Everyone knows one. The friend who spent a fortnight in Skye and has talked of nothing else since. The cousin in Toronto who can name more Hebridean beaches than Canadian ones. The parent who checks the CalMac disruption page for fun. Gifts for someone who loves Scotland work best when they come from the place itself, made by a person who lives there and gets the weather thrown at them all winter.
Gaelic has a word for what these people are feeling. Cianalas – the longing for home, or for a place that has got under your skin and stayed there. Every one of the seven picks below answers it in some small way.
Seven makers, six islands – Orkney, North Uist, Jura, Harris, Lewis and Shetland. Prices run from £5.25 to £95, and each order is packed and posted by the maker. Parcels leave the islands by ferry, so allow a wee bit of extra time if the gift has a date attached to it.
Chocolate Tablet – £5.25
JP Orkney Produce, Orkney
Tablet is the sweet that Scots abroad ask for by name, and this one is made in Orkney with Orkney butter, Orkney milk and Fairtrade cocoa powder. The makers say it tastes strangely like chocolate brownies, which is a fair description. It is firm and sugary, and smooth and creamy with it. The bar is 100g, a size that sounds modest until you try to close the packet again. Worth knowing before you post it – the recipes are prepared in a kitchen that also handles nuts and gluten.
Candle Tins Uibhist Collection – £15
Caim Candles, Isle of North Uist
Every fragrance in this collection carries a Gaelic name, and the names earn their keep. Mòine is peat, done as soft woods, cedarwood and patchouli. Machair is seaweed and juniper with a strong marine note through it. Tràigh is a Hebridean beach as sage and sea salt, and Na Fir-Chlis takes the Northern Lights and reads them as black iris and geranium leaf. Caim Candles are a small family business in North Uist who hand-pour every tin in small batches, so pick the fragrance that suits the person and let the tin explain itself.
Lussa Gin 20cl – £17.50
Lussa Gin, Isle of Jura
Three women in the Isle of Jura distil this gin using fifteen botanicals from the island. It is 42% ABV, zesty and aromatic, and it has the awards to back that up. The 20cl bottle is a sensible gift size and straightforward to post. One practical note – Lussa dispatch by Royal Mail on a Wednesday, so order early in the week if the gin has a birthday to get to.
‘Taobh Tuath Tweeds’ Bobble Hat – £20
Harris Tweed – Taobh Tuath Tweeds, Isle of Harris
A warm, chunky-knit bobble hat, part fleece-lined, with “Taobh Tuath Tweeds” embroidered across the turn-up band. The yarn is flecked and multi-tonal, so every colourway has some depth to it rather than sitting flat. It comes from an independent Harris Tweed weaver based in Northton – Taobh Tuath in Gaelic – in the Isle of Harris. Five colours to choose from: blue, green, orange, pastel and pink. A proper hat for island weather, and an easy thing to buy for someone whose head size you are guessing at.
Callanish Stones A2 Print – £20
Donald Smith Graphic Design, Isle of Lewis
Clachan Chalanais have been standing in Lewis for about five thousand years, and this print sets them against the Northern Lights and the night skies the Outer Hebrides get on a clear winter evening. It is A2, so 42 x 59.4cm, printed on a 170gsm silk stock that takes a frame well. Donald Smith suggests it for anyone living away from the island, which is the polite way of saying it is aimed squarely at the homesick. It works.
Travels in Another Country; A Guide to Gaelic Scotland – £20
Acair Books, Isle of Lewis
Scotland was a largely Gaelic-speaking nation until relatively modern times. Coinneach Maclean travels through those areas, present and former, and tells the story from the point of view of the Gaels themselves. He is a Gaelic speaker from South Uist, trained as an archaeologist, and later worked as a Blue Badge guide all over the country, so he knows exactly how the tourist version of Scotland is usually told. The book is packed with songs, poetry and place names, along with the gods, witches, heroes and villains who once filled these landscapes. A good gift for the person who has read the guidebooks and wants the real thing.
Crofthoose Pendant – £95
Yala Jewellery Shetland, Shetland
A sterling silver pendant shaped like a croft house, with two windows cut clean through the silver. The roof and the walls carry different textures, so the wee house catches the light two ways as it moves. It hangs on an 18″ sterling silver snake chain and arrives in a peerie gift box, ready to hand straight over. This is the pick for someone who has stood in front of a croft house and quietly wished they lived in it.
Choosing between them
If you are buying for someone who has never been, the print and the book do the most work – they give a person somewhere to look and something to learn. For someone who has been and cannot stop thinking about it, go for the things that reach the senses: the candle, the tablet, the gin. And the pendant is for the one who has already decided where they would live, given half a chance.
Every maker here is a small island business, and the money goes to them directly. There is plenty more where these came from – the full gifts collection runs across every island we work with, the Isle of Harris page is a good place to start if tweed is the draw, and our Isle of Arran gift guide covers one island in proper depth.
Order in good time, and the ferry will do the rest.
