Berkhamsted

water tower redscale by slimmer jimmer. Click pic for link.

I wish it could be Christmas every day, right? Well, I’m a fan of the mince pies, it’s true, but given the mammoth hamper-construction task we’ve given ourselves this year, I think I might not be able to cope with it every day. Nevertheless, set the task we day, which meant that this Saturday was dedicated wicker search day. Running through the demographic options it was concluded that the highest incidence of basketry was likely to be our Chilterns run, so off we set.

The job was done surprisingly quickly – Gerrard’s Cross, Amersham and Chesham did the trick. Left with some time to spend, we ventured along this string of Buckinghamshire towns and arrived in Berkhamsted. I don’t know if it’s the festive cheer or the availability of fancy brownies, but I liked the place: a strip of a high street bounded by boutiques and stores mostly masquerading as upmarket, if not quite reaching the nouveau riche exclusivity of Gerrard’s Cross or the Regency elegance of Amersham’s Old Town.

The castle was beyond the limits of our stay this weekend (after all, we had to return to make mincemeat and pickle onions), but it’s the seat of the town’s history. Berkhamsted was the extent of the marauding Norman invasion back in the (10)60’s, where the surrender was made official and the keys to London were handed over. The town’s been a thriving market community since, and today houses a very Christmassy market and three charity shops.

Cancer Research and Red Cross reside at the far end of the high street and are fairly par-for-the-course charity shops. Next to the Red Cross shop was a jewellery boutique where everything seemed to be modelled by meerkats; later on, the toy shop had to announce it was out of meerkats. There appears to be some sort of conspiracy here.

Pick of the bunch, though, is Oxfam. So often overpriced and filled with fair-trade lecturing, this one was packed to the gills with lovely stuff (cf. Pinner for another good example). I could have spent a fortune on books, limiting myself to a beautiful old edition of Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, and two books which I’ve been meaning to check out for my course. Then there was the epic mounds of children’s clothes and a generally well-stuffed collection of other stuff.

Berkhamsted is an excellent addition to a fine run of Chiltern towns – I could spend a happy day sifting the 23 or so charity shops between here and Beaconsfield, and given an hour extra we could even pootle from here to Tring, Aylesbury, Harpenden, St Albans…

Find: Berkhamsted @ Google Maps
Consume with: I recommend the stand selling nothing but chocolate brownies, I can’t fault that business plan.
Visit: I ‘ll be trying to find time for the castle next time.
Overall rating: four diddy wooden spoons

Blackheath

Blackheath, picture by waltz4aidan under creative commons. click pic for link.

I’ve skirted around Blackheath once or twice before, but it was good to get stuck in to the shops on this last weekend. I first visited to sample the delights of the Breeders at 4AD’s 25th anniversary bash, and most recently swung by here on the way to lunch on a field trip. That’s an interesting journey, by the way: try navigating your way from the monolithic ferro-concrete towers of the Ferrier estate in Kidbrooke, just the short distance to the leafy, villagey Blackheath: you’ll find it more difficult than you might imagine.

Once emerging from the mansions and private roads, Blackheath Village awaits. Named for the black heath (it’s not really black) that sits above it, this really is as ‘urban village’ as one might hope for: enter from the opposite direction, from the A2 (the old Roman Watling Street) and you’ll descend the empty space of the heath until the village church hoves into sight and the shops and houses fill out below. You’d almost believe you’d left the metropolis, but face the other way, into Greenwich Park and you’re staring at the temples of capitalism that now inhabit the Isle of Dogs.

This village is really the South London equivalent of Hampstead: an exclusive countryside retreat that well pre-dates London’s sprawl, but has remained exclusive. Shops here are cared for and cared about, and the very active residents association ensure that every inch of heritage is accounted for. But uniquely for any wealthy enclave in London (that I’ve come across), Blackheath is really quite welcoming. If you look hard enough, there’s even a proper car park (try parking in Hampstead), there’s an attractive train station, and a selection of shops from the useful to the swanky. Plenty of organic cafes and fancy pubs, but also hardware shops and chippies. And charity shops, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing.

