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Christmas 


Christmas gifts from the Garden of England


Food for thought with your festive shopping


With Christmas just around the corner, we’ve been on the look- out for fresh ways to add some seasonal spice to your shopping.


In Kent, there are heaps of ways to add local flavour to your


festivities, and plenty of stores to help. In fact, in Maidstone some 50% of town centre retailers are independent – 3% higher than the national average.


We tracked down three such independents supplying hampers this Christmas - crammed with Kent produce – just the thing for friends and family, at home or away.


At Macknade Fine Foods in Faversham you can give your hamper the personal touch by hand picking everything yourself – a great excuse to check out the store’s food and drink halls, its delicatessen and restaurant – or call your order through.


Partner Stefano Cuomo said: “A hamper sums up Christmas


for me. The joy of opening it and finding out what’s inside. By choosing what you want to spend and how you want to spend it, you can put some real character into your gift, too.”


Suggestions include: All-Kent produce, special selections like the ginger lovers’ hamper, alcohol options and baskets of fruit or juices from producers in Faversham, Canterbury and Rochester. Macknade delivered more than 100 Christmas hampers around the globe last year.


Former lawyer Helen Baird (39) left her job in London to launch Pluckley


Farm


Shop,near Smarden, three years ago. As well as reducing her own carbon footprint, Helen’s hampers can be ordered online, so there’s no need to get the car out. Kent products include cobnuts, pickled shallots, Pluckley tea, Westwell honey and Wye jam.


When it comes to buying drinks for Christmas, you can keep


it local with a wine hamper from Biddenden Vineyard, Kent’s oldest commercial vineyard, which offers the chance to try before you buy. It produces 50,000 red, white, rose and sparkling bottles a year ... so, there’s plenty to go round.


Marketing manager Vikki Wright said: “We like to encourage people to visit us and make a day of it, with a free tasting session and a walk around the estate before putting together their hampers in store.”


The vineyard also opens a special Christmas shop from mid- November.


Kent & East Sussex Railway Tenterden Town Station


November: 30 December:


1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22, 24


Early booking advised for this popular event! Telephone 01580 765155 or visit kesr.org.uk


Mid Kent Living 25


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