Butchers, bakers and bookshops.

The last few weeks have flown by and Christmas seems to be fast approaching! I missed "Stir up Sunday" by 8 days and only made my Christmas pudding last night using my Mother in law's recipe see here.

This Saturday 8th December is "Support Small Business Day".  I have always been passionate about buying local and particularly at this time of year I seek out the unique shops. This slogan for me says it all.



We are lucky with our closest town of Bridport being full of independent retailers, reminding me of how high streets used to look in long forgotten Christmas's of the past. Not only are the shops in Bridport unique, but some of them have some great names too .....


Books are always at the top of my Christmas list and there are four bookshops to lose myself in!





So no guesses where I will be this Saturday. Is your High Street a clone of so many other towns or do you have some hidden gems like me?

Sarah x

Comments

  1. We have an old-fashioned ironmongers / hardware shop that has EVERYTHING you could possibly need for your home! The sort of place where you really can buy one screw or washer if you want to - not a pack of twenty of the damned things. Not the sort of place for Christmas presents though...

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    1. We have a shop like this too that i should have mentioned! It has become my husband's favourite shop since we moved! Sarah x

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  2. What a wonderful place to be able to do your Christmas shopping! I love the book store names, especially the Wild and Homeless one. I like to shop locally too, but find it is hard to do for Christmas items. It seems to be mostly run-of-the-mill stores where we live. They are the kind you can find in any mall.

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  3. What a wonderful place. I've never been to Dorset, but I think you've just inspired me to visit as these are just the kind of olde-worldy places I love. It's always wonderful to find somewhere that has character and independent shops rather than one of those streets that is so samey, you could be absolutely anywhere.

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    1. I'm glad I have inspired you to consider visiting Dorset. Many of the smaller Dorset towns are similar but Bridport is my favourite as it also has a large vintage area and a Saturday market along the main streets selling a variety of items. Sarah x

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  4. I love independent shops. My local-est town is full of them and all the other towns around here are too - we have the totally locally initiative in full swing in these parts which means a great range of interesting shops - I'd love to have the money to support them all! And a home to put my purchases in, hehe! I love the look of that bookshop!

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  5. We have a whole bunch of independent, unique shops in our town of Frederick, along with restaurants that attract people up from Washington, DC (50 miles away). It is fun to go downtown and browse, but I mostly only shop at the consignment shops because the prices are generally too high for my tastes in the unique shops. I loved walking down your High Street via your Blog! That bookstore is where I'd spend most of my time, after a stop at that bakery!

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  6. Hi Sarah,
    you really live in a wonderful area!
    Here we only have" normal" shops, if I want special things, I would have to drive long ways ....
    Happy week to you and a blessed advent time!
    Love and hugs
    Claudia xo

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  7. My favorite shop is in Our Historical Old Town called The Red Door. I can ride my bike there which makes it even better. I try to do most of my gift shopping there. It is an antique shop and stock it's of ASCP. I can always fins something there. I really miss having a bookstore. All of ours have gone out of business because of Amazon. Your book shops look wonderful.

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  8. I think we have no highstreet in my town like yours, I must go to Hanau, when I want to see some shops. But - like in each town, nothing new.
    Wish I where in Britain now, ore in Scotland.

    Sigrun

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  9. It is my impression that lots of little artisan shops are reappearing on our streets especially with some of the big chains collapsing i.e Woolworths. Most little towns now seem to be reverting to the way I remember them in past with a Farmer's Market too. People appear to be more enterprising again, and that must be a good thing.
    Is Bridport the place I see on the TV news each year with a large street light parade and floats?

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    1. I think it is Bridgewater that you may be thinking of with the large street parade and floats. Somerset towns have carnivals running from September through to November with amazing lighted floats. Just the thing to bring some fun to the dark evenings! Sarah x

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  10. Dearest Sarah,

    Here in our state last weekend, we had the EXACT SAME thing happening! Supporting small business was such a success here. So many shoppers out like the OLD DAYS....walking the snowy streets with their families, walking into sweet shops that offer handmade or original gifts instead of supporting those big giants in the malls. It was SO thrilling and I wish we had it going on again this weekend.

    These shops you are sharing are so precious. I sure wish I could go there! Happy day, Anita

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    1. Anita. Thank you for painting such a lovely picture of your small business day. Sarah x

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  11. You have some beautiful shops in the town nearby Sarah. The window displays look both beautiful and delicious! Love the names :-)

    Have a lovely day!

    Madelief x

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  12. Our High Street is tiny - a butcher, two bakers, co-op, post office, boots and two small cafes! I do shop from them all as much as possible but since it is such a small town we do have to head into Inverness for many things. It looks like you have a wealth of lovely independent shops nearby. Four bookshops would be so much fun! Juliex

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  13. Hi Sarah, you have some lovely quaint shops in your area. I like to shop local as well, and I like to look for small specialised shops which don't stock mainstream items. Have a lovely week! Sharon x

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  14. A great post. I love independent bookshops (almost as much as craft shops!) - they are a real treasure when you find a good one :)
    Cathy x

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  15. What a lovely shops in your village. I was in Londen last weekend, it was amazing there! But i do love these small shops in your town.

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  16. Yes, you live indeed in a lovely area with bookshops......and delicious bakery. I live in a small village with rather a lot of good shops, but we never have such lovely fronts of the shop and the display windows are not nearly as beautiful as yours.

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  17. A craft co-operative has recently opened a pop-up shop in Dunoon for the few weeks before Christmas and seems to be doing well. Not a choice like yours though - it's wonderful!

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  18. Sadly we don't have any fabulous shops like this, but I am glad that you do and I do visit them when I see them! xx

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  19. Not many wonderful shops around here, yours look great.

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  20. Sarah - your local shops look so charming. Thank you for reminding folks to shop local small businesses it is such a good thing. We don't have anything in our small village, you have to go to the city for shopping and it is a lot of big box stores. Blah.

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  21. High streets . . . charming exteriors . . . creative names . . . I love England!

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  22. Lovely shops! Geographically here I can travel to a few lovely downtown shopping areas with independent shops...but none with such adorable names as these!

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  23. I totally agree, if we don't support our independent shops we lose them and what a boring place it would be.

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  24. Bridport is a fabulous place. Romsey has a few independents and Stockbridge nearby also does x

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  25. We have quite a few independents in our local market town - sadly not all of them last long and when they close down another charity shop opens I think we have eight now.

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  26. It sounds like your town has some very neat stores Sarah! :)

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  27. We have lots of independent shops in our area and I love to support them. I love to look out for something different for presents.

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