It is a Christmas tradition in our family to go for a bracing walk on Newborough Beach on Christmas day, whether it is pouring down with rain or bright enough for sunglasses.

This year’s walk was even more memorable than most. Not only did the sun come out, offering a stunning view of Snowdonia and Llandwyn island, but we also found something we’d been looking for for some months.

Our new Saltcote shop is big, light and modern and we have had many discussions about how to fill such an interesting space since the build began. Since the summer we have been in search of a large piece of driftwood to suspend from the ceiling and hang with lights, to provide an interesting, local feature that will break up the space.

And as we turned the corner of the beach on Christmas day, what should be staring us in the face but a huge piece of driftwood, clad in goose barnacle shells, and beautifully weathered? Indeed the (sadly dead) barnacles would suggest that this tree has travelled all the way from the tropics to reach us on our day of festivities.

Our salty dog Zinzan looked on as we tied the tree with straps ready for the haul to the car, as did many other rather bewildered walkers. We dragged the tree along the path, past dogs, walkers and Christmas drinkers, and (after quite a few rests) made it to the car park where it took a bit of sea-sawing to manouvre the wood into the trailer.

Watch this space for the lighting fixture (the log needs a little cleaning and drying before it is going anywhere near the ceiling – the smell is not an altogether pleasant one at present)