I first came across Punnydukes on Instagram and was immediately enamoured of their brightly-coloured, imaginative range of merchandise. Owned by Katie Abey (who also designs a lot of the products) and her husband, Jeff, I knew it was the kind of place I’d love to visit.
I assumed it would be based in somewhere like London or Bath, where I would be very unlikely to visit. So you can probably imagine my excitement when I realised this quirky little grotto, filled with an assortment of magical knick-knacks was actually only 40 minutes away in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire, a regular destination of ours.
At the beginning of August, I collected up the remainder of my birthday money and took the whole family along for our first exploration of Punnydukes.
Perhaps the most impressive part of Punnydukes is the decor. Great care and attention has obviously been taken to transform every nook and cranny of the shop. There are so many beautiful displays and so much artwork to see, that I’m sure I could have stayed there for hours and still not seen everything.
It’s one of those shops where it would be so easy to buy one of everything but in the end we managed to narrow it down to a few treats for myself and the girls (and even a little something for Mr M)
Punnydukes is perhaps most well known for its’ range of Harry Potter themed products and this was what the girls were most interested in looking at. They’ve designed their own versions of the Hogwarts Houses, with “Punny” names and the girls quickly rushed to decide which house they would be in. Poppy opted for Gryffinboar and decided to buy the matching tote bag, while Freya selected Hufflepug and couldn’t resist the bookmark and pin badge to show off her house.
I wanted to find some stickers to decorate my new laptop, and amongst others, picked up this Liquid Luck sticker seen in the photo below.
I, on the other hand, gravitated immediately towards the Labyrinth themed items. If you know me well, you’ll know that the 80’s cult classic is a firm favourite in our house. I picked up a set of coasters, each with characters and lines from the film. (I was gutted that I couldn’t find the “worm” one, but there’s always next time) I’d also seen this amazing print with the lines from the song “Dance Magic” (possibly one of the most famous Labyrinth quotes ever” and Mr M found a postcode with the incomparable Jareth and his crystal ball, with one of our favourite lines “I move the stars for no-one”
(The Funko pop is from my own private Labyrinth collection, which is steadily growing by the minute!)
As we had spent over £10, there was a special offer and we each got to choose one of the Punnydukes soft enamel pins, also designed by Katie Abey. Freya chose the signature “Punnydukes design but Poppy couldn’t choose between two, so I let her have mine as well! I’m a soft touch sometimes!
In the photo below, you can see our complete Punnydukes haul including Poppy’s tote bag, all of my stickers and an extra BFG themed postcard that Poppy decided we had to have.
Punnydukes is exactly the kind of unique, whimiscal shop that I adore and I plan to visit as frequently as time (and my bank balance) will allow. Their stock is constantly changing and growing, and although they do now have an online shop, it’s the sort of place that I really prefer to step in and see what grabs my attention.
So, who’s up for a visit?
