Holywood's high standards in selective shopping are maintained in Tesoro where there is an…read moreattractive selection of jewellery, furniture, textiles and gifts from which to choose something pretty for the home. I was in search of a present for a little girl - but not toys - and found some nice bedroom things like cushions and hot waterbottle covers which I hadn't seen anywhere else. The smaller items are on the lower floor as you walk in, and included a good choice of natural baskets. Upstairs is the bedroom furniture and mirrors, all very attractive, a bit luxurious but altogether it is not over the top expensive.

This is a lovely gift shop just off the main street in Holywood…read more I decided to look for a guest book for my wedding and have a noisy at their jewellery. They have a lot of furniture pieces, crockory, stationary and delph - also they have a wedding gift list function which I think is lovely if you know exactly what you want. They have a large wedding stationary section with beautiful unique cards, keep sake boxes and photograph books. I was able to pick up a guest book for all my mates to sign on the big day - I wanted one big enough to include photographs and luckily the books come in two sizes. I was pleased with the price and the service. As I was leaving I noticed a gorgeous little soup dish with a lid and a spoon incorporated into it - at £7.50 I rushed back in to buy it. I love it and used it for lunch a few days ago. This is a lovely shop to pick up something quaint and nice for your home or a gift for a wedding or birthday. I have no complaints at all.

Obsessed with this shop! There were so many and all had different items. Staff was super friendly…read moreand welcoming, decent pricing and wide selection of merch to choose from. Can't wait to visit Ireland again!

Whoooo Hoooooo! Carolls I love you! There are two reasons why:…read more 1. I'm Irish and proud and when I walk past Carrolls and see the Belfast t-shirts and the tourists mulling around I get a great sense of pride. I am proud that if a Spanish/French/Ethiopian wanted to purchase something, nay anything with a shamrock on it they could get it here. I'm proud that pencils and pencil cases, hairbands, rubbers, sweets, aprons and the like with sheep/shamrocks/leprahauns on them can all be purchased here! 2. The Irish tunes that are being pumped outta this place from opening until closing fill me with happiness and make me want to sing along as I am walking past in the pissy rain on dull and gray winters afternoon - sure you couldn't beat it. For all things Irish Caroll is yer man/woman?

The Wicker Man is a lovely traditional gift shop on Belfast's busy High Street. The company was…read moreestablished in 1994 in the hope of promoting local businesses and selling local art work. Nowadays the store sells work from artists in Ireland both North and South. They sell some intriguing items including beautiful Beleek pottery, some gorgeous Celtic jewellery, as well as work by some enterprising local artists. You can find work by Carrick artist Thomas Joseph, Belfast artist Gary Anderson as well as the exceptionally popular Anna Nielsen prints. The jewellery sold here is really gorgeous, it's very well made and you should try here if you're interested in buying the likes of a claddagh ring or a Celtic knot brooch. The stock is in no way limited to the usual array of touristy nick nacks, even I shop here if I'm after a particular work of art. But for those visiting the Emerald Isle you can choose from a huge range of typical Irish souveneirs. For something different they also have some beautiful picture frames and clocks. If you've never been here before and are a fan of our great wee country then you should definitely not miss it. The staff will greet you with a warm welcome and make you feel more than comfortable. Great shop, great stock, great prices, great people!

The Wicker Man is a gift shop I really like. Occasionally I call in to browse although I've never…read moreactually bought anything! It's geared more toward tourists, however I still love to have a look at all the beautiful items. There's an assortment of gifts for sale including art prints, calendars, jigsaws, soaps, jams, chutney, ornaments, hip flasks, musical instruments and yarns. All Irish themed or made by local creators. Every time I visit there are different items on display by different craftspeople and artists. Although I've noticed Jim Fitzpatrick's illustrations are always prominent. Other than Fitzpatrick's art, there's a good rotation of stock in Wicker Man, so browsing is never boring. Wicker Man also run evening classes such as knitting and crocheting. Additionally, there are often weird and wonderful things happening, e.g. beard braiding on Belfast Culture Night! An interesting shop to keep an eye on.

On an extremely wet, miserable and despondent day in Bangor, Innovation gift shop was a glaringly…read morebright beacon of light, shining brilliantly in my direction. The selection, for such a small shop, really is vast. There were a lovely array of cute, well-priced pillows - the kind with proverbs and messages written on them, complete with a beaded hanger for attaching to your wall / door etc. £5.99, if my memory serves me correctly. A lovely collection of bridal accessories, including head bands and tiaras for half price, as well as wedding favours and other relevant bits and bobs were all available for purchase. A wide range of gorgeous ornaments, unusual jewellery collections, incense sticks, candles, baby gifts, to name but a few filled the shop to the brim. I had never seen such unique and special gifts all in the one place. An older lady was also browsing round 'Innovation' when I was in, and her excitement at the overwhelming gifts and brilliant bargains was very evident. She had purchased something a matter of moments before her eyes lit up, having spotted yet another alluring object. "Oh, I'm never going to get out of here!" she laughed. The shop assistant laughed along with her and was most helpful in referring the lady to another shop in Newtownards where she would be able to buy something they did not have. I settled upon a black cherry Yankee candle melt for the decent price of £1.05, and was served by the shop assistant's son, who was still learning the ropes. Both were extremely pleasant, and topic of conversation turned to the horrendous weather before I left, quietly satisfied that I found yet another fantastic gift shop to add to my list of birthday-present-purchasing-places. Innovative indeed.

