Top 10 Pressie ideas for outdoors/ Cumbria lovers

I'm the sort of person that swears at Christmas ads on TV in November, but then I do have a number of friends who have already done most of their pressie shopping *and* have it wrapped, so maybe now is the time to share some of the best pressie ideas I've come across during 2016.

I've got everything here from stocking fillers to indulgent "if you really loved me you'd buy them" gifts - and, if you're a Cumbrian business and/ or have other pressie ideas to add then please just leave a link in the comments section below.

CLICK HERE FOR THE 2017 PRESSIE IDEAS LIST

1. Contoured Coasters

Alp and Ash

First up are a set of laser cut coasters from Alp and Ash - they come beautifully packaged and you can select whichever coasters take your fancy.  They don't just have the Lake District either - you can select from a huge range of options covering most of the UK - plus they can personalise them for you too.

The coasters are 1:25000 scale though, as they say on their site - perhaps best not to rely on them when hiking.  They are also far too lovely to take outdoors - they're made from oak veneered plywood and finished with Danish oil.

Cost:  A full set of six coasters start at £32 

Why I love them: They're the perfect gift for any keen hiker and a brilliant way to remember a special place or favourite walk.

2. Quirky Workshops

Quirky Workshops

Next are the superb range of quirky workshops at Greystoke Cycle Cafe - don't be put off, you don't have to be a cyclist to attend. 

Throughout the year they run a series of fabulous craft workshops with something to there for everyone - from willow weaving and stone carving to pizza oven building and cheese making.  

We've both attended a few workshops and had a thoroughly brilliant time.  You can book specific workshops as gifts - Wildlife Whittling and Making a Herdwick Doorstop sound particularly fun!  If you can't afford an entire course then gift vouchers are available here.

Cost:  Gift vouchers start from £15 - full day courses are around £75

Why I love them:  Because they're different and because they are preserving traditional crafts, some of which are fast dying out.

3. Fabulous funky socks!

Corrymoor Socks

It's just not Christmas without socks - this year I discovered Corrymoor Socks who make superb hiking socks in a range of fab and funky colours!  I love a bit of colour on the fells and am thoroughly bored with grey and blue socks.

I've had my pair of Corrymoors for a few months now and (this bit sounds really sad) look forward to them coming around in the "sock cycle" - you know, when you need fresh socks and your favourite pair is ready & waiting for you.  They're soft, comfortable, durable and keep your feet warm in the winter and non-stinky in the summer - absolutely love them to bits.

Cost: Hiking socks start at around £13.60 but they do loads of other stuff too.

Why I love them: Because they're colourful, comfy and fab!

4.  Super comfy outdoor shoes

Columbia Shoes

While we're on the subject of feet...  If you're after something a little more "outdoorsy" then you could do worse than this rather lovely pair of outdoor shoes from Columbia.  I was very cynical when they first arrived and claimed to be waterproof but I've dunked them in puddles and waded through fields of soggy grass and they've kept my feet dry as a bone.

My "real" job requires me to be on my feet all day and I really look forward to popping these on for my journey home - like putting on a pair of slippers (and especially good when they coincide with the Corrymoor socks in my "sock cycle"! )

Cost:  On sale as I type this, down from £80 to £60

Why I love them:  Because they're comfy, colourful and they really do keep my feet properly dry!

5.  Inspiring works of art

Nicholas Leigh

How about a bit of art?  If you've ever visited Cumbria then you've probably got several dozen photos to remember your trip, but a piece of art is a wee bit different and isn't at all expensive.  I met Nicholas Leigh at a Christmas fair last year and loved his bright and colourful pictures immediately.

He does ready framed prints, greetings cards, place mats, mugs, the lot!  We bought a couple of sets of greetings cards to use throughout the year and framed up a few to give as gifts - and they went down an absolute storm.

Cost:  Gift cards start at just £2.20 each

Why I love them:  Because they are bright, colourful and original

6. Twigtastic Pens!

Personalised Twigpens

These Twigpens from The Twig Pen People were the surprise hit of last year with our nephews - I spotted them at a market in Kendal and they were quickly engraved with my nephew's names.  They'll engrave whatever you want on them and they're just such fun - the pens lasted really well  and, when they run out, they're fully refillable.

They're perfect for Christmas and also for birthday's, weddings, promoting your business etc. etc. etc.

Cost:  Prices start at £3.50 per personalised pen

Why I love them:  Because they're a brilliant idea from a lovely little Cumbrian business.

7.  Herdy

Love Herdy!

It's no secret that I've had a big soft spot for Herdy for many years now - they have a superb range of bright, fun and imaginative designs, they work hard to ensure everything is produced as ethically as possible and they are utterly committed to the HerdyFund whereby they support sustainable local developments.

