Bear Cottage Crafts opened 6 years ago into an environment where there were

few shops and while many said it wouldn’t work it's still here and thriving.

It's all about atmosphere and that ambience that makes people gasp when they

come in the door, "Wow, not at all what I expected"! There's a lot in a

little space and you need to spend time to see every treasure that is

captured within the three rooms. Bear Cottage Crafts has always had

teddies, in fact teddies sell every day, little ones, bit ones, some

handmade ones, although it's usually only a real bear collector that can see

the value of a handmade bear. It's hard to keep up the supply of handmade

bears as it's usually done by hobbyists and they move on to other things.

We have some talented bear makers here in Swansea but it's no longer their

passion so I source handmade bears from other states and have a couple of

suppliers who are still producing enough bears to satisfy my needs. A range

of 100% cotton patchwork and quilting fabrics can be found in the third room

of Bear Cottage Crafts along with a complete range of Madeira embroidery

floss - with a colour chart to match with Coates and DMC.

Bear cottage Crafts sells many lines with the most popular being bears,

jewellery, homewares such as comforters and cushions, usually in patchwork

patterns to suit the country atmosphere of the shop. While 'country' style

is not as in vogue as it was a couple of years ago a lot to tourists come in

wanting just that sort of line. You can guarantee there will be your

traditional farm animal lurking in the corners as there are usually always

chooks, roosters, cows, pigs and even the odd sheepdog (all stuffed of

course). If candles are your thing I have a range of beautiful scented

candles ranging from a small 8 pack of scented tealights which have four

reusable glass holders and four spares, extremely popular in such fabulous

aromas as 'Lemon tart with Lime zest' 'Honey and Berry Sorbet', 'Tahitian

Rose" and they are coloured to match you dinner party table or bathroom

décor.

An extremely popular item right now is a set of four cheese buttons, OK you

say, what's a cheese button - when you have a cheese platter you put a

cheese button in each cheese so people hold on to them when cutting the

cheese (so they don’t use their fingers). They are about 5cm long and have

a pronged base to push into the cheese, they are a great entertaining tool

along with cheese chisels, pate knives, and the ever popular traditional

cheese knives which can be plain or have fabulous beaded handles.

Recently there have been more items of furniture which have been selling

well, wrought iron tables and chair, corner shelf units, garden seats,

butlers trays and even the odd sofa table, most things are for sale and

while some may be more expensive the aim is to sell quality.