Our gifting ideas for those narrowboat friends who can be difficult to buy for
If your list of friends or family to buy Christmas presents for includes someone who lives aboard a narrowboat, you'll probably find them rather hard to buy for, especially as storage space aboard a boat is much more restricted than living on the land. So we thought we'd compile a list of useful items and novel ideas for those boaty friends or family members who are difficult to buy for.
In these days of campaigns to give your trade to individual companies rather than large supermarkets and stores and shop locally, because locally owned businesses provide many economic benefits to a community. Shopping at local businesses creates more local jobs than shopping at major chain or online companies. Local businesses pay their employees and they also spend money at other local businesses. So we thought why not shop for a boater by buying from one of the many roving canal traders, or canal side businesses on our watererways. There's a huge array of canalside businesses and individual canal traders out there, creating many different types of hand made and unusual gifts and produce, often with a boaty theme, so we thought we'd start our list of ideas there;
Artist Zoe Marsden sells beautifully Decorated dog collars, and leather bags. Her designs are inspired by folklore and the natural world. The dog collars are made of quality leather and are sofly lined in suede to make them comfortable. She uses specialist paints and finishes each item with a double layer of clear topcoat for durability.
Treat someone to a basket full of indulgent treat this festive season. Make your own festive hamper, you could include artisan cheeses, sweet and savoury biscuits, preserves, flavoured gins, or buy a ready made hamper, available to order from Canalside Farm on the Trent and Mersay Canal at Great Haywood.
Art by Annamarie Uren is an artist and roving trader, her artworks are made as a story. She sells her own watercolour prints and originals, as well as canal related mugs, maps, T shirts, and books (the narrowboat experience bloggers website)
Steph Bradley is a liveaboard boater and roving canal trader who creates and sells hand lettered signs and prints directly from her boat, and from her website; Letters of Luna. She also takes on commissions for custom wooden signs, wedding and event caligraphy and pretty much anything your hand lettering heart desires.
Canal Calendar or Tea towel from the Wey and Arun Canal Trust who also sell maps and books related to the area. By purchasing drom The Wey and Arun Canal trust you would be helping raise funds for restoration of the navigable link between the Rivers Wey and Arun, which will recreate the direct water link between London and the South Coast.
Other ideas for boaters are listed below;
New enamel kettle for the hob
Stove fan - stove fans sit on top of the stove and are used to help distribute the heat from your solid fuel or diesel stove further into the room. They work by using the heat of your stove to generate, via a thermoelectric motor, enough electricity to power themselves.
Waterways magazine or Towpath Talk subscriptions
Happy Christmas and we hope you've found some inspiration with our ideas for boaty gifts!
If you have other Christmas gift ideas for narrowboaters, comment below we'd love to hear about them and share them with others.