Village Shop

We had a car-free day today, which I aim for twice a week. Village playgroup in the morning - a 3 minute walk (or 15 with a 2-year-old!) then home for Ted to have an unscheduled 2-hour nap! He stopped his daytime naps 6 months ago but he's feeling grotty with a cold so clearly needed some more sleep. I took the opportunity to make a moussaka and clean the downstairs windows; rock and roll!

After his epic nap I thought he needed some fresh air so we hopped on the bike and headed up the valley to Broad Chalke, our neighbouring village. My village doesn't have a shop - boo - but fortunately the villages on either side of us do, and both are excellent. I actually prefer the one at Coombe Bissett but I don't like cycling the road there as it's too narrow and winding for safe cycling and cars really do race along it, so Broad Chalke is the best option for a 2-wheeled trip. I needed veg for supper, but that clearly wasn't going to tempt Ted onto the bike... one mention of ice-cream and he couldn't get on fast enough! I offered to stop as we were cruising along the back lanes and get some blackberries, but he said 'no ba-berries, ice cream!' so on I rode.

What a treat to be sitting outside eating an ice-cream in October. And chocolate Mini Milk, what a taste of childhood!

Anyway, this shop is in the village chapel. Monday to Saturday it's a shop and tearoom, and Sunday it reverts to a place of worship. It's run as a village co-operative and staffed largely by volunteers. It actually won the Countryside Oscars award for the best village shop and post office in the UK earlier this year - high praise for a venture that only launched relatively recently! It's a great resource for the village (although I suspect the politics involved would provide perfect fodder for a Joanna Trollope novel..!) and I do enjoy popping along and supporting it every now and again. We bought some lovely local corn on the cob to enjoy with our supper.

Rain forecast for tomorrow... Very annoying as the building work for our extension is due to start on Monday. It would be great to get the foundations laid before we have *too* much rain. Fingers crossed!