Sadly for us, only one was open when we visited: we just missed Cancer Research on Montpelier Row. We did get to Oxfam, however, on the wonderfully named Tranquil Vale. As with almost every Oxfam, it’s worth visiting. The upstairs room is full of books of all sorts: some fancy first editions, as you might imagine, and plenty of others.

While there’s few charity shops here, I’d recommend a poke around Blackheath anyway – it’s one of few reasons to visit South London, and you might just find yourself wistfully for a life in the shires.

Find: Blackheath @ Google Maps
Consume with: The Princess of Wales gives good grub.
Visit: romp over the heath and through the gates to Greenwich Park for a dose of ancient royal hunting ground, then keep going to the Royal Observatory and one of the finest views in London.
Overall rating: three first editions.

Sorry

No post this week I’m afraid: essays due soon. More next week maybe.

Newton Abbot

Come To Sunny South Devon! by me'nthedogs', under Creative Commons. Click pic for link.

Most places I visit, the Tourism to Charity Shop ratio is actually pretty decent: there’s something worth seeing, a town worth mooching in, and so on. There’s exceptions of course, and Newton Abbot is one of them. Wikipedia has a fairly big section on its landmarks, but if a wiki article makes heavy of the town’s train shed and cheese and onion fair, you know you’re not onto a touristic delight.

To be fair, there’s no real reason for Newton Abbot to act as such a place. Its role is more as the functional hub of the area, leaving the tourists to get on with the attractive bits: Dartmoor, Torbay, Dawlish Warren, Exeter and Totnes are all within close proximity.  Newton Abbot has instead the big supermarkets, the administrative functions, and fulfils any longing the region had for modernist architecture in its dusty, angular main streets.

Compared to those aforementioned towns, you’d never know Newton Abbot was in the heart of prime Devon rural idyll, but it’s right there. It’s got a big horrible Asda, a local department store spread over several sights, oh yes, and about a million charity shops. Newton Abbot falls down comfortably high on the thrift side of the meter here. There’s more than I can remember, more than we had time to visit, and you could quite happily spend a couple of hours here completely avoiding the sites and focusing on the charity shops. There’s a large Oxfam books and music, a Cancer Research children’s store, British Heart Foundation, Rowcroft Hospice, CLIC Sargent, YMCA and many more. I think I counted around a dozen.

There’s clusters found on Courtenay Street, Market Street and Bank Street, and by the very laws of probability, you’re bound to find some sort of thrifty bonanza in Newton Abbot. Don’t go for the sights though, you’ll be disappointed.

Find: Newton Abbot @ Google Maps
Consume with: we just ducked in a Costa, but there’s some sort of ancient cider house.
Visit: How about Puritan’s Pit, erstwhile hiding place of fugitive rogue puritans.
Overall rating: three baby pajamas

Stoke Newington

Old post office sign, Allen Road, N16, under Creative Commons, by mtrank. Click pic for link.

I’ve been in Wood Green Library all morning reading up on gentrification, i.e. the process of displacing working class residents and replacing them with middle class types. It’s actually a lot more complicated than that, but you know what I mean. The key case study for this is actually Barnsbury, just down the road, but Stokie is definitely on the euphemistically titled ‘urban renaissance’ roster. It has its background in Quaker non-conformism and like Barnsbury was a fairly well-off sector, full of little Victorian terraces surrounding Church Street and Stoke Newington High Street, now the A10 but dating back to the Roman Ermine Street. Post-war, this was a thoroughly working class area in keeping with its entry into the London Borough of Hackney.

Lately however, like Barnsbury, Crouch End etc. nearby, Stokie has been overrun by the young, the wealthy, the stylish: it’s a very media-type area, full of sandal-wearing coffee-shop denizens with weedy beards and the Guardian tucked into their back pocket. And it has every amenity to cater to them: a range of extremely beautiful cafes all just on the far side of expensive; restaurants particularly representing the South Indian community of the area; a Saturday morning farmers market; boutiques and ridiculously over-priced children’s and locally-themed tat shops.