Each year there are several new additions to their flock but be warned - once you start collecting it can be very hard to stop...

Cost: Varies but keyrings start at £3.50

Why I love them:  Because of their great products, sense of humour and ethical values

8.  Big boy boots

Aku boots from Keswick Boot Company

Proper fells require proper boots and the only place to get them from in my book is the Keswick Boot Company - a proper independent shop, owned and run by local hiking enthusiast and boot expert Alex Charlton (and winners of Best Independent Retailer - TGO Awards 2016).  Of course a cracking pair of boots like these (Aku SuperalpNNK GTX) don't come cheap, but they do come with guarantees of waterproofness and durability. 

If you're buying boots it's best to go to the shop - but they do mail order so you can order your boots to wrap and stash under the tree or simply give them a call and they'll sort you out with some gift vouchers to use if you're not sure what your beloved would prefer.

Cost:  The boots in the photo are £199.95 but they have lots of others to choose from

Why I love them:  I love the boots because they're super light and super grippy and I love Keswick Boot Company because they give brilliant advice.

9.  Booze glorious booze

Keswick Bewery

In Cumbria we are blessed with a large number of micro breweries and there are none finer than the Keswick Brewing Co.  If you're in town you can join in one of their brewery tours - but if you're further away you can recapture your holiday magic with a case a beer - who wouldn't appreciate a case of beer waiting under the Christmas tree?

There is are a HUGE range of gift ideas in their online shop - or you could go the whole hog and buy a gift membership of the beer club, for year round aley goodness!

Cost:  From £28 upwards for a case

Why I love them:  Because it's beer.  (Sorry - do I need another reason? OK then - because it's gorgeous tasting local beer - how's that?)

10.  The finest literary work in Cumbria

Off the Beaten Track

OK - I definitely over-egged that one, but it got your attention didn't it?  Believe it or not there are still some folks who haven't got a copy of our book and I'm sure they'd absolutely love it.

Don't let the "history" part put you off - it's chatty and friendly with lots of interesting and unusual facts and tons of gorgeous photos taken by my equally gorgeous husband (he's going to kill me when he reads that part!)

We've got plenty in stock to send straight away and will be happy to sign them too if you'd like.

Why I love them:  Because we're locals, we love Cumbria and we worked really hard to make this as lovely as we could.

2017 UPDATE:  We now have 3 books for you to choose from.

2019 Update - We now have 8 books - click the "bookstore" tab above. Next year there'll be 10! 😲😀

2014 A Year of Adventures - Part 2

One of the reasons I love doing these end of year round ups is because I forget quite how much stuff we did - the big things stay in my mind, but a lot of the other stuff slips between the cracks.  We're lucky to have been able to do so much stuff in the first 6 months of the year - the second half was a little but quieter, but only a little bit...

July

July started with us swinging through the trees in Grizedale Forest with those lovely folks from Go Ape.  A lot of zipwires and a lot of Tarzan impressions...

The rest of July was then taken up with rehearsals for my role in the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony.  At the time I couldn't say a lot about what we were rehearsing, but I could say a lot about Glasgow - a spectacular city that we took the time to explore and fall in love with.  The utterly tragic news from just before Christmas really affected me but the folks of that fair city are truly amazing and I know they'll pull together to get through it all.  These are just a few photos which bring back some very happy memories - if you haven't already been, make 2015 the year you visit.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum

George Square

Wellington

Glasgow University

Carpet factory modelled on the Doges Palace

Footpath of album covers

Being an "athlete" at the final dress rehearsals for openning ceremony

August

After all that rehearsing came the performance - I will never forget being out on the field with all of the athletes and a packed Hampden Park.  It truly was a "once in a lifetime" experience and I loved every single second of it.

"Music festival" in full swing.

The end of the party - my new friends & a few athletes

Nabbed me a couple of gold medallists.

After all that excitement it was back to normality and a few lovely long walks around Lancashire to get my breath back.  The berries were already turning giving me the perfect excuse for a spot of jam and gin making.

Exploring Calder Vale

Anyone else see the toothy grin?

Sloes...

Damsons

Leck Beck

September

September started with the Vintage Fair in Morecambe - glorious weather and a fly past from Lancaster Bombers.

From there it was a swift trip down to London to see the moving display of poppies at the Tower before meeting Newton Falkner at an event for Gandy's flip flops - all recorded for history with one of the worst photos of me ever taken.

If you're not sure who he is click the pic for his video.

Then it was off to Yorkshire for a week of walking. The evening we arrived the weather was clear - then the fog moved in and refused to move out again for the entire week...

