I’m so excited to have our first international Spotlight on Bookstores post! This is written by Cathy at Kittling: Books. Cathy’s tagline says “where I sit down with a nice cuppa and read anything that strikes my fancy!” Anything is quite a variety of books, including a lot of crime fiction. Aside from reading, her passions are laughter (the best medicine!), travel, photography (as evidenced in this post) and travel. She has posted several wonderful articles in her “Library Memories” series, which looks at life as the daughter of a small (pop. 1800) village librarian. It’s a great look at the past, and a wonderful tribute to her mother’s efforts there. (The wacky photo formatting is mine; I did the best I could with my somewhat inflexible WordPress theme … to see any of the pics larger, just click on the photo.)
When I married for the first time in 2002, all the perks of being married to an Englishman had yet to soak in-like having a British chauffeur any time we traveled to the UK. During our first trip to the UK in 2005, I had almost the entire day to myself in Hay-on-Wye, the Book Capital of the UK. We put almost 2,000 miles on our rental car during our second trip, but you know that I had to make at least one special effort to visit a book shop! The one I chose was Barter Books in Alnwick (pronounced ANN-ick), Northumberland, England-one of the largest secondhand book shops in Britain.
Robert Browning once said, “Oh to be in England now that April’s there….” How right he was! As we turned on the road to Alnwick, it seemed as though everything was blooming, and the fields were filled with lambs.
I had more than one reason to visit Alnwick. Due to my mother’s skills in genealogical detection, I knew that some of my ancestors once lived there. One was even a steward in the fifteenth century at Alnwick Castle, home of the Duke of Northumberland. Alnwick Castle is huge, and you can see it a long distance off. The route I’d chosen took us right past the castle and over the bridge adorned with the Percy lions. (Did you know that some scenes from the Harry Potter films were shot here at the castle?)
It was Sunday, and this small market town was quite busy. The streets around the castle were one-lane affairs, but I never worried when we met a car coming from the opposite direction. You’ll find some of the most courteous drivers in the world here in the North of England.
The only interesting driving bit came at the Bondgate Tower. Part of the original crenellated wall around the town of Alnwick, it still stands. What’s amazing is that the original A1 road-the major traffic artery between northern and southern England-went right through this tower, and as you can see only one car gets through at a time!
In a case like this, I’m glad that the A1 is now a four-lane motorway (interstate) to the east!
Once we managed to get through Bondgate Tower, it was only a couple of minutes before we arrived at Barter Books. It took a bit of maneuvering before we found a parking space in their car park (parking lot-friends have told me that I speak even more strangely now that I have an Englishman in the house). Barter Books is housed in the old Victorian railway station, and as you take a look at the photographs, you’ll probably think it’s a rather posh railway station for such a small town. Well, it is, but if you’re the Duke of Northumberland who has been known to entertain royalty, then a posh railway station is called for!
To see the layout of the bookstore and to read more of its history, by all means visit the Barter Books website. It is being lovingly restored a piece at a time by its owners, Stuart and Mary Manley. This would be the book shop to spend time in during the colder months. There are cheery open fires to sit by while you read, drink coffee and munch on cookies. Since it was April, there were no fires in the fireplace, and I knew my time was limited with my husband close at hand. (Although he reads, he can’t get lost in a book shop the way I can.)
At first while I wandered through the rooms, my eyes were constantly distracted by the beautiful skylight above, the historic details of the old railway station, and the current owners’ acknowledgement of their shop’s roots. You see, there are model trains running on tracks atop the bookshelves!
It wasn’t long before my book genes kicked in and I concentrated solely on the books. I looked at the rare books behind glass, but made myself move on because my budget couldn’t allow me to fall in love with something in those cases. It was no hardship; there were plenty of other books to distract me. Unlike many of the other book shops I’d visited in the UK, Barter Books wasn’t filled to the rafters with American books. Yes, they were there, but not in such numbers that made me feel as if I were in my local Barnes & Noble. I found myself spoiled for choice with history books, biographies, fiction, art…I made myself stop after choosing eight books to buy and taking them to the busy register. I definitely didn’t want to leave-I felt as though I were leaving untold treasures behind. One thing is certain: we’ll be passing that way on our next UK trip, and you can be sure that I’ll stop at Barter Books!