Among The Stacks

[poliphilo]

Baggins in Rochester claims to be the largest second-hand bookshop in the country. I don't know if that can be substantiated but it certainly covers a lot of floor space- stretching back to the depth of four rooms (I think that's right but I may have miscounted)- with staircases you could easily overlook, tucked in among the stacks. It's very like the bookshops I wander through in my dreams.

We bought the set of Dickens we'd seen in the window. It's the biographical edition from 1907- in 21 volumes- with all the original illustrations- and introductions by Arthur Waugh, Evelyn's dad. It's in good condition- except that Pickwick has some torn pages. They were asking £100 less than the price I was thinking we'd have to pay.

While I was searching through the stacks (picking up four volumes of Denis Wheatley, a copy of Beau Sabreur and a first edition of Mary Renault's Mask of Apollo) Ailz was sitting in the front shop with her phone, looking at house prices. Rochester has a cathedral, a castle, a river, a characterful high street, the nation's biggest bookshop and easy access to London and the M25. Above all, it's cheap. We couldn't afford an apartment with a river view in a fashionable town- like Lewes, for example- but we could in Rochester. It bears thinking about.

Comments

[cmcmck]

I love the fact that it appears to have more doors than floors and doors that aren't human size.

Reminds me of Terry Pratchett's theory of L-space! :o)

Rochester is my home town of course, so you won't hear me arguing with you, although I also know the down sides (as well as the unusual bits of which there are many) if you want to hear them.

[poliphilo]

Every town has its down sides. Is there anything wrong with Rochester that's out of the ordinary?

[cmcmck]

In normal times, the weekend booze culture in the High Street is a real problem.The council dropped themselves in it on that