Christmas will be soon upon us and we present a few ideas for Christmas presents for the county-lover in your life.
County Flags of England, Wales and Scotland by Jason Saber
Over the last 20 years county flags have become a familiar sight in Great Britain, not just on the flag poles outside pubs and public buildings, but also on car bumper stickers, food labelling, political marches, at sporting events and, especially, at festivals. And yet only 20 years ago only a handful of our historic counties had their own flag. This book, by ABC’s former flag officer Jason Saber, is a great guide to the flags themselves and to how this phenomenon came about.
We all love our county and flying its flag is a great way to tell the world this! Let’s make 2025 the Year of the County Flag. There are many suppliers of county flags out there, including:
Perhaps the easier and best way to promote your county is by a county flag bumper sticker. There are numerous suppliers of these on Amazon, Ebay and Etsy. Many of these also supply mugs, pens, fridge-magnets etc, with your county’s flag on it.
The Friends of Real Lancashire Shop is a great place to find Lancashire-related goodies including postcards, tea-towels, books, flags, fridge-magnets, pens and much more.
Our patron Russell Grant’s book The Real Counties of Britain is a wonderful full-colour guide to all of our counties. Russell’s passion for our counties is matched only by his knowledge of them, their history, geography, places and people.
Ian Sansom has now published five volumes of his highly regarded County Guides series of mysteries: Death in Devon, Essex Poison, The Norfolk Mystery, The Sussex Murder and Westmorland Alone. Ian gave a fascinating talk at an ABC meeting several years ago. His books follow Swanton Morley, the People’s Professor, as he sets off on his journey around England writing The County Guides and encountering murder and skullduggery wherever he goes. The character and the series are based on Arthur Mee’s The King’s England series. All of Ian’s books are available on Amazon and at all good booksellers.
Can places be abolished that are nearly as old as England? Is that what Parliament tried to do to Yorkshire and other English Counties in 1974? What did ordinary people make of it all? What is Yorkshire anyway? ABC President Michael Bradford’s book The Fight for Yorkshire set out to answer these questions and along the way chronicles the development of the Yorkshire Ridings Society, the Saddleworth White Rose and the many other people and organisations who fought and continue the fight for Yorkshire. Something of a gold-oldie now (the book and the author!) copies of this book can be found on Amazon and Ebay. It’s well worth getting hold of one.
There are many companies that reprint old railway posters, e.g. Vintage UK Railway Posters, Art Prints World . Many of these are based on a county and, especially the Art Deco posters from the 1930s, are spectacular works of art. They would make a splendid gift, especially if framed.
Show your county pride with a personalised place name sign or house sign. There are now lots of suppliers, especially on Etsy, who will produce signs more or less to your specification. This example from FlorenceAndFlamingo would make a great house sign.
The Happy Puzzle Company produce a set of Historic County Map Jigsaws based on John Speed’s map, as do All Jigsaw Puzzles.
Finally, there are many online providers who supply county-themed Christmas cards, often by locally-based artists. Emma Ball on Etsy supplies Christmas cards from Cornwall, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Essex, Hampshire, Kent, Fife, Norfolk, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Orkney, Shetland, Shropshire, Suffolk, Sussex and Yorkshire.
UK Gift Shop has many county-related gifts available (e.g. their selection of Middlesex gifts https://www.giftshop.uk.com/search/for/middlesex).