That said, it’s a very pleasant way to wile away a couple of hours, especially when combined with the gloriously overgrown Abney Park Cemetery. It lacks on charity shops, sadly, even when you broaden most yuppies’ stamping ground of Church Street onto the more ethnically-diverse A10 – they pop up as you go either direction (either South towards Dalston or North to Stamford Hill/Tottenham). Stokie has just the one, Mind, at the foot of Church Street. It’s a decent enough shop, though small: there’s little in the way of clothing, but the book section is, as you’d expect, fairly literary. The cd’s are often pretty good – my guess is that the journalists of the region offload their promos here, and you never quite know if you’ll happen on something useful.

This is prime trendy Londoner territory, surrounded on all sides by more down to earth parts, but remaining cheerfully aloof. For all that, it’s not a snobbish type of place, and though there’s definitely a Stoke Newington ‘type’, visitors won’t feel looked down on as you might get in Highgate, for instance. With outdoor coffee, the cemetery and Clissold Park, it’s definitely a pleasant place to spend a sunny afternoon.

Find: Stoke Newington @ Google Maps
Consume with: For coffee, breakfast or lunch, the Blue Legume is excellent (try the juices), but for dinner there’s nothing finer than Rasa.
Visit: Abney Park Cemetery is home to William Booth and all sorts of fun others, as well as some beautifully decayed monumental masonry and some serious atmosphere.
Overall rating: three pairs of sandals.

Dartmouth

Dartmouth, under creative commons from davepatten's Flickr photostream. Click pic for link.

I’m not the first to visit Dartmouth, you know. I’m only following in the footsteps of others, in this case Chaucer, Henry Hudson, the Pilgrim Fathers, Charles II, Flora Thompson and Jonathan Raban, and countless oiks who’ve passed through the dramatic gates of the Royal Naval College which overlooks the town. It’s principally as a port that Dartmouth is known – its strategic importance as a deep-water port was noted by the French who sacked it twice in the Hundred Years War, and for whose benefit the twin castles of Dartmouth and Kingswear were presumably built. Today though, it’s tourists by the million that throng the streets – no rowdy sailors looking for a night out, more nice English families come to gawp at the quaint harbourfront.

It really is quaint though: full of brightly-coloured buildings and the odd Tudor number (see John Burton Race’s restaurant The New Angel for an example), around packed alleys and streets and markets, it’s a really pleasant little town to visit. There’s plenty to see at the castle, and plenty of shops and things in town – a cute walled market, and the odd cobbled street with rows of boutiques, hand made soap shops, expensive kitchenware stockists, etc. There’s pasty shops and cream teas a-plenty, and you can even take the boat up river to Totnes or a steam train to Paignton, should you feel so inclined.

So, a tourist destination par excellence on the English Riviera, in the South Hams area of natural beauty. But not really the spot if you’re looking for a bargain. Aside from the many boutiques and chandleries there’s the National Trust shop and the like (and look out for the discount White Stuff store if you can find it), but only the two charity shops. They’re pretty good mind – Cancer Research has a big shop on Duke Street with some good finds: I’ve found a number of props in here before and I left this time with a nice grandad collared shirt, which is pleasant. Expect plenty of stripy boating-type shirts and slacks.

The other is the Mare & Foal Sanctuary. This is somewhat less ordered, but full of odd things – we spent a happy while browsing the children’s clothes and looking at odd board games and electricals.

That’s it for charity shops, so if you’re thinking of visiting Dartmouth try and work out if you fall more on the charity shop side, or the tourism side. Me, I’m a full-on tourist sometimes, so I like it here.

Find: Dartmouth @ Google Maps
Consume with: The New Angel is the place to go, probably, but there’s some awesome cakes in a window on Duke Street.
Visit: The castle’s pretty good – there’s cannons and arrow slits, which is what you want from a castle.
Overall rating: three little oil bottles

Archway

from Archway Bridge, by Martin Deutsch, under creative commons. Click pic for link to photostream.

There are some nice parts of London; you can see them from here.