Like a very similar shop in Holywood, Urban Orchard, this is a bit of a middle class woman's…read moreparadise and doesn't really have much for anyone else other than their target demographic. That i unless someone else is buying a gift for the woman in their life. Like Urban Orchard, this is a lovely place to go into in to shop. There is all sorts of stuff such as pillows, knick nacks, candles and bridal accessories on sale and there seems to be quite a large amount of stock for what is quite a small shop. You can basically pick up anything you would need to furnish a new house or to buy a housewarming or engagement gift for a friend. The prices are pretty standard for this sort of stuff, which is to say that it seems quite expensive. More for girls than for boys, but I guess there is nothing really wrong with that. There is handy parking near by which is always a bonus.

In my quest to find the cheapest Yankee Candle melt in all of the greater Belfast area (see my…read morereview on 'Aroma'), I decided my next stop was to be Regency Gift House in Newtownards. Actually, that's a complete lie. I used to walk past this gift shop on the way to work, and would always note the china mugs displayed in a little wooden cart on the outside of the shop. So really it was sheer nosiness that brought me here. But we'll not mention that to anyone...ssshhh. Upon stepping into the shop, my eyes caught sight of the Yankee Candle display, in all its colourful glory. I immediately picked up a beautifully scented 'Fruit Salad' melt and glanced at the price - 95p! I'd found it! The cheapest Yankee Candle melt in all of Belfast, at just 95p. Naturally I had to purchase this alluringly aromatic Fruit Salad candle, just to add to the ever-growing collection of my mum's (think was no. 11 I purchased today). Oooh, it was a good feeling. Aside from the Yankee Candle collection, Regency Gift House has the most beautiful china / pottery / ornamental gifts for incredibly decent prices. Waterford Crystal, bronze figurines, Belleek pottery...it's all there. Oh, and by the way, the Yankee Candle melts are only 95p, just in case you missed that. It's going to take me a while to get over this fabulous news anyway...

I guess this is the kind of place where people go to buy people little things that make them smile…read morefor a while. Then the little things become dust gatherers and there is nothing I hate more than dust gatherers! I hate delph and trinkets and statues of dogs playing the guitar - you know what I mean. Other people do like this king of thing otherwise this shop would be gone. There is cabinet after cabinet of delph, candlesticks and silverware. Tyrone Crystal and Beleek pottery have substantial amounts of things stocked here. There is also a full wall dedicated to baby gifts like photo frames and little money boxes with 'baby's first baby box' on it. Two things always get me about this place. First of all they have quite a good collection of those little dinky replica cars, motorbikes and trucks. These are displayed in the front window and have been there for years. The range stretches from Delboy and Rodney's three wheeler to a Goldliner bus. Secondly, there is a wooden cart out the front filled with bone china mugs with a variety of images on them: dogs, cats, cows and rather bizarrely, those little dolls called golly-wogs - isn't that little racist image not illegal now? I'm sure it must be. Anyway, if you want a trinket or a little statue of a ballerina this is the place to go.

Dundonald Old Mill is a lovely place for homely comfort food like mince steak pie, chicken and ham…read morepie, chicken and broccoli bake etc with a range of side salads like bean salad, carrot and orange salad etc. I think you could get potatoes or chips but the salads are too nice not to have. More recently they have been advertising Slimmer's Choice dishes. Decor includes Ards TT memorabilia and information about waterwheels and the history of this mill and its wheel.

Wet, miserable, gloomy and cold. A typical summer's day in Northern Ireland. Well, they're not all…read morethat bad, but this one really was spectacularly bad. My friend had popped round for a wee visit, so rather than twiddle our thumbs for an afternoon, I decided we should head off to the Old Mill. Dundonald Old Mill maintains one of Ireland's oldest water wheels, which has been restored in recent years. It's quite a pleasant sight. The 250 year old building consists of a gorgeous gift shop and a quaint coffee shop. Despite having lived a short distance to the Old Mill for thirteen years, never had I once been to the coffee shop, so I was mightily intrigued. The coffee shop lies above the gift shop, kind of like an open-plan attic (if you can possibly have such a thing), and it's decorated in a pretty farmhouse style, gingham tableclothes and the like. My friend ordered coke, and I had a magnificent honeycombe sundae in the tallest glass I have ever seen. Despite the weather, and the time of day (approx 4pm), the coffee shop was still fairly busy, but very chilled. Just how I like it. I've paid a visit to the gift shop several times, and it's a good'un. Very well stocked, with lots of lovely mill memorabilia to take home. Definitely worth a visit. The pensioners certainly love it.

