Local Shops For Local People


I've been meaning to put this post together after my Locally Sourced one earlier this year and yesterday's miserable weather meant I could snuggle up indoors to do it. It's a list, not very scientific or complete, of the local independent shops and businesses I've tried. No money has exchanged hands to prompt me to do this: in fact I've paid them by buying their wares and liking what I find :)

These are all within 10 miles of home: it's good to find North Wiltshire has good suppliers, which are worth knowing. You'll see the list's biased towards gardening and food i.e. the topics I write the most about ;)

Nurseries

 Farm shops (with more than one kind of produce and often with a cafe)
  • Allington Farm Shop - within walking distance of home and is the place of choice for squishy cake in the cafe as well as locally grown or made foodie goodies (see my post about Food Miles)
  • Fosseway Fruits - PYO farm near Colerne, usually opens mid June to the end of August
  • Lackham Farm - part of Wiltshire College and produce is available at Whitehall Garden Centre's Farm Shop
  • Neston Park Farm Shop - the owners also run the fab Hartley Farm Shop at Winsley
  • V & P Collins (Bromham, on the way to Devizes) - for seasonal veg grown within a mile or so of the premises
  • Wiltshire Farmers' Markets - usually sourced from within 40 (ish) miles. Here's the current list of producers

 Food and drink
  • Box Steam Brewery - Box's famous railway tunnel and the boyhood home of Thomas the Tank Engine's author inspired the beers' names
  • Bishop Brothers venison - signposted to the left on the A429 on the way to Malmesbury, just after J17 of the M4. NB limited opening hours
  • Ceri's cheese - sample their ice cream too if you get the chance
  • Langley Chase Organic Lamb & Mutton - award winning meat from less than 5 miles away
  • Marshfield Bakery - a fruit cake you can pass off as your own
  • Marshfield Ice Cream - lots of flavours and uses the farm's organic milk. Their Christmas Pudding ice cream is a great seasonal alternative. Has a rustic ice cream parlour on summer weekends
  • Moles Brewery - with a very nice pub up the hill at Lacock when you want a good view to look at
  • MyLoaf - Corsham's artisan bakery
  • Tallywacker Farm - local veg box scheme
  • Tracklements - lots of chutneys, pickles, sauces, jellies and the sweet form of cheeses
  • Wadworths - complete with traditional beer deliveries made by dray around Devizes :)
  • Walter Rose & Son - the local meat supplier of choice for many pubs and restaurants

 Cafes, pubs and restaurants (those sourcing their ingredients locally)
  • Revolutions - where we celebrated NAH's 50th birthday
  • Steamers - internet cafe at Chippenham railway station which also exhibits local artists
  • The Bistro (Devizes) - our local celebrity chef who not only has a fab restaurant and cookery school, but has written a delicious cookery book and works hard at various local food festivals
  • The Carpenter's Arms, Lacock - where the landlord advertises he uses vegetables from his allotment 

 Independent Bookshops (which we all need to cherish)

OK North Wiltshire peeps, there must be loads more for me to sample and add to the list? E.g. Wine? Fruit? Fish? Game? Anything so long as it's good and local.

Not in North Wiltshire? How about telling us what's good in your local area - after all, we may come a-visiting sometime :)

Comments

  1. Bridget11 September 2011 at 15:33

    Great post. Could'nt agree more, with the cost of imports rising daily while businesses here are closing we need to support local producers. The imports may not always be available, it's in our own interest to make sure there are local alternatives.
    Local food for local people.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11 September 2011 at 16:10

    Great post, and will write local heroes in our area post soon. Can't help but laugh at your title whist remembering the next line from the League of Gentlemen sketch "... we did n't burn him...!"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Damo11 September 2011 at 17:54

    Great post, whilst there's a few new to me funnily enough I have sampled all the beers and can vouch for them!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lu11 September 2011 at 20:54

    Wadworth's 6X - Box Steam Brewery's Tunnel Vision - yum! Myloaf in Corsham is fab, an independent baker doing a huge range of breads, cakes and tarts - I have too many favourites to mention! Ceri's cheese is delicious. In Corsham too, a really good deli with a fantastic range of cheeses and lots of other things - a still independent greengrocer with lots of very local suppliers - an excellent fish stall at the Tuesday market... I could go on but I think I'd better stop :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Eight by Six11 September 2011 at 21:54

    great post, love the food section! I run a local monthly market in our village and love to support local producers. We don't have good shops like your list but we do have a farm shop up the road.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mo12 September 2011 at 07:43

    Great post :) No good to us, of course, but it's great to hear what gems other people have in their local area.

    ReplyDelete
  7. VP17 September 2011 at 10:00

    Bridget - welcome! I see there's a scheme to try and get local smallholder groups together so they can compete with the supermarkets. Sounds like a good idea to me.

    Petra - I look forward to seeing what yours are :)

    Damo - in view of your Avatar I'm not surprised ;) It would be great to see what available near you in Salisbury

    Lu - great additions :)

    Eight by Six - ooh fab, have you blogged about it? I must come and have a look...

    Mo and Steve - and who knows when you might find yourselves here, or me near you...

    ReplyDelete
  8. The bike shed19 September 2011 at 08:20

    What a great list and great idea. I shall give it some thought. Shipton Mill flour comes to mind but that is Gloucestershire - and the other week I went on cookery school run by Garry Rosser of Fish Works; he works from the farm shop at Beckington which is evidently a mecca fro locally sources / organic produce.

    The other 'local' thing I like to do, is to go to ,say, Corsham and do all our shopping along one high street. Malmesbury is good for that too.

    ReplyDelete
  9. VP19 September 2011 at 10:15

    Mark - if we went by the Farmers' Market philosophy, then I think Shipston Mill makes the grade (excuse the dreadful pun).

    The ability to do shopping along 1 High Street is one of the reasons we like Devizes in addition to Corsham :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Juliet7 October 2011 at 23:25

    Sorry I'm a bit late with this.

    We can't find any good farm shops round here, but when we're in your part of the country (ish) we always shop at White Row Country Foods, just off the A361 at the Beckington roundabout. Worth a visit some time when you're going south.

    Our nearest really good nursery is Beeches - really excellent - if you're ever in Essex!

    ReplyDelete
  11. VP9 October 2011 at 08:43

    Juliet - thanks for adding to the list. I don't get over Beckington way that often, so it's good to know of good local stuff that way :)

    ReplyDelete

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