So opined Saint Etienne back in 1993 in Archway People. Typically, New Model Army go one step grumpier with Archway Towers:

I’ve tried to wrestle
Some unbalanced nightmare
Tell myself over that I
Don’t really live here

Although it’s clearly somewhere people are trying to get away from, this North London nowhereville is redolent with music history. Joe Meek went insane just down the road, and the Kinks’ Muswell Hillbillies album cover was shot inside the Archway Tavern – now (reputedly) co-owned by Shane MacGowan. It’s also been home to the Boo Radleys, Jesus & Mary Chain, Ms Dynamite (ee-hee!) and Rod Stewart. Not a bad roll call.

I don’t know what the link is though: Archway seems like bedsit country for a million student bands, which could be a lot to do with it. There’s no way that you could call it a desirable area, so much so that I’ve never found any reason to stop here before despite it being pretty close. However, the Whittington Hospital beckoned, and with new found freedom we swept the charity shops of the area.

Which are actually pretty good. Time forbade us to stop by the familiar yellow and blue of Marie Curie (I’m reliably informed by my charity shop companion that it’s not worth the effort), so the first stop was a little but crammed Romanian Relief Fund. This was a tightly packed affair with everything in labelled boxes. I left with nothing this time but there was much potential.

The highlight is on the huge Archway junction itself. Looking up the hill you can see either towards Highgate Village or the Suicide Bridge; downhill is the Emirates Stadium and Holloway and the City; East you face through the houses to Crouch End, and West to Tufnell Park and on to Camden Town. Archway Methodist Church sits right smack in the middle of the junction, under the watchful eye of  the Archway Tower, and its accompanying shop is right on the main road. We moved quickly past a gentleman yelling abuses into a mobile phone and into the shop. It’s one of the biggest in this part of London, and not because of a furniture section, because there is none. Again with everything in labelled boxes, it’s a treasure trove of goods. There’s everything from knitting needles and patterns to the car boot sale staple of a box of cables; cases of records and rows and rows of books on every subject under the sun; tatty men’s coats to vintage lady-wear. It’s all pretty reasonable too: there’s a cart of books outside that are 5 to the pound.

This shop is a great find, and although Archway is a pain to get to unless you live on the Misery Line, it’s worth a re-visit. Perhaps when I have my follow-up appointment next.

Find: Archway @ Google Maps
Consume with: Perhaps a pint of the black stuff at the Tavern, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Visit: There’s really no visitable places in Archway, but unless you want to schlep up to Highgate Ponds or the Cemetery, you might want to take a look out from the Archway itself, the proverbial suicide bridge, with amazing views of London Town (another hint: try the fourth floor of the Whittington Hospital as well).
Overall rating: three knitting needles

Ashburton

Ashburton bunting, under creative commons from eversion's photostream, click pic for link.

There’s a certain credibility that comes with being the first town in the country to elect an official from the Official Monster Raving Loony Party. Alan “Howling Laud” Hope was elected to Ashburton council in 1987 and eventually became mayor of the town in 1998. Hope became co-leader of the party after the death of Screaming Lord Sutch and continues today. The Howling Laud is now as departed from Ashburton as his former co-leader of the party Cat Mandu (although not quite as terminally), as is the former party headquarters, Hope’s pub The Golden Lion.

There’s little trace of the town’s illustrious recent past in Ashburton these days, and much more is made of the historic stannary status (i.e. the town was a tin mining centre in this part of Devon) and for being the gateway to the scary wastes of Dartmoor. It’s been there since Domesday times, and was certainly there in the Civil War, being a hideaway from scared cavaliers running from Fairfax. Today, Ashburton is a small town just off the A38 Devon Expressway (the title reminds me of Billy Bragg’s A13 Trunk Road To The Sea) with about 3,500 residents, and 3 charity shops.

All three are local concerns. Brainwave is a little shop with no much that was worth buying in the end – but it’s well maintained with a good variety of stock. Animals In Distress is more of the same, but the best is the Mare & Foal Sanctuary store. As usual, my opinions are based on just the one visit, but nevertheless. I came out of here not only with a personal triumph (an etymological dictionary) but two Le Creuset saucepans – £100 odd new, £5 each to you, guvnor.