There must be 8 (no exaggeration) coffee shops/cafés in a mile stretch on the Lisburn Road and they…read moreall have their little things that make them what they are. Bedeck's little thing is that it is joint on to a home décor/ gift shop. I think Bedeck started off as a gift shop with a small café but now it seems that the hop plays second fiddle to the popular café. The décor of the café is great - the shop front is all glass so there's a lot of natural light beaming in which makes it a nice working environment, if the Wi-Fi was better. The Wi-Fi was so poor in fact that I cut my visit short but not before I had eaten. I ordered a Bacon and Chili Jam wrap, which was delightful, the wrap was packed to the brim and served with a side salad and some homemade coleslaw. They had a few different warps on the menu but that one took my fancy. I don't think Bedeck Café is the type of place you'll get a stodgy lunch; it's more of a quick snack stop. Good news is they make a mean coffee and if you order an Americano like I did expect it to be served up in a huge bowl style mug. I liked Bedeck but it didn't have the wow factor - I think the awful Wi-Fi put me off slightly.

I always feel I have to walk gracefully in Bedeck as it is such a beautiful shop. Am I weird? I…read morethink I know the answer. So anyway, I glide about Bedeck when I need something like a housewarming gift or a cheer myself up gift. I also have to be feeling flush as Bedeck is not a cheap place to shop. But the stock is just so darn lovely. Bedeck is all about tasteful interiors. As well as offering a bespoke interior design service, they also sell all manner of what I call trinkets for your home - candle holders, vases, wine glasses, photo frames, lamps and artificial flowers. They sell lots of things from a home accessories company called SIA which I am just mad about. Everything on offer is totally upmarket and totally fab - lots of glass and crisp cotton and the kind of napkin rings which will transform your next dinner party. Well I believe it anyway. Downstairs is home to the most beautiful bedding for adults and kids - Designers Guild and Sanderson so we're talking pricey here. Mind you, my younger child has Designers Guild bed linen (does he appreciate it? He's 6, what do you think?) which I snaffled in Bedeck at 70% off which made it affordable and the quality is amazing. Speaking of kids, it's probably best that you visit Bedeck without yours if you have any of the little blighters. Otherwise you will be a frazzled wreck. Or £50 worse off when you pay for something that has been broken,

Words fail me. Yes, I know that doesn't happen often, but my smack has been gobbed, and my gast has…read morebeen flabbered. All thanks to this splendid little shop. Little being the operative word...there really isn't much room for manoeuvre, and I kept having to ensure my sister didn't knock over everything, or guess who'd be paying? But the size adds to the rustic charm of this gorgeous gift store, which is situated right beside the Bay Tree cafe. And all good things, come in small packages, right? The ground floor is filled with country-esque gifts and knick knacks, such as cute measuring tapes, sewing sets, wooden signs, Hunter wellie boots, cute notebooks, funky soaps...even tiny little mice which seem to have no other purpose than looking sweet. I was happy enough with this ground floor alone, but when two other ladies were told that the upstairs was open too, I couldn't resist having a sneak peek. Oooooh, wow. It was like vintage / rustic furniture heaven. The most enchanting little tea set, a tiny rocking chair, beautiful towels, stunning crockery and tableware, and dozens of items of magnificent furniture...all in the most delightful setting. We took a quick look around in complete awe, and decided that the longer we spent there, the more likely that: a) Either of us would knock something over / walk into something. b) I would end up buying something. Both of equal likelihood, I add. Staff were wonderful, chatty and polite, bidding us farewell and thanking us for coming, and we left The Mews speechless at the wonderment we had just encountered. It certainly takes something...

I didn't know this shop existed until yesterday when I decided to hob nob around Holywood…read morepretending I was loaded and posh! I really loved my dander around this little shop - be warned its tiny so don't wear a backpack or you will knock everything over. I can describe this shop as pastel coloured - everything is kitsch and pastel and quaint and cute. I love looking at the bits and pieces in shops like this and on occasion I will purchase something but I like my home to be clutter free so I usually only buy mugs and stationery. I bought a lovely upside down mug for a friend for just under a tenner. The mug is the right way up but the writing is upside down - it's confusing and is bound to lead to spilled tea! The shop also sell old fashioned sweets, I bought a sweetie watch - remember those? Yummy! There is an upstairs section to this shop as well which sells home wares, towels and quaint furniture. I enjoyed looking around this shop and I will be back to get birthday and Christmas presents. The prices are reasonable and the staff were jolly.