real-life tractors and machines in this 40-minute film, introduced by their favourite farm cartoon character, Tractor Ted.

Find them online at Tractorted.co.uk

Keep it up your sleeve

These cufflinks from Gamekeepers Cottage Gifts will add a little glitz to any sleeve. There’s a variety of farm and game animals, guns and machines, but we love these colourful blue vintage Fordson tractors and enamelled dairy cows.

Find it online at Gamekeeperscottagegifts.co.uk

Chinaware with a country shine

A Farmers Daughter is a business run by farmer’s daughter Helen Thompstone, who grew up on a dairy farm before studying for a degree in fine arts. The business was born when “creativity met the farmyard” in 2009 and is still run from the family farm in Staffordshire. Her latest range of chinaware includes mugs covered in colourful wellies, wheelbarrows and tractors.

You can find your local stockists or buy online on Helen’s website.

Be well preserved

Galloway Lodge Preserves produces a range of jams, marmalades, chutneys, jellies, mustard and chillies, but the Mulled Cranberry Chutney and Cranberry & Port Jelly are two all-time favourite Christmas products. The family-run business, established in 1971, is selling 100g jars of all their favourite preserves for the festive period, which retail at £1.80/jar and can be giftwrapped in packs of three for the perfect stocking filler. Find it online at Gallowaylodge.co.uk

Put animal art in the frame

From nosey cows to a lamb in its first few days, Mark Edward Coombe draws a variety of farm animals, as well as pets. Mark, from Eton Dorney near Windsor, says his work is “inspired by animals in the environment surrounding rural Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire, Suffolk, Somerset and Wiltshire”.

On his website you can buy original drawings, limited or open edition prints and order commissions. Go online to Markedwardcoombe.co.uk

Award winner has a lot of bottle

The Farmers Weekly 2014 Local Food Farmer of the Year was Tom Bowles from Hartley Farm, Winsley, just on the outskirts of Bath. On the farm they have a microbrewery, set up by head brewer Will Southward in 2011, where they produce “Willy Good Ales”. There are six regulars to choose from: Willy Hop, Beerier Beer, High Fives, Hopadelic, Willy Brown and Wheat a Second. If you know someone who likes a hopadelic tipple, then you can find them at Willygoodale.com

 Read all about it

The perfect gift this festive season. Give a Farmers Weekly gift subscription from only £59 – and we’ll send you a copy of FW that you can wrap and give on the day.

Order before 14 December to ensure you get your free issue in time. Order online  or call 0330 333 9694 and quote 3218.