Supporting local business

bethscott1970

I sometimes wish I lived somewhere with shops but one looks outside at the fields and hills and the odd deer wandering past and I soon get over it!

We are 3 miles from the nearest village and that only has a small postoffice (great for odd things I've forgotten, eggs, papers and milk but the nearest butchers is over 10 miles away in a tiny village with hardly any parking. To be honest by the time I've driven there, found somewhere to park with enough room to get myself out of the car and made it into the butchers I've gone off the idea of ever eating meat again. My solution is going to visit my parents a couple of times a year (350 miles each way) and filling two cool boxes with meat from their local market. My freezer never knows what's hit it when I get back and in between trips I've managed to get my landlord (a farmer) to get half a lamb for me.

moggins

Well that was not exactly a huge success. I ended up spending £16 in the butcher and ending up with so much meat I had to come straight home

10lbs of chicken legs, a huge leg of mutton, a kilo of bacon, 2 beef flatribs and 1lb of lambs liver. I won't need to buy meat for about a fortnight but I have ordered a hand of pork and some brisket for next week, and I have to take all my knives in to him tomorrow for him to sharpen them for me FOC

Curry_Queen

moggins wrote:

10lbs of chicken legs, a huge leg of mutton, a kilo of bacon, 2 beef flatribs and 1lb of lambs liver. I won't need to buy meat for about a fortnight but I have ordered a hand of pork and some brisket for next week, and I have to take all my knives in to him tomorrow for him to sharpen them for me FOC

Nice one!!!! :T

MATH

I've got the best of both worlds. I live surrounded by fields but am only a 20 min walk from the centre of the village which has a hairdresser, PO, co-op, general store, 2 charity shops, second hand shop, electrical shop, picture gallery, jewelers, butchers, bakers, chip shop and a bank. I can only get half as much for £30 in the village tho that I can at Tesco:o So my social/community spirit often does battle with my MSE indoctrination.

I gave up smoking at New Years and Mrs MATH a few weeks later (we didn't think the marriage would survive both of us giving up at the same time).
Yes it's hell. Yes it's worth it - All those giving up keep ya peckers up.:beer:

Bogof_Babe

I gave up smoking at 40 because they made the open-plan office none smoking and I couldn't be bothered to go down to the designated smoking room. It was surprisingly easy, and after the first social occasion when my nails got chewed a bit and I probably overdid the compensatory alcohol, I've never looked back. They were still the right side of £4 a pack then (maybe even £3 - 1992?) - I just wouldn't be able to afford it now anyway.

As for shopping, we have a small Co-op (they seem to get everywhere ), a butcher, a Bargain Booze and a newsagent five minutes walk away, plus a pub we never use as it's more a youngies' place. So I think I could manage with never going any further than that again, except that the Co-op fresh veg is pretty dire and horrendously overpriced. There is always frozen though, which is reasonably priced. I only use the butcher for their local free range eggs, hubby being vegetarian and me not too bothered either way.

What I really would like in the same location is recycling skips. I have to go to Sainsburys to dump all that. It's ironic as the Council do collect bagged-up recycling fortnightly but the bags for plastics are clear and we don't want the neighbours knowing how many cider bottles we put out!

furrypig

My local parade of shops has a dry cleaners, a shut down video shop, 2 estate agents, the winner of the uks best fish n chip shops shop, 2 off licences, a sports shop, a bakers, a tile shop, a bank, an Indian restaurant, a bike shop, a hairdressers and a newsagents that has a few groceries and the post office in it.

There is also a bp garage nearby and Sainsburys is a 10 minute walk. There isn't a butchers for miles and I really would like to find one, though there is a farmers market once a month in town.

So, will not be local shopping I'm afraid as I have a breadmaker and would only pop up for emergencies.

Lyndsay_21

The estate i live is the same not a massive estate and only 15mins away from 'town' yet we still have in out lot of shops: 1 spar, 1 co-op/post office, 1 barbers, 1 hairdresser, 1 chinese/chippie, 1 chinese takeaway, 1 chinese rest & takeaway, 1 kebab/pizza shop plus a butchers AND a bookies, dont know how they get planning permission for soooo many take-aways. (wish they're was an indian though). forgot to add the chemist too!

Trow

I know many of us do already, but one study shows that local produce is better environmentally than organic:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4312591.stm

So all the more incentive to grow your own and find markets and farm shops near you!

VickyA_2

I'll definitely be going to our local farmers' market next weekend then. The farmers there tend to be very local as it's quite an agricultural area, but a few come from outside the 12mile radius that the article talks about. They sell freshly pressed apple juice there which is just divine!

Our local butcher (top bloke, mentioned him before) gets the majority of his meat from local farmers. Can't praise him enough.

Queenie

My local farm shop gets my regular custom - they are brilliant!!

Even down to refusing to sell you something!!! :rotfl: Asked for a sack of spuds last week, but they offered me a half bag on the basis that they were at the end of the season and they were worried that I may not "get your money's worth" They have been there centuries.

Poor woman almost wet herself when the boys went to pay with their own pocket money for their chosen goodies ... both had chosen ............ FRESH FRUIT!! (They *could* have had farmhouse fudge )