Any of the traders selling rugs will also be able to package them up for you to carry - we did this and just added an extra bag to our flight home. Even on Ryanair it was only £40. This is often cheaper than shipping, though obvs you have to carry it with you.
yup we're off to a cooking class there next thursday. mrs hell loves that manner of thing.
she also has designs on buying a rug. not sure how that's going to pan out.
strong call on the supermarket action.