Within a 10 mile radius of Buxton in the picturesque Peak District of Derbyshire, England, are 3 notable bookshops for the bibliophiles amongst us.
Wake up and smell the coffee: one of the loveliest smells in life. Another of my favourites is found within the pages of old books, that glorious woody vanilla-like fragrance that encapsulates the history of the volume and echoes of older times.
For the bibliophile in Derbyshire, here are 3 of suggestions of where to get your fix – and two of them come with in-house caffeine as well.
This lovely old fashioned secondhand bookshop is found just below the old square in the attractive spa town of Buxton. It occupies 5 rambling floors of a Victorian corner house and its vintage shop front with large windows and hanging baskets catch the eye.
From the travel section under the eaves to the tiny museum room in the cellar kitchen you will find something to intrigue. There are over 40,000 volumes here, from the local interest section nestling in a little corner of the cellar, to the finely bound rare editions on the ground floor: it is organised chaos with a theatrical bent.
Pretty wrapping paper and cards line the steep stairwell amongst the books and customers can help themselves to tea and coffee. There is also a book binding and restoration section and the Guardian listed the shop in its top 10 bookshops guide. Find a corner and curl up, numerous chairs supplied.
If Schriveners is organised chaos, then this is complete chaos! This overstuffed secondhand bookshop occupies an old 15th century townhouse which was once the local house of correction. It nestles in a row that includes the post office in Tideswell, a pretty village in the heart of the White Peak.
The more slimline the better for this one as the long, narrow entrance passage is piled high with teethering books and the situation is much the same inside. The chap behind the till blends into the background as you negociate narrow stacked bookcases and horizontal piles.
No room for sitting here – the village has a couple of nice tearooms literally just round the corner – but I have found treasures here in unlikely places and always pop in if in the area.
Housed in an old garage on the the main A515 Buxton to Ashbourne road about 2 miles south of Buxton, this newly refurbished bookshop is another one impossible to leave empty handed.
Rather than second hand, these are new books at mostly reduced prices, but there is a vast array of interesting titles displayed in sparkling good order and some real bargains to be found.
They also sell some pretty notebooks and greeting cards, and even an array of birdfeed – birds are encouraged with feeders set up around the car park.
The cafe to one end of the bookstore is a nice stop in its own right with rustic mismatched furniture, squishy sofas and local art on the walls. There are tasty cakes and light lunches at reasonable prices, all served on charming,slightly wonky, earthenware plates.