A shop owner from St Martins is championing a new campaign to persuade people to shop locally this Christmas.

Jacqui Atkin runs Gwalia Ceramics in Llangollen's Oak Street with fellow potter Charmain Poole.

The pair teamed up after meeting at a North Wales ceramicists group and 18 months ago they opened Gwalia Ceramics.

The shelves are a testimony to the way the region's flora and fauna are motivating these artists in clay.

Jacqui and Charmain take turns to run the business, a week on and a week off, giving them time to work on their vibrantly coloured designs at their workshops at home.

Their business is the kind of unique shop Denbighshire County Council’s #LoveLiveLocal campaign promotes as part of the diverse and vibrant shopping experience available on the county’s high streets.

The project is centred on the busy run-up to Christmas and Charmain and Jacqui and other retailers across the county are featured on a series of videos on social media telling shoppers about the variety of shops in Denbighshire.

As part of the #LoveLiveLocal campaign shoppers can support local independent businesses by using the hashtag on Twitter and Facebook to share good experiences they’ve had as well as promote products and services locally they have ‘loved’.

Jacqui, the editor of ceramics magazine Clay Craft and the author of several books on pottery-making, has taught ceramics and worked in the NHS using ceramics as therapy for mental health patients.

She said: “My inspiration is drawn from many sources including a recent visit to Australia to see my daughter but the view from my studio window which looks out over my garden and the woodland beyond has the most enduring influence, changing with the seasons, a rich palette of colour and shape.

“None of what we have here in the shop is mass-produced, it is all individually made by artists in their studios and much of it is made locally.”