Arts and crafts fans are in for a treat in Alexandria this month with the opening of the town’s first ever pop-up shop dedicated to locally-made creative wares.

The Makers Marketplace brings together a huge range of unique items that have been hand-made by talented craftspeople from the area, all under one roof.

Located on Mitchell Way, there are all kinds of perfect gift items, from hand-made natural remedies and woodwork, to intriguing paintings for sale.

Crafts lover Susan Maxwell, originally from Argyllshire, is one of the people responsible for getting the pop-up shop up and running - and she’s delighted to have this area to showcase the work of the area’s makers.

She said: “I’m part of a group trying to promote crafts in the area, and some of us decided to see if we could get a pop-up shop going. That was just a few weeks ago.

“We opened up the first Saturday of Easter. We have a lovely shop to uplift the shopping area.

“All the items are curated. There are lots of things that would make nice gifts.

“We’ve got paintings, hand felted flowers and animals, woodwork, hand-made wooden spoons and wooden horse shoes.

“We’re also selling display furniture from Kean on Antiques in Clydebank. We have alcohol ink paintings by Jenna Ferguson and herbal remedies by Green Tree Remedies, and there is also hand-fired and painted glassware.”

The pop-up shop is an opportunity to open the community’s eyes to the many talented makers and artists on their doorstep and what they have to offer, Susan explained.

She said: “The goal is to try and make people realise there’s a lot of creative activity in the Vale of Leven, and that we need a permanent arts and crafts shop.

“I hope people feel inspired by what they see in the shop to take on something themselves as a hobby.”

Though the pop-up store is currently just for this month, Susan says she hopes it will be the springboard to take the store to other areas.

And she says they are keen for it to start the process of moving towards setting up a permanent establishment bringing Alexandria’s creative community together in a hub for networking.

She added: “The creative industry is growing in the UK. We need to have a space for networking for the crafts community, where we can all get together, and maybe teach other people too.”