Belper
Tiny Town Big Community
On Saturday, May 6th 2017 we took a little trip to an adorable little town in Derbyshire.
We found the town centre nice and easily and found a free car park, that in itself seems like a miracle when you have come from Manchester. We parked up and I admired the view for a moment.
Car Park View In Belper
Then we headed down a gorgeous little secret feeling passage way, which had me excited before I even got anywhere.
Cute Path With Flowers
Then we hit the high street and the first shop we came to was possibly the cutest shop I have ever seen. J'adore Ma Vie is gorgeous from the outside and even better from the inside.
J'adore Shop Front
It was full of lovely things for the home and wonderful gifts. Including some with an amazing Belper theme. There was so much to look at as soon as you walked through the door it was like a magical treasure trove of quaint.
It's Always Gin O'clock In Belper
Everywhere I turned this little shop just seemed to expand the little rooms coming off the main one took my breath away with how lovely they were. In this room I felt like I had travelled back to a vintage village fair. The bunting set the room of perfectly.
My Amazement Face,
My two lovelies trying to take in everything
The displays were so well thought out and the stock all so in keeping with the look and feel of the shop. I was incredibly taken by all the painted dressers, adorable doesn't even cover it.
Beautiful Painted Dresser in J'adore Ma Vie
This little shop also has the most gorgeous little Alice in Wonderland themed tea room area, which I am going to try when I next return to Belper (sadly we were in too much of a rush to try it this time). It looked like an absolutely wonderful place to rest on a long day of shopping in Belper. I will definitely be returning to this little shop and I know a few people who will definitely be getting presents from here.
Alice Themed Tea Room In J'adore Ma Vie
We carried on down the road and found that Belper is pretty much heaven for me, we were there for an arts festival (more on that in the next blog post), there were so many independent shops, craft shops, lovely tea rooms, specialist cheese shop, bookshops including a charity one and plenty of charity shops. Match that with the beautiful setting and the local history spots and it's definitely a place for me.
We found so many great bargains. I was surprised by the number of books I found in The Book Shop. The Book Shop didn't look all that exciting from the outside.
The Book Shop, Belper
Once inside though they had a good selection of new books but what really appealed to me and my bargain hunter ways was the selection of second hand books. The books were so well priced, I had no problem picking up eight teenage horrors for my son at just £4 for the lot. I thought that was all I was buying and then I saw the collection of second hand books at the back.
Books Galore In The Book Shop, Belper
The back section of the shop was just the kind of little second hand book shop I long for, Books piled around, in every spare bit of space. What was truly marvellous was, when I picked up a beautiful hardback book on mermaids and asked the price as I couldn't see one I was told all the books except the ones marked 90p or 50p were £1. All of these books to hunt through knowing I could buy several and still not spend a lot was fabulous. In the end I picked out another two for myself and my mum got some too. We left the shop more than happy that we had gone in.
Also in Belper we went to some great charity shops, saw a very pretty little park and met some lovely local people who were all super friendly and very proud of their town, we were told the best places to check out next time we come, including a mill museum, a windmill, the river gardens and some lovely pubs. I really fancy trying out this little place near where we parked the car, maybe next time.
The Micro Angels Pub
All in all even though we only spent a short while exploring, Belper has certainly found a place in my heart. We came for the Arts festival which was held in Number 28, I would definitely recommend a visit there too but more about that next time, for now its time to say Good Bye to Belper and thanks for having us.
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