Buying Gifts in Beddgelert (Gelert Gifts (Beddgelert))

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Gelert Gifts (Beddgelert)
Date:	18/05/09 (64 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The fudge! An excellent selection of products and souvenirs, well laid out shop, reasonable prices

Disadvantages: ----------

During our Easter trip to North Wales my sister and I visited the beautiful village of Beddgelert where we came across this wonderful little gift shop, Gelert Gifts. I needed to buy gifts for my granddaughters' and daughters' who unfortunately didn't accompany us so we decided to pop in and see what we could pick up, as it turned out we browsed for well over an hour as there are so many lovely things in this shop!

Run by a lovely couple, Gelert Gifts sells souvenirs to suit all budgets from 30p postcards to beautifully made Welsh Dragon ornaments costing around the £25 mark. I was extremely impressed with the quality of goods as well as how comfortably the shelves were laid out, it was easy to see at a glance where the children's products were and browsing for a gift suitable for an adult was equally straightforward.

As I entered the shop my eye was drawn to the lovely display of keyrings and fridge magnets, these are always a fail safe gift idea and I was pleased to find they were much more reasonably priced than similar items in Porthmadog where we were staying. I also liked the fact that these were proper local area products rather than the jokey magnets available elsewhere, honestly I can buy a magnet with any motto I want from Ebay so why shopkeepers in tourist hot spots think I want to spend my money on these rather than beautiful magnets that remind me of my trip I don't know! Gelert Gifts sold magnets and keyrings featuring Beddgelert itself as well as others which stretched further and encompassed Snowdonia and other local villages.

I also had a look at the ornaments and publications section which was beautiful, I bought a beautiful Welsh Dragon which is now sitting on my mantelpiece and was much cheaper than you would think judging from the size and quality of it. You do have to look for the bargain pieces in this section as many of the ornaments are rather expensive, although not overly so, but amongst all this are some smaller less noticeable pieces that are just a couple of pounds each. My sister's grandsons had spending money and they bought their mum a beautiful ceramic teddy for their mum, it is lovely with the teddy holding a glass replica of Susan's birth month flower. She adores it and has moved her husbands cricket statue to give it pride of place on the display cabinet, it cost just £2.25 which proves the fact that prices are reasonable in Gelert Gifts.

Oh gosh, I almost forgot the fudge! Next to the counter is a small food display cooler which houses nothing but homemade fudge, wonderful stuff in at least a dozen flavours. I was like a kid in the proverbial sweet shop, I'm sure I stood there drooling for the entire fifteen minutes that it took me to make my mind up which flavours I wanted, this wasn't helped by the fact that the chocolate fudge was replenished with freshly made and cooled fudge still in the tin as I stood there - the smell was amazing! Eventually I went for a slice of cappuccino flavour and one of chocolate orange, I was asked if I wanted it cut into cubes but I decided I was going to be a gannet and just eat the whole bar shaped piece of fudge without any added daintiness! Needless to say the fudge was delicious, crumbly, buttery and terribly bad for me. But I enjoyed it!

What else is there? There's lots really, but it's pointless me regaling the contents of this shop as the village of Beddgelert is rather remote (by a city dwellers standards, that is) so you'll either be visiting the village, in which case you'll want to go into the only souvenir shop anyway, or you'll never set foot in Beddgelert in your life so will have no need of Gelert Gifts.

Personally I think it's a wonderful shop and the time I spent browsing was enjoyable, the lady and gentleman running the shop were happy to chat about the local area and pointed out several places of interest. At one point I asked for help choosing a gift for my neighbour, who is Welsh, and was pleased to be directed to a display of unusual and beautifully crafted plates as well as some souvenir gifts made from local slate. The items in this section were all very classy and traditional in appearance, my neighbour has a very country-style kitchen so I bought her a Love Spoon as she has a small collection of them and also a slate tea pot stand painted with a picture of a sheepdog.

The layout of Gelert Gifts is well thought out. It's completely accessible to wheelchairs and buggies as the shop is level inside with fairly low display shelves. It's too small for a mobility scooter, I had to leave mine outside and walk around the shop which wasn't an issue for me really but if you are visiting in a scooter and have a more restrictive mobility problem then you might find turns a little tight in here. I also like the actual way they've laid the shelves out, one set of items leads onto another smoothly and although they throw some absolute bargains in with the expensive stuff mainly the shelves reflect the general cost of the section so you can see just by looking at the price of one or two items whether you're looking at gifts to suit your budget or not. This is unlike a gift shop in Porthmadog which is so badly set out that I ended up walking out with just a single postcard instead of the gifts I'd planned to buy in there as I just got fed up of asking the lady behind the counter where things were and 'how much is this, please?'

I'm sure you can tell I love Gelert Gifts, we have a return visit to North Wales coming up and if we find ourselves in Beddgelert this time I know I shall be making a bee line for this fantastic little shop - I can taste the fudge already!

Summary: A beautiful gift shop in the heart of Snowdonia.