In November and December we are often busy with Christmas Shoppers.  With Clark’s Village on our doorstep we are an ideal one stop shop for many.  But it is not only Clark’s that we have to offer here.  We have Owen Barry Factory shop in Street. Owen Barry have been producing leather products here in the Glastonbury area for over 50 years.  Their factory is still based in Street and they manufacture for brands all around the world. Their factory shop is located alongside of their factory and is full of samples and seconds of handbags and accessories.   Kilver Court in Shepton Mallet is owned by Somerset based company Mulberry and alongside of their factory outlet you will find a designer clothing outlet with some great brands on offer.

Nearby the city of Wells is full of quaint little gift shops and the shop at the Bishops Palace has some lovely gifts, with a great selection for gardens and gardeners

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BUT my favourite place to Christmas shop has got to be Glastonbury High Street.  For the past couple of years I have vowed to only buy my gifts at the local shops.  It means that my friends and family end up with very unique gifts.  Chrystal balls, magic books, incense,  jewellery, hemp clothing, all available on Glastonbury High Street.   There is not an empty shop on the High Street here and it is like no other shopping area you will ever see.

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I had a stroll around yesterday checking out what was going on in the windows and what the top Christmas gifts were.  Here is a little selection of my favourites.

Glastonbury Mini Binz.  These are painted by a local artist who works at the Glastonbury Festival Site painting the famous rubbish bins.  Now as you can imagine there ends up being lots of empty paint pots, actually there are always lots of empty paint pots everywhere, so she cleans them up and paints them to sell as great pots for plants, small bins or storage tubs.  I love them and there is a selection for sale at Glastonbury Galleries.

Also at Glastonbury Galleries I found these fab Justice Reusable Bags.   I think everyone needs at least one of these.

Another favourite shop of mine is Dicketts Stationary.  Probably the only stationary shop you can pick up a Witches diary.  Besides the strange and wonderful, it has a fantastic selection of reference books, cards and gifts.

Sew over the Moon.  A name says so much about a business so what more can I say.  The place to go to buy gfor all your crafty friends.   The ladies who own and run it also have a series of workshops and courses throughout the year so I figure that would make a lovely Christmas present.

Imaginarium is just that – a shop full of things that you would never imagine were available.  Definatley the place to find the gift for that someone who has everything.

My final High Street favourite is Happy Glastonbury.  Although their Christmas selection is special, all year round they have lovely gifts.  Everytime I walk by their window I can’t help but smile.

Wander off the High Street and you will find the Glastonbury Abbey gift shop and the Chalice Well Gardens gift shop.  Both of these are jam packed with stunning unique gifts for Christmas.

I find myself finishing this article on Black Friday, the day the world spends a stupid amount of money buying things they don’t really need from huge companies who have the buying power to squeeze suppliers to reduce prices.  Buying Online from large internet sites is what I believe to be destroying most High Streets around the UK.

Here in Glastonbury we are fortunate to still have this fantastic collection of independent shops.  But…Independent High Street shops everywhere need you the shoppers to spend money in them to keep them going.  So do what I do and boycott the large companies and choose to shop locally this Christmas.  If not here in Glastonbury, then in your home town.