Christmas Shopping, Island Hopping

This year we decided that we would try to do as much as possible of our Christmas shopping locally, which meant that a trip to Arran by ferry was called for!

So, on a glorious winter morning last week we headed down the coast and set sail.

Crisp, blue skies, snow-capped mountains, calm seas and glorious scenery not a bad combination for a shopping trip :)

Arran is a veritable hive of crafty activity and one of my favourite destinations is the Arran Aromatics factory shop, where we stocked up on loads of their island-made gorgeous smelling goodies.

Next up, a visit to the Arran Brewery to stockpile a selection of their great beers for the thirsty hordes who will descend upon us at Christmas :)

Whilst browsing the shelves at the Brewery, I came across this barley wine. Now normally I wouldn't have paid too much attention but as our shopping trip co-incided with Christmas Pudding making time, barley wine was very high on my shopping list! For years I have been making Delia Smith's traditional Christmas Pudding, which calls for barley wine in the list of ingredients, and for years I have searched high and low for it without success. So you can imagine my delight when there it was sitting on the shelf in front of me. That bottle was snatched up pretty quickly I can tell you.

Now, whether I will be able to taste the difference when the pudding is finally served I have no idea, but I am just over the moon that I have at long last managed to tick off everything on the long list of Christmas Pudding ingredients for a change.

After a very pleasant lunch we headed back to the ferry to be greeting with this stunning sunset when we arrived back home.

 Now wasn't that a very pleasant way to spend a Christmas shopping day! Hope your Christmas shopping expeditions are equally as enjoyable.