La Vida Local 02: The Village Shop

Yesterday I drove back home from Sheepwash in Devon after a wonderful week at Retreats for You with Deb and Bob (highly recommended if you are working on a book, writing a thesis or just need some time out to paint, read or relax).  Knowing that I would get home to empty cupboards late on Saturday evening and curious to get the full village experience, I nipped over to the Sheepwash Community Stores.

With less than 200 residents, Sheepwash is a picturesque Devonshire hamlet with one pub, three churches and one very tiny shop.  The converted front room is literally bursting with fresh and packaged produce, drinks, toiletries, stationary, household items and a post office counter.  It was rather like a miniature supermarket with two or three shelves for each department and just enough room to swing a basket. 

La Vida Local 01: A New Year's Resolution

Happy New Year!

After a long hiatus, I am finally beginning another of my projects blogs.  I hope this one will be read all over the world but it is focussed entirely on my immediate surroundings.

Last month, I had the pleasure of offering home hospitality to a delegate of the first National Conference for Community Supported Agriculture.  This wonderful scheme, about which you will hear much more, is one of the many reasons I am so happy with my move to Stroud.

It was during a social event for conference-goers and interested locals that I somehow managed to commit myself to three months of spending my money only in local and independent economies.

I cannot stop paying my mortgage or refuse to go to work so I have had to refine the rules a little.  I have run down my cupboards to make it as realistically challenging as possible and done a bit of advance research to prevent any major disasters in the first week.

This is my pledge for January, February and March 2014: