Finally! It’s actually Christmas. I feel as if the Festive Season has been going on around me for several weeks already.

This year more people than ever seemed to have started Christmas way back at the beginning of November.

Social media has been flooded with pictures of homes all decorated straight after Bonfire Night.

I am totally baffled by this fast-growing trend. I always thought there were just twelve days of Christmas. Now it’s increasingly becoming the twelve weeks of Christmas!

This craze of dragging it out over the whole of November and December spoils the magic for me.

Anyway, we’re here now and hopefully you have managed to get everything done; the presents bought and the food and drink sorted.

This year, in the run up to Christmas, I have made an extra effort to try to support local producers and traders.

We are blessed with some amazing food, drink and craft producers here in the South West, but in the past I have probably not supported them as much as I should.

Like many of us I have been lured by the ease and the lower prices provided by online shopping.

It’s something I tried to resist for as long as possible, but it got me in the end. I now regularly use the major online retailers.

But this year I happened to go to Tavistock a couple of times in the run-up to Christmas and what a revelation it was.

I had forgotten how enjoyable it is to browse in an actual shop and to receive one-to-one customer service.

One of my recent trips to Tavistock came about after I arranged to meet up with a former colleague for lunch. We picked the town because it’s equal distance from where we both live.

It also provided the perfect opportunity for me to try to support a few local businesses by doing some Christmas shopping there.

To ensure my trip was as efficient as possible, I checked out some local producers online first to see if their products would be stocked in shops in Tavistock.

There was one locally made item in particular that I was keen to buy. I won’t say what it is in case the recipient is reading this.

Having checked it out online, including the price, I was pleased to see the producer also supplied a local shop.

But when I arrived at the store I found the product was quite a bit more expensive. I queried it with the man in the shop and he kindly looked it up online to double check it was the same as the one I had been looking for.

He assured me it was and agreed it was markedly cheaper online. I bought it anyway as he’d been so helpful with some of my other purchases. But I never like paying over the odds for things, so I was a bit disappointed.

I realise shops have massive overheads, but this particular mark up felt a bit too steep. It sadly underlined why so many of us choose to shop online.

That aside, I have to say I really enjoyed finding quirky, locally made gifts during my trip to Tavistock.

But what really stood out for me was talking to shopkeepers and traders face-to-face.

In the brilliant Pannier Market I had a chat with one trader who was selling clocks and watches. I have an old clock that needs some repairs and asked him if he carried out that sort of work.

He didn’t, but he took the time and trouble to write down the details of someone who does.

I also stopped in one of the numerous independent coffee shops in the town. The woman behind the counter gave me a very cheerful and warm welcome, took my order and invited me to sit wherever I liked then brought my coffee over.

While I was there I observed the same warm greeting to other customers, many of whom appeared to be regulars.

It was in stark contrast to some of the brash, mass-market coffee chains where the queues and the noise are often horrendous.

To top it all, I also thought the parking charges were fairly reasonable for the amount of time I was there. And it’s not often I can say that about parking charges!

So, apart from paying over the odds for one locally produced item, I had a very enjoyable day.

But more importantly it was a wake up call. It was a reminder to me that we risk losing that customer service, those independent coffee shops and those unique local products. For many of our towns it’s already too late.

We can’t turn back the clock. Online retailing is here to stay and will get bigger and bigger. I am as guilty as the next person of using it and enjoying the convenience. Despite my best efforts this year, I still did seventy per cent of my Christmas shopping online.

It still wins out on that most precious commodity of all, time! It takes time to go from shop to shop. Much easier to search online, click and let someone else bring it to the door.

But, if you have a bit of time to spare there is a wealth of knowledge and unique, locally produced items on the high streets of Devon and Cornwall.

I am going to make it a New Years’ resolution to do a bit less shopping online and a bit more in our local towns.

Wishing you a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year, especially if you’re a local producer or trader.

Bye for now!