On Sophies first weekend back from Spain, we decided to organise our photography trip around our favourite café, regular readers will know we love The Rocking Horse Café up in the Alnwick area of Northumberland. Before lunch though we went to visit Barter Books on the outskirts of Alnwick town.
A l’il History Bit
Alnwick Railway Station is a Victorian building designed by William Bell and opened in 1887. In 1991, after the closure of the branch line to Alnwick 10 years before, it reopened as a second~hand book shop having been bought by Stuart and Mary Manley who also run it. 350,000 people a year come to visit it, 140,000 of those from outside the area according to Wiki, but that isn’t surprising, Alnwick isn’t THAT big! Anyway it’s one of the largest second-hand bookshops in Europe, and is notable for using a barter system (hence the name) whereby customers can exchange their books for credit against future purchases, but you can also just buy books like in a shop.
It’s also quite famous, as in 2000, the owner discovered a box of old books bought at auction and in it was a WW2 poster from 1939 that hadn’t seen the light of day until then. I see you wondering why that made it famous, doesn’t sound like much, but you might have seen what became of the poster.
On to some pictures I took inside
They have rare books in locked glass cupboards as they have had a robbery in the past.
After having a good old wander through the sections, we both purchased a couple of books each, and then we went off to Rock, for lunch at The Rocking Horse. Check out the menu, yum!
It’s a dog friendly café and there are 3 resident border collies.
After lunch we drove down the coast to Alnmouth an visited the Old Gun Battery Emplacement ruin, as you do, so stay tooned for next week!
📷 😊
fraggle 
The bookshop looks amazing. I’m not surprised it attracts visitors from far and wide. It’s gone on the list.
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Excellent! You can lose a good few hours in there.
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I’ve been to Alnwick castle! I even got a bookmark! I don’t remember going to a bookstore though. This one only opened after I’d visited.
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Probably a good thing, you might never have been seen again!
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Love a good browse! Why do you think ‘keep calm and carry on’ became such a thing?
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Probably because it’s a great piece of advice that anyone would do well to follow.
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When I went to Alnwick to see the castle, it was closed for a ‘family function’. 😦 The whole area is nice to visit though.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I remember you saying. We didn’t go to the castle though, wrong time of year.
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That looks a great place to visit….it’s on the list!
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Good stuff!
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I laughed at the joke 🙂
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Glad someone did! 😁
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I noticed all the previous comments were conspicuous in their absence of praise about it, so figured I’d better say something 😀
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Thanks Booky 🤣
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You’re welcome. I’m all about Empowering Others 😉
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Wonderful, FR!
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Cheers Jennie, they have a wonderful kids section you’d love.
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I bet I would absolutely love it! Best to you, FR.
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Well, that IS a treat, for you folks having such a bookstore and for me/us to be able to have a peek. I don’t think it is intentional, but I had to laugh about the Luxury, peace and pleasure picture, for in the back the pleasure was defined as Food and Drink. 🙂 I’m jealous of you having such a cultural palace nearby!
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It is a bit of a drive to get there, but very worth it, cheers Peter.
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I could live in that bookstore, how wonderful!
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It is! Cheers!
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That “Posterity” poem is the most elegant way of saying “the book is better than the movie”
Would love to see this in person one day…next time I go across the pond!
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Let me know if you do, guided tours are free 😊
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What class! I could hours and hours in that bookstore. And a dog friendly cafe…something you would lose your food license for in our neck of the woods.
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Yes I am not sure how they’ve done that, the cat cafes have lots of red tape to get through.
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wow. fantastic looking book shop. with real books. IRL.
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Cheers Graham.
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I would spend an entire day there for sure. Love the photos…and love those resident border collies too!
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Cheers Chess!
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Interesting!
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Indeed!
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Seems the perfect place to purchase my favorite literature ever, which is the literature and essays from the 19th century in the English speaking world, mainly from the U,K. Very sad about the robbery and the need to put barriers. Thank you for this walk inside a beautiful 19th century building, fragglerocking.
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Happy you enjoyed it Francis!
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I can’t tell you how much I love this post! What a fabulous book store, and by the way, “where no storms come” was a particular attractive image. I could spend a week in that store and still want more time! Hugs, C
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Cheers Cheryl!
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This old station looks good as a book store! Glad they didn’t tear it down.
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Me too! Thanks Frank.
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What an awesome book store! I would have trouble leaving! Thank you so much for sharing!!!
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Thanks for visiting! It is a wonderful book shop, have spent many hours there!
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That bookshop looks amazing, I love perusing through all the books old school stores like this. There’s a nice one near where I live, but it’s tiny in comparison!
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This seems to go on forever! Cheers Steve.
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