Unique designs make GWCT Christmas cards a ‘festive must-have’

Unique designs make GWCT Christmas cards are a Christmas ‘must-have’

Designs celebrating the British countryside by some of the UK's finest and best-loved wildlife artists

GWCT Christmas cards 2022 now available www.gwctshop.org.uk.

A new range of Christmas card designs celebrating the great British countryside with humour and affection is now available from the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) Shop.

The collection features some stunning new designs from the ever-popular cartoonist Loon. In ‘No Rudolf’, Santa’s favourite reindeer is seen abandoning the sleigh and heading into the distance after a lady reindeer. A new mixed pack of Loon’s hilarious designs is also available.

Some of the country’s most renowned wildlife artists have also created exclusive new paintings to grace the 2022 GWCT Christmas card collection. 

In ‘Across a Christmas landscape’ by Owen Williams, a woodcock flies above a snowy hillside. Quarry species in striking winter landscapes also feature in ‘Red Grouse in Snow’ by Roger Mcphail and ‘Winter Pheasants’ by Jason Lowes, while bright plumage lends festive colour to ‘Waxwings’ by Ashley Boon.

GWCT Shop Manager Beverley Mansbridge said: “Demand for the cards seems to grow year-on-year and people order early, meaning we often sell out well before Christmas. Everyone loves that the card designs are so unique.

“We are very lucky to have such talented artists willing to design cards for us and help support our important and vital research.”

Each pack includes 10 high quality cards with the greeting 'With Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year'. However, want something special and genuinely unique, Christmas card overprinting is available for private and corporate orders.

Packs of ten cost £5.95, excluding the somewhat larger Loon designs which costs £6.95. All proceeds from the card sales go towards supporting the important work of the Trust.

Besides the cards, the GWCT Shop offers a range of goods that are ideal for Christmas gifts, including ties, cufflinks, Chilli’s water bottles and a range of books suitable for all ages.

To order, visit www.gwctshop.org.uk.

Please be aware that the deadline for postal orders on cards is Friday, November 18.

The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust providing research-led conservation for a thriving countryside. The GWCT is an independent wildlife conservation charity which has carried out scientific research into Britain’s game and wildlife since the 1930s. They advise farmers and landowners on improving wildlife habitats. 

Dalla Costa Christmas Pasta Flavoured Tomato & Spinach 500g

Yes, indeed! Here is a very special pasta for Christmas produced by https://www.atlanteuk.co.uk for Dalla Costa.

Dalla Costa Christmas Pasta Flavoured Tomato & Spinach which comes in 500g bags at £3.99 per bag.

What's Christmassy about it? It's a delicious pasta that is a Christmas tricoloured festive pasta shapes: Christmas gifts, candles, holly and trees.

The Christmas Pasta is made with wheat semolina flour , dehydrated Tomato 1,5%, dehydrated Spinach 1.5%.

So, why not try some Italian Christmas recipes with your Dalla Costa Christmas Pasta Flavoured Tomato & Spinach?

That's Christmas has found some resources of Italian Christmas recipes https://www.allrecipes.com/gallery/italian-christmas-dinner-recipes.

However, as well as Italian recipes, why not try adding Dalla Costa Christmas Pasta Flavoured Tomato & Spinach as a side dish for traditional British Christmas meals? Maybe a bowl of these nifty pasta shapes to help support the roast potatoes, roast parsnips, turkey, beef, lamb or pork?

You can purchase the pasta here https://www.realfoods.co.uk/product/41379/christmas-pasta-flavoured-tomato-and-spinach.

Fa-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay!

Fa-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay! is a great fun read of a book written by mother-and-daughter author team Ann McLauchlin and Jill Law, with some stunning, colourful and absolutely gorgeous illustrations by Emily Walker-Vaughan. 

The book is described as a flower girl fairytale. Farrah is a bit of a dream girl, always enjoying daydreams. 

Farrah's mummy is about to get married again and Farrah is going to be her mummy's very own flower girl. This is making Farrah a little bit nervous. But she's excited to visit the boutique with her mummy for the dress fitting. 

The ship is so beautiful, the dresses all look to be properly magical and Farrah, of course, decides to go for a bit of a wander and learns that Miss Singh's boutique is really a very magical and most wonderful place!

Farrah meets with many magical creatures including fairies and a unicorn that she gets to ride on through the air, taking her on a whole host of magical adventures before she returns, just in time, for the fitting. But what did Miss Singh really know about Farrah's magical adventure?

And what new magical adventure would happen later?

This book is a rhyming delight of a book and is aimed directly at moms and their daughters, especially if they are, have been, or will soon be a flower girl, aged six 'til nine. It's designed to be shared, maybe over mugs of hot chocolate, all wrapped up in dressing gowns?

It's published by Troubador at £10.00 and will make an ideal Christmas present for all little girls, even those who aren't going to be a flower girl. Well, at least not yet! 

This is their debut work, hopefully we will see more from them in the near future.

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More Christmas treats from Livia's with their Million Squares

Livia's Million Squares are absolutely mouth-watering and utterly delicious little squares of joy, which are ideal for Christmas gifting and Christmas chomping!

We checked out Livia's Salted Caramel Million Squares and also Livia's Million Squares Chocolate Orange Million Squares.

They are both delicious but there's a difference between Livia's and other people's chocolate orange. Please let me explain why. With Livia's the orange taste is definitely there, but it is a subtle, natural flavour of orange that plays gently on the tongue and really works well with the chocolate flavour.

The Salted Caramel Million Squares were also a real joy. It's utterly irresistible, fully natural and an interesting tasty twist on the classic millionaire shortbread.

Livia's Salted Caramel Million Squares combine layers of gooey date caramel, oat biscuit and wears a dark chocolate topping with more than a little swagger.

The idea of using dates to produce the caramel is a very good one and it works extremely well. 

They'll make a great purchase for Christmas as they are perfect for Christmas stocking fillers, will make ideal treats between meals (even over the Christmas holiday period) and they'll be okay for everyone to eat, as they are 100% vegan plus they are dairy free and gluten free, so are good for coeliacs to chomp along with the rest of their family, so nobody need feel left out. Which at Christmas is a pretty good feeling to have.

You can order them direct from Livia's online emporium at https://livias.co.uk or you can find them at good retailers. Actually, if you are a good retailer who likes to supply your customers with nice, natural nibbles you can make enquires at https://livias.co.uk/pages/contact-us.

Incidentally Livia's has really worked hard on ensuring that they are as eco-friendly as possible. For example, two years ago they took the decision to stop using plastic trays.  In 2020 they switched their plastic Million Square trays for recyclable, uncoated cardboard trays, cutting their annual use of plastic by over 3 tonnes!  They slashed the amount of plastic in their Million Square sharing packs by a staggering 84%!