Last view before the fog rolled in.

Super close up of Scarborough Castle

Sheriff Hutton

Sheriff Hutton church - where Richard III's son
is buried.

And after such a long and dry (if everso slightly foggy in places) summer we just had time to pop to Haweswater Reservoir to take a peek at the old village of Mardale Green - flooded when they created the reservoir it appears every now and again when the water levels dropped.  Some of the newspapers at the time described it as an "Atlantis" - not quite, but it was eerie wandering along the long submerged streets and sitting on the ruins of an old farmhouse for lunch.

Oh - an there was Shap Abbey on the way home.

October

The big news in October, which I don't really have a photo for, is that we were approached by a publisher and asked to write a book about Cumbria.  There was a bit of too-ing and fro-ing on content, the upshot of which being that we have now been commissioned to write a book covering the recent, ancient and natural history of 10 sites in Cumbria.  It will be a balance of Steve's gorgeous pics and my mad ramblings and will be available in October 2015 - perfect for next year's Christmas lists!

The book will have lots of Steve's gorgeous pics!

In other news in October, we introduced some very dear friends to Cumbria, explored Stott Park Bobbin Mill, slummed it Hipping Hall for a night and attended our very first spoon club meeting.  Oh, and on 31st of October I stuffed my foot up, thus curtailing hiking activities for the rest of the year...

Gorgeous Cumbrian View

Stott Park Bobbin Mill

Stott Park Bobbin Mill

Spoon club - from this...

...to this.

Hipping Hall - hell - hell on earth I tell you...

Oooooppss!

November

So... things to do with a dodgy foot.  First of all there was Kendal Museum - fascinating and everso slightly brilliantly bonkers!

Kendal Museum

Then there was Kendal Mountain Festival where people with far worse injuries than mine explained how they shrugged them off before hopping up the north face of the Eiger, on stilts whilst juggling flaming torches... or something like that.

Next was a spot of Christmas Card making back at the glorious Quirky Cafe in Greystoke (well I made Christmas Cards, Steve was learning how to blacksmith) - we were even treated to an inversion along the way.

Taken from the M6.

Learning to paint Christmas cards

The Legend of Greystoke

But the MOST exciting thing in November was that Steve finished his challenge of 214 Wainwrights in 214 days in 2014.  We celebrated in style on top of Castle Crag.

A fantastic achievement!

December

And all of that goes some way to explaining how December seems to have come around way too soon again.  At the start of the month there was a quick visit to London where I finally managed a trip to the top of the Monument.- been meaning to do that for ages - there are a LOT of steps to climb but the views from the top are worth every step.  It was built to commemorate the Great Fire of London and is definitely worth a look - it's one of London's quirkier attractions plus you get a step class to boot!

Then on to Glasgow for a reunion with my Commonwealth Games friends and an excuse to explore the Botanical Gardens which we missed last time.  Not every country celebrates the gardens of the world in the same way we do - but where else can you wander around the tropical house in t-shirts in December while the hail pounds down outside?

Love how this captures the energy of the evening.

Back home and it was time to welcome an old friend back to Morecambe Prom - so great to see Eric back where he belongs, and lovely to meet his wife and daughter too.

From old friends to old adversaries and scores to settle.  For 4 years we've been trying to spot the bittern at Leighton Moss and finally we managed it - but was that enough for us?  Oh no - now Steve wants a pic of it in the snow.  Some folks are never satisfied!

Just time for a festive trip to Spoon Club where my hands fared rather better than last time and I managed to create a vaguely festive tree decoration - albeit one a little on the large side.

Christmas with the family meant lots of food, lots of fun and even a sighting of Santa on Christmas eve...

Christmas Eve sunset - complete with Santa zooming past

Of course we found time for a quick hike - at 7 miles it's the longest since I did my foot in, and I paid for it afterwards - but sometimes you just need to stretch your legs. The Chilterns are a little less lumpy than the fells we're used to, but it was a perfect crisp winters day and we definitely made the most of it.

St Giles Church, Chalfont St Giles

Our fabulous year was rounded off with lots of excitement when we found that we'd made the shortlist for the UK Blog Awards and got our pics in the local paper - not quite sure what it all means, but my mum's convinced I'm famous.  :-)

So that's it for 2014 - it's been a cracking year and 2015 has a tough act to follow (if you missed Part 1 it's here).  We have the small matter of writing a book and launching our walking guides to fit in around our adventures, but I'm sure we'll manage it somehow.  Thank you for taking the time to read the blog and may we both wish you a fabulous, fun and adventure filled new year.

Here's to 2015!