There’s not a great deal of Ashburton, and it won’t take you long to wander around and sample its sights. There’s cafes and inns and bookshops and giftshops, but the appeal of the town is less the shopping, more the magnificence of the moors on its doorstep. Therefore, it’s definitely a good stopping off point, if only for a pub lunch and a charity shop mooch.

Find: Ashburton @ Google Maps
Best buy: Definitely the Le Creuset. Mmm, saucepans.
Consume with: I went with the full English at Katie’s Kitchen, and it was not half bad.
Visit: There’s not really much to look at in Ashburton, but who needs it when the whole of Dartmoor is awaiting your walking shoe?
Overall rating: three hardback boxset

1st Blogday: Top Ten Destinations Of The Year

West End Lane, from Matt from London's flickr photostream under Creative Commons. Click pic for link.

People sometimes misunderstand what I’m aiming for with this blog. Certainly it’s about charity shops, but I’m no thrifter or financial manager – I really don’t have the organisational skills to be truly skinflint. I’m not making any bold claims to tell you how to do charity shopping well, or where to go to get the best bargains, I don’t sell my cunning purchases on eBay – the things I buy are things I like. It’s no sort of life improvement site; as much as anything, charity shops are an excuse to go poking around towns and places, interspersing the curiosities found in the charity shops with coffee and cake and the occasional wander into interesting parks and buildings. Really, that’s all it is. With that in mind, and having covered the Charity Shops part of the title yesterday, here’s my top ten favourite places that I’ve visited in the last year, for Tourism purposes – in no particular order.

Falmouth
My holiday in Cornwall was a fruitful one, with some excellent discoveries in Truro, St Austell and Looe. But the pick of the bunch was definitely Falmouth – not only an excellent charity shopping destination, but a really lovely, interesting town in itself. The long, winding, pedestrianised main drag leading from the new harbour developments to the old high street offers a succession of lovely shops, cafes and sights. Highly recommended is sitting for a coffee in Costa, set in ancient-feeling fortifications overlooking the warships of the Carrick Roads.

While you’re there: have a fish and chip lunch overlooking the harbour at the Harbour Lights.
Map

Hitchin
This North Hertfordshire town just about sits within London’s commuter belt, yet it could be any market town in the country. It’s got everything you’d hope for in a rural hub – large market including meat van; small clocktower; cobbled square; olde church; charity shops. It’s warranted a number of revisits for me, always with the greatest pleasure.
While you’re there: get a hot roast pork sandwich from A Touch Of Garnish.
Map

West Hampstead
When Stephen Fry’s not pootling around the world crying at turtles, he’s at home in the leafy ‘burbs of West Hampstead. And no doubt when he’s there he pootles in the charity shops of West End Lane, wanders the greenery of Hampstead Cemetery, and eats at one of the many local delis and cake shops of the area. A proper little burb, West Hampstead is far more appealing to me than it’s more well known neighbour; even if it’s a nightmare to park.
While you’re there: wander the Cemetery to visit some famous graves.
Map

Abingdon
Another quaint market town in rural home county splendour, Abingdon sits amongst the upper reaches of the Thames. It has its royal charter, county hall on stilts, an array of beautiful rural vernacular architecture and even a set of proper ruins on the river. It’s lovely for a quick wander around and some excellent charity shopping as well – several places doing furniture.
While you’re there: it’s only a few minutes up the main road into the dreaming spires of Oxford itself, and though I seem to be cursed on every attempt to go there, it’s still lovely.
Map

Whitstable
The Garden of England has many rare delights, of which I’ve experienced just a few (next stop: the garden’s back gate) and Whitstable is one of the crown jewels. A proper old fishing town converted into Victorian seaside attraction and into today’s mixture of industry (oysters) and tourists. The charity shops here are numerous and charming, and the town itself with its narrow alleys to the seafront, the beach huts on the groyned shingle, the oyster shacks… Very pleasant.
While you’re there: if you like oysters, then Wheelers is your best bet (I don’t)
Map

