There are a couple of things that make it a special place: it's almost certainly the smallest Book Shop in the UK and the building features in one of Beatrix Potter's books - The Tale of the Pie and the Patty Pan.
It is in a wee building next door to the Gallery and is run by a team of volunteers, who are always happy to chat to people and answer any questions – regarding the National Trust or the Lake District in general. (Oh – yes – and on books too!)
The volunteers and myself have had a couple of fun training sessions in which we learnt what to look out for in a book – what makes a book desirable. This did somewhat alter our pre-conceived ideas and gave us more confidence in pricing the actual books. We’ve also been learning how to make best possible use of our tiny space; how to display books more attractively.
After our training we are planning a big sort out – putting all we’ve learnt into practice. We’ve started on a few things – but look out – we have BIG ideas for such a small Book Shop!
Rather than try and be all things to all people in such a small shop - We are looking to specialise in a couple of areas. The two most obvious areas for us, as we're part of the Beatrix potter Gallery, are Children’s Literature and also local/walking/mountain books. But as we're in a prime holiday area - of course we're still going to stock a wide range of fiction.
We are always on the look out for new folk to join our volunteer team, give donations of books or buy some lovely books - maybe you would like to do one or all of those things!
We look forward to seeing you - and please - just this once - don't keep a secret!