Review - Santorini jigsaw puzzle from Cloudberries

I received this puzzle in exchange for a review

Recently I was contacted by Cloudberries and asked if I would be interested in reviewing a jigsaw puzzle from their beautiful range of puzzles. Of course I was! I chose a puzzle from the Small Batch series - random cut 1000 piece puzzles with designs featuring irregular shaped pieces. I was drawn to Santorini (affiliate link) which is inspired by an idyllic Greek island with traditional blue and white buildings, dark blue tiles and colourful yellow birds sitting in a beautiful potted fig tree. 

The image on the front of the box is only a part of the full illustration, so when browsing the puzzles be sure to look at the back for the full picture. Each puzzle comes with a full size poster of the design.

I bought some sorting trays back when I was tackling my 3000 piece jigsaw puzzle and I've found them invaluable for completing puzzles every since. The ones I have are no longer available but there are some very similar ones here - Becko Stackable Puzzle Sorting Trays (affiliate link). This puzzle was quite easy to sort as there are large blocks of similar colours which are fairly distinct. 

I soon realised that this wasn't a puzzle to start with the edges as there were just too many yellow edge pieces. Instead I worked on the large blocks of colour and quickly completed the blue tiles and the yellow pot. Then I was able to sort out the background pieces into sections of white and pink and put together the birds sitting against the white moon.

Next I decided it was time to tackle the rest of the edge. It wasn't easy! Although the pieces are randomly cut there is some repetition across the puzzle as a whole, so I did have a few false fits. This isn't a problem on a patterned part of the puzzle but it did affect some of the yellow border pieces, although it didn't take me too long to sort out. Then it was time to tackle the last area, the main background part of the puzzle, and I suspected that this would be more challenging.

It did take me quite a time to get to grips with the remaining part of the puzzle. This is where the shapes of the pieces were really helpful, as they are all so unique it's not too difficult to find the piece that you need. It's difficult to shape sort though, and you really have to work your puzzling muscles hard to remember the shape and colours of the piece that you are hunting for! It was very satisfying to finally find a piece that I'd been searching for and to slot it into place.

I really enjoyed completing this puzzle. The colours are so vibrant and I love the design. It wasn't an easy puzzle but there was a good balance between the easier and more difficult sections, and I really enjoyed the challenge. 

You can see all the puzzles in the range here - Cloudberries Small Batch jigsaw puzzles.