21 Sep The Rambling Barter Books
My favourite bookshop is the rambling Barter Books in Alnwick, Northumbria. It’s the old station so along with the glamour of journeys from a bygone era, think the Railway Children, Agatha Christie, Brief Encounter; the musty, fusty smell of books combining with coffee and cake. There are sections for everything you can imagine a great bookshop would have including local history from all over the UK – I found some interesting ones about Manchester.
Most books are in sections with secret places to read and some are hidden in glass cabinets which adds to their allure. So many books you didn’t know you needed until you saw them here. There’s a train set running around the top of the shelves and somehow this adds to the feeling that time stands still inside the shop – you can spend all day, but in the real world only a moment would have passed. It’s a place to linger, wander and discover without a set book purchase in mind.
In Alnwick there’s also a cool castle and amazing garden, with a fairy tale treehouse – if you can tear yourself away from the books…
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