Totnes
Tucked away in the South Devon countryside, Totnes is at first an unassuming little place. But keep digging, as it’s a hive of activity: a market town with a steep Devonshire high street, packed with odds and ends. Plenty of charity shops, but also plenty of cafes, junk treasure troves, and hippy shops, if that’s your bag. If you’re going for the full on tourist experience, take the boat up the Dart from Dartmouth, or get the South Devon Railway steam train from Buckfastleigh.
While you’re there: it’s just a small castle, but it’s a castle nonetheless.
Map

Amersham
If we have a free Saturday, the first two suggestions to come to mind will always be Epping or Amersham. They’re easily accessible, and both a bit lovely. Amersham is currently tops: the standard of the charity shops is excellent, and it’s really rather a pleasant little town. It’s split into two levels – Amersham-on-the-Hill is where the charity action is, and despite what I said above, this actually is an excellent spot for bargains. But for tourism value, the Old Town at the bottom of the hill is one of those genuinely charming spots that few towns manage. It’s very Georgian, all coaching inns and bulging cottages along a wide high street – it’s very English, very beautiful, and well worth a drive through, at the least.
While you’re there: nourish yourself with a pub lunch from any of the excellent inns in the Old Town.
Map

Golders Green
Golders Green is hardly going to make regular appearances in guidebooks soon – really, it’s just a fairly standard North London suburb. But you know what? It’s nice. That’s the word. Golders Green features some excellent charity shopping, but plenty more besides, for a little place – kosher eateries, old school grand cafes, suit shops galore. And that’s before you discover the proximity of the wonderful Golders Hill Park with its little zoo, cafe, and the wondrous Hill Garden on this side of Hampstead Heath.
While you’re there: go out of your way to get to the pergola and hill garden – it’s truly beautiful.
Map

Royal Leamington Spa
Although I failed to make the most of it when I was there, nevertheless the spa town’s Georgian good lucks and elegant layout struck a chord. This is a prosperous, attractive town with good looks on its side, and it knows it. Nevertheless for all the fancy boutiques and high-end kitchenware, there’s much to admire here, whether it’s the grandiose victoriana of the Pump Rooms or the Bath-style crescents.
While you’re there: the Pump Rooms are the place to be, apparently. I think there’s a tea shop.
Map

Glastonbury
Centre of the pagan world it may well be, but Glasto is a dead cute little town with bags of character – that intangible quality that estate agents chase after is so thick here you can almost smell it. At least, I think it’s character; it may be a heady mix of joss sticks and cider. There’s cheese shops, crystal shops and inns a-plenty, a generally it’s just a sweet, nice little town.
While you’re there: wander up to the tor - close by to the town, but no less dramatic for it.
Map

That’s my top ten for 2008-2009. Any suggestions for the coming year?

1st Blogday: Top Ten Charity Shops Of The Year

Charity Shop Kitsch Window Display, from World of Oddy's photostream under Creative Commons. Click pic for link.

It’s come to my attention that Charity Shop Tourism was one year old on Tuesday. What about that eh? I’ve enjoyed writing this blog more than any other I’ve attempted, and it provides much less of a whinge factory than most blogs so it’s been good fun compiling it. I’ve explored loads of random places that I’d likely never have been to otherwise; I’ve picked up a ton of bargains; and it’s given me great reasons to get exploring this land that I live in.

So, in that spirit, I’ll be writing a couple of extra posts, today and tomorrow, to celebrate, starting today with the best charity shops I’ve visited in the last year. Tomorrow, I’ll do the best towns I’ve been to in my search – whether for the Charity Shop bit, or the Tourism bit. So, in no particular order, my top ten charity shops 2008-2009.

Sue Ryder Care, Epping (map)
Now that the even larger HEAL store in Epping has closed, Sue Ryder rules the roost in this forest outpost. It’s always a treat to visit, whether to rifle through boxes of random maps, a great selection of books from paperbacks to hardbacks and collectibles, even furniture – The One That Got Away was a leather-topped desk from here, but my office chair was a bargainous tenner from Sue Ryder. Best buy: The History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell (1948): £10.

