Blue Haze is a really sweet little craft shop. It is in a small Victorian terrace that suits the…read moreplace down to the ground, but is not massively accessible. The shop is larger than it first appears to be because they use the upstairs space as well as the ground floor. They stock a good range of craft products, but this does make the shop feel very crowded as there is a lot of stuff in a small space. The ladies who work there are friendly and helpful, and they are more than happy to offer useful advice if you need it. Each of the staff members seems to have a speciality area, but they do all know enough generally to help with most things. It is quite expensive (even for a craft shop), but has the advantages of being able to get good advice and being able to buy everything you need from the one place.

Although this is a tiny shop, Hazel manages to stock most of the essentials for a wide range of…read morecrafts. Sewing threads, beads, papercrafts, paints, fabric dyes, tools and equipment, wools.. a little treasure cave. The staff are friendly and helpful. They run great workshops in a cosy little upstairs room with coffee and biscuits supplied! They are also very important this supporters of 'Plastic Bag Free Chesham' and will give you paper bags or a recyclable plastic bag for a nominal charge. Always a pleasure to visit.

This is literally the best cafe I've visited this year to date…read more Its Bohemian and Hippy with Eastern flavours with a touch of English class. It's a wooden shed cafe, that once you step in your transported to the other side of the world...Thailand perhaps! The insecence just entices your nostrils... Am I in Alandins cave. Sanuk has a small menu £3 for a pot of traditional tea and to my delight they had a selection of herbal teas as well with the alternative milk being Soya milk. I had Earl grey tea served in pretty tea cup and the milk served in pretty jug. They had a selction of homemade cakes and I ordered the gluten free carrot cake and "oh my dayz the best carrot cake ever!!!" It was deliciously devine and moist with the right sweetness and to savour that I had to eat it slow. All for £2! They also do soups and cheese scones. The atmosphere was cosy, added with the wood burner with the sweet smelling incense with eastern colourful decor tantalising my eyes. The customer service was warm and friendly. I know it's hidden in a forest but they do have a car park. I don't know when I'm coming here next but it's a special place that will always be bookmarked in my mind whether I come here by car or bicycle.

This is a beautiful place. I can't quite explain why. It's just a converted barn off the beaten…read moretracks, quite cold inside and a limited menu. However, there's something about the place which makes the journey worth it, it's so peaceful and calming and they're always so welcoming. You must try it to understand this enigma of a cafe.

Clinton Cards Berkhamsted is ideally situated on the High Street, right next to Lower Kings Road. I…read morewouldn't have thought that the people of Berkhamsted buy enough cards to support a Clintons, but apparently so! The store is actually a lot larger than the front makes out, extending a long way into the back. Clintons sells a variety of cards for all occasions as well as gifts such as bears, mugs, etc. The staff usually look a little bored, not that I blame them, but they never seem too keen on helping out and groan if you pay with anything over ten pounds. Overall though, for a card shop Clintons has the best variety.

Despite negative online reviews over many years about this store, theu seem to still do nothing to…read morefix it. I know the staff didn't know this but today was my first trip out in a month, due to ill-health. I was stupidly looking forward to it, despite previous bad experiences going back many years. After all, a trip to a haberdashers should be fun, right?! What is it with their staff?! We went in there with smiles on our faces, eager to spend money - all we got back were scowls! The same faces, same scowls, that we've put up with for years, but each time I hope it will be different. I was stood right in front of two members of staff, waiting politely to be served. They deliberately avoided eye contact - didn't think to say, "Sorry, I'll be with you in a minute!" The customer in front of me was chatting away, full of smiles, but getting blunt one word responses in return. The person waiting after me was told, very rudely, "I'm sorry but you'll have to move over here!" Saying 'sorry' when using such a nasty tone doesn't quite fix it, I'm afraid! She was standing at the checkout after all but must have felt like she was being told off for somehow standing in the wrong place! I've had the exact same telling off so I know this wasn't a one-off! I remember on my first visit, a staff member actually yelling at me, "YOU CAN'T BE BACK THERE!" Simply because I was looking at fabric on display for sale in the shop! I hadn't even noticed that the till was on the cutting table in front of me, 2 metres away! I was nowhere near it & certainly not about to raid it! Why put fabric for sale there if customers aren't allowed to stand there?! Despite this, like an idiot, I apologised! That's how scary these women are! They work in a haberdashery - a dream job for many! I'm sure the shop could find lots of amazing women to work there who'd love their job and take pride in their work. Instead, they have a bunch of miseries who act like they don't want to be there! Needlecraft had no competition for a while as the haberdashery in St Albans had a similar reputation. Now, under fantastic new young management, the St Albans shop is reinvigorated! Full of atmosphere, smiles, and good manners, Needlecraft finally have the competition they so badly need. Sadly, that shop didn't have quite what I needed so I had to go to Needlecraft - though they didn't have what I needed either. My first trip out in a month ruined by rude ladies who give the rest of womanhood a bad name. For goodness sake, sort this problem out - reputation is everything, and your shop's reputation is notorious for all the wrong reasons! It might help to get rid of those awful lights - firstly because it's impossible to see the colours of fabric etc correctly. But also maybe they' re giving your staff 'sick building syndrome' - maybe that's why they're all so incredibly grumpy?!

Brilliant shop, wonderful family business where the advice of the staff is invaluableread more

The works shop is worth poping into ,as you get different books on sale each time you go there. The…read morestaff are very friendly, It has different items in shop ,aswell as books. Toys, puzzles and lots more even things that you never thought would be in there. Always pop in just even to have a look round, but always come out with a sale.

really good priced stuff. like cheap boobs and cheap colouring stuff for kids and activities. i…read morelike this shop very much!

I've been to a few fancy dress/costume hire shops in my time, and ABC Costume hire trumps them all…read moreby far. If you're after a few cheesy additions to a fancy dress costume ABC has got you covered, selling the usual face paints, fake beards etc. They also sell a wide variety of wigs, some of which are very realistic. Most impressive though is their costume hire service. They have virtually any costume you can think of, in store and ready to hire. I remember seeing Chewbacca in their books and a whole host of other equally impressive costumes. Cost for the costumes vary, depending on the value of it, and a fairly hefty deposit will need to be put down, however you can't fail to impress! One thing I would say, is that the woman who runs it can sometimes be a little rude.

From the owner: We have over 4000 costumes available to hire including children's and have over 1200 different…read morelines of accessories to buy including Grimas theatrical facepaint,wigs,glasses,masks,costumes,second skin suits,crazy eye accessories plus more ......