  We present the properties of the first 250 $\mu$m blind sample of nearby
galaxies (15 < D < 46 Mpc) containing 42 objects from the Herschel
Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS). Herschel's sensitivity
probes the faint end of the dust luminosity function for the first time,
spanning a range of stellar mass (7.4 < log$_{10}$ M$_{\star}$ < 11.3
M$_{\odot}$), star formation activity (-11.8 < log$_{10}$ SSFR < -8.9
yr$^{-1}$), gas fraction (3-96 per cent), and colour (0.6 < FUV-Ks < 7.0 mag).
The median cold dust temperature is 14.6 K, colder than in the Herschel
Reference Survey (18.5 K) and Planck Early Release Compact Source Catalogue
17.7 K. The mean dust-to-stellar mass ratio in our sample is higher than these
surveys by factors of 3.7 and 1.8, with a dust mass volume density of (3.7
$\pm$ 0.7) x 10$^{5}$ M$_{\odot}$ Mpc$^{-3}$. Counter-intuitively, we find that
the more dust rich a galaxy, the lower its UV attenuation. Over half of our
dust-selected sample are very blue in FUV-Ks colour, with irregular and/or
highly flocculent morphology, these galaxies account for only 6 per cent of the
sample's stellar mass but contain over 35 per cent of the dust mass. They are
the most actively star forming galaxies in the sample, with the highest gas
fractions and lowest UV attenuation. They also appear to be in an early stage
of converting their gas into stars, providing valuable insights into the
chemical evolution of young galaxies.