Oxfam, Pinner (map)
Pinner is the very epitome of suburbia, setting as was for One Foot in the Grave and May To December, and one-time home to Bob Holness, Simon LeBon and Dame Elton John. Nevertheless it’s pretty cute, with some great charity shopping to be had, none more so than in Oxfam. Whereas this daddy of them all is usually overpriced and concerned with it’s fair trade nick nacks more than donated goods, this store is a lovably ramshackle throwback, with books, clothes and assorted tat all jumbled up. Given the area’s literary connections, it’s no surprise to find some really excellent books here, particularly: best buy is probably Disturbing The Peace: Conversations with Vaclav Havel, an unusual and interesting read for £2.

Isabel Hospice, Waltham Cross (map)
Charity shops are about the only thing this desolate little suburban wasteland has going for it, but it scores highly for a couple of excellent hospice shops – the best amongst them is the Isabel Hospice. This is a large shop with staff that will talk your ears off, and it’s one of those lovely places with a basket for everything. Obscure knitting patterns in that basket, buttons in that jar, even a basket of baskets. Best buy from here: beautiful wooden desk, £35.

Oxfam Books & Music, Royal Leamington Spa (map)
This has to be one of the finest charity bookshops around, and it featured in the very first post on Charity Shop Tourism. What grabbed me at the time was a shelf for American authors (I live far away – it’s probably a good thing, otherwise I’d be running low on cash these days), and LPs of Leonard Cohen and UB40.

British Red Cross, Amersham (map)
Home of the permanent half-price sale, this is a tucked-away little store away from either of Amersham’s main drags. For all that, it’s really high quality stuff and sees some really classy donations. The books and records aren’t much to shout about but grab some of the decent looking clothing and look it up afterwards: we’ve bought a £100 wedding hat for £3 and two pairs of Prada mens’ shoes for a fiver each. Best buy has to be those Prada shoes – it’s nice but I don’t have much use personally for a wedding hat.

Garden House Hospice, Hitchin (map)
This vast store, away from the marketplace centre of town, is like a warehouse charity shop – there’s lots of different things here, and lots of each. There’s plenty of furniture available, but it’s best for homeware: cutlery, crockery and the like. Best buy, probably a set of terracotta dishes (excellent for tiny pies), if I recall correctly – 20p each.

Norwood Ravenswood, Golders Green (view)
Golders Green is a hive of excellent charity shops, as long as you don’t roll on Shabbat. Go any other day though and you should definitely check out the Norwood store on the North side of Golders Green Road (there’s another on the opposite side of the road). There’s been many an item that’s tempted me here, from the chelsea boots that I’m still not sure when to wear, to a £45 accordion that nearly tore me up. The boots have to be the best buy, at £9.50.

British Red Cross bookshop, Palmers Green (view)
Palmers Green is an excellent stop for charity shops (if not much else), and the highlight of a visit for me is the Red Cross bookshop at the top of the street. While the ordinary shop next door isn’t all that, the bookshop is really excellent: masses of resources on anything you could want, from childrens books and comics to swathes of Penguin classics and always some beautiful sets of elderly hardbacks – Churchill’s account of WW1, that sort of thing. I’ve bought so many things from here it’s difficult to specify a favourite: perhaps my best buy was Herman Hesse’s Steppenwolf, but I can’t remember the price.

Relate, Whitstable (map)
I love a properly higgledy-piggledy charity shop, and this large store in the Kent seaside town is just that. Bits of stuff everywhere – Paul Auster books and some odd CDs if you can find them, but piles and heaps of clothing, toys and one giant caterpillar arrangement. Best buy: the Paul Auster was a good deal, books were less than a pound all.

Helen & Douglas House Hospice, Abingdon (map)
It’s difficult to pick a favourite H&DH shop – they’re all plain lovely (I’ve also seen been impressed in Chesham and Beaconsfield). This one was probably the winner, simply by dint of including a customer-usable coffee machine. I like coffee. I also like the lovely, thoughtful presentation of these shops – attractive shelving, conveniently located produce, all the sorts of things normal shops have to do as standard. Best buy from here, stacks of childrens’ clothes for 50-75p each.

That’s the top ten – please do let me know if you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them. I already have a massive list of places to go, and I’m definitely looking to add to it.