A hamper of food is always a great gift, when you can't have gluten it seems to make it more special as someone has taken the time to consider the fact that you can eat "normal" food, plus gluten free food is so expensive it's nice to have it given to you by someone else!

Virginia Hayward have been making hampers since 1984 and have a range of "speciality diet" hampers, included in these are gluten and wheat free hampers. Other special diet hampers include diabetic and vegan so they would be great to buy for other people with special dietary needs.

The gluten free hampers have three different sizes available, starting from £19.99 ranging up to £60 each contain a variety of savoury and sweet items to indulge in over Christmas and despite it being late on in the month you can still order with them in time for Christmas (although at the time of writing this, the £60 hamper is out of stock, the others are still available though)! We had no problem with the delivery and our hamper arrived within a couple of days (website states 3-5 days)

I managed to get one of the large hampers and it is fabulous and would make an amazing present for a loved one, the smaller ones, which are still in stock, may be better price wise though unless you want to spend a lot. Everything in it is gluten and wheat free, and there is a great mix of savoury and sweet in there, not all sweet like some hampers seem to do.

The hamper itself was a lovely wicker one (the two smaller ones vary from a bag to a smaller basket), I'll admit when I opened it and saw a couple of items on top I did think "oh, is that it", but when I dug into polystyrene pellets keeping everything safe there was all sorts hiding in the depths!

Here is exactly what I found lurking in my hamper (please note some of these may differ in the smaller ones and only be a selection not all):-

Linden Lady Chocolate Stars
Linden Lady Fudge
Lovemore Genoa Cake
Lovemore Shortbread Fingers
Easy Bean Chickpea Crispbreads
Mrs Crimbles Chocolate Macaroons
Mrs Crimbles Tomato and Olive Cheese Bites
Oloves Olives
Against The Grain Chocolate Orange Biscuits
Yorkshire Crisps Tin
Bottle of Cawston Cove Shiraz

Some of the items, such as the Against The Grain Biscuits, are products I haven't seen before and when I looked into them they are only available in select places, local delis and Wholefoods online etc. Others, like Mrs Crimbles, are more everyday products you can find in most places. It is nice to see a mix of products though, especially stuff that is less readily available.

I haven't yet tried everything but I will give some quick opinions on the bits I have tried, the Linden Lady products are fabulous, lovely chocolate and fudge, the chocolate stars literally melt in the mouth and the fudge is soft and creamy. The Lovemore Shortbread Fingers and pretty much like how I remember shortbread, but a little more sugary. The Against the Grain biscuits weren't quite to my taste, I found them quite hard but they'd be great for dunking in a cuppa.

These hampers overall would make superb pressies for the festive season, which every size you can get, with some different products to try and it lets your gluten free loved ones know you are thinking about them. Don't forget your vegan and diabetic friends with Virginia Hayward's other special diet hampers too.

Virginia Hayward offer loads of different hampers, packed with all sorts from food to cosmetics, plus you can even design one how you like (though this doesn't seem to apply to gluten free hampers), whether you have a friend who likes a tipple, a relative who is a chocoholic or a boss who likes smelly things, there are hampers for everyone on their website.

Sponsored by Virginia Hayward
Website : www.virginiahayward.com
Speciality Hampers Section: www.virginiahayward.com/hamper-range/hampers-gifts/speciality-diet-hampers