My top three shops in Reigate
By Sue Fenton of F Words editing and copywriting services
www.fwords.co.uk
Having selected two food outlets and an ironmonger as my Redhill favourites for a previous blog, my attention turns for Reigate to something completely different.
Two of them are independent traders (I am a great fan of indies and find myself getting positively grumpy about the way the chains often threaten to turn us into a nation of clone town residents). But one, I admit, is part of a national chain - I will explain and defend that choice shortly!
Number 1
Inside Out is a tiny shop, situated down one of those little cobbled side streets that link the High Street to Morrisons car park. It offers a range of dietary supplements, natural foodstuffs and natural cosmetic products. I go there to stock up on my current favourite brand of lotions and potions, Dr Hauschka, for whom Inside Out is one of very few stockists in this area. Having gradually become paraben- and additive-aware I am now avoiding putting chemicals on my face and hair, and I like this range because it is bio-dynamically produced. This means, as I understand it, organic-plus: the ingredients are produced not only to organic standards but also according to the natural rhythms of the soil. It’s not cheap but a little goes a long way and it smells lovely.
Inside Out
19B High St, Reigate RH2 9AA
01737 223499
Number 2
I enjoy browsing in home interiors and furnishings store Karavan, in Bell Street. It has some lovely stuff; everything from bed linen to candles, stemware to leather sofas, mirrors to kitchen furniture. There’s very little in there that I wouldn’t be willing to give house-room to - if I had a big enough house!
The roomsets (typically a bedroom and couple of living rooms or a kitchen) are great for giving the customer ideas for home décor and style. I love the huge, sturdy retro-style kitchen units I saw in there recently - I just wish I had a kitchen large enough to take them!
This is one of just two branches, the other one being in Barnes.
Karavan
23 - 25 Bell Street, Reigate RH2 7AD
01737 249 999
www.karavaninteriors.co.uk
Number 3
The only national chain to make it to my list, but as it’s a charity shop, I think I can get away with betraying my independent principles. The Oxfam bookshop is a fascinating place to browse for books on all subjects. They are carefully and neatly arranged by category - fiction, history, self-improvement, cookery and so on - and it’s a rare visit that does not result in me adding two or three more books to my already-bursting bookshelves. All the books, of course, are second-hand, but many are positively antique, so it’s a good place for the specialist bibliophile to potter.
The staff know their books too - I have a friend who works there and she can always direct me to recent acquisitions that suit my diverse and sometimes peculiar tastes. My usual bedtime companions are Agatha Christie and PG Wodehouse but I also dabble in self-improvement, cookery, sociology and conspiracy theories. Oxfam usually has something to offer me. The last time I was in there, having been reliving my childhood, I asked, without much hope, if they had any of Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons series of novels. My friend disappeared out the back, rifled through the latest batch of donations and emerged, to my joy, with the first two in the S&A series. I’ve nearly finished them now, so I shall be back to look for more. If they don’t have them I’ll just have to revert to the more ubiquitous, if rather less intellectually challenging, Enid Blyton for my ongoing retro-reading spree!
Oxfam
66 High Street, Reigate RH2 9AP
01737 248 316
www.oxfam.org.uk
By Sue Fenton of F Words editing and copywriting services
www.fwords.co.uk