6 Unusual Christmas Gift Ideas

Mike Peake starts wrapping

LONDON, UK

FRESH OFFAL
They are the bits no modern butcher touches, but the innards of cows, sheep and chickens are considered delicacies at London restaurant St John (www.stjohnrestaurant.com). Chef Fergus Henderson has won awards for his innovative cuisine, and he’ll happily sell you vouchers for his eateries at Smithfield and Spitalfields.

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ROME, ITALY

MONK-MADE GUM WASH
Stock up on smellies at Ai Monasteri (72 Corso Rinascimento, www.aimonasteri.it) and you’ll be dispensing not just cleanliness but a little bit of godliness, too. Everything here is handmade by Italian monks, and even their honey-based products come courtesy of Holy Bees.

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EDINBURGH, UK

MAGIC CAULDRON
Occult shops are the kind of place you tell a friend you’re visiting just before you go, lest you never return. The Wyrdshop on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile (154 Canongate, www.wyrdshop.com) is as creepy as they come and filled with pagan cloaks, scary-looking scrolls and witches’ cauldrons – perfect for weird cousins and mad aunts.

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STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

HANDMADE FISHING LURES
Competitive bunch, anglers, and there are a lot of them about, so a visit to specialist store Lundgrens Fiskredskap (12 Storkyrkobrinken, www.lundgrensfiske.com) is a great idea for anyone hoping to better last year’s maggot box/ woolly hat combo. Handmade, one-off lures are a speciality, sure to make any budding rod-bender whoop with delight.

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THE WEB

BACON PLASTERS
Finally, in this thoroughly modern world, a gift that you don’t even need to leave your home for: plasters that look like strips of bacon, available online at www.perpetualkid.com. They’re made in the US, so they call them “bandages” – but we know what they mean and they’re the best comedy Christmas present ever, especially if you own a pig and he’s a bit clumsy with his razor.

PARIS, FRANCE

STUFFED REINDEER
Deyrolle is a Paris institution, dating back more than 170 years and selling everything from ostrich eggs to antique skeletons and stuffed fauna. When this fine shop (46 Rue du Bac, www.deyrolle.com ) was damaged by fire last year, France rallied round to help rebuild the collection of curios that were on sale, and today Deyrolle is as good — and insane — as ever. So this year, why not give a stuffed zebra or even a stuffed reindeer?

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