Our choice for day 21 of our #KentAdventCalendar is Ooh How Lovely, a 10-minute stroll from our English holiday rental and our go-to for fabulous last-minute Christmas gifts.
With its distinctive lime green façade, Ooh How Lovely adds a dash of colour to Hawkhurst’s historic white weather-boarded buildings. Owner Lisa Edwards, who opened the shop in March 2019, loves playing with colour… the more vibrant the better. Take, for instance, her approach to designing the show-home for a local development. Spurning the usual neutral tones, she covered the walls with Koi carp in a blaze of orange and turquoise. No surprise then that her corner shop is a kaleidoscopic explosion of colour, pattern and texture.
Showcasing local artists
Lisa, who has a degree in decorative arts & crafts, loves supporting local artists. She values their talent and makes a point of paying them appropriately. Often she gives them the confidence to show and sell their creations for the first time. Showing me around her treasure trove, she pointed out some thoroughly individual teddy bears made by an artist friend, hand-sewn felted toys “made by a lady in Eastbourne”, and the cutest toddlers dresses in vintage fabrics “hand-made by a lady in Hastings”. The shop is an Aladdin’s cave of hand-crafted objects and curios. Everywhere you look, there is something unique – a bouquet of hand-dyed and felted flowers, lampshades in a patchwork of different fabrics, paper cut buntings, signed limited edition prints.
Last minute Christmas gifts
Still need last minute Christmas gifts or stocking fillers? How about hand-knitted socks and bunnies, hand-sewn mushrooms, soy candles, ceramic angels, Moroccan leather slippers, mirror-mosaic flying ducks, a multi-coloured wingback chair? Or what about an old fire surround bookcase up-cycled for the BBC programme Money for Nothing – watch out for the programme in early 2020.
Lisa’s passion for all things hand-crafted is infectious. “Ooh how lovely,” she often enthuses. Hence the name. Nothing beats a unique hand-crafted gift! Check out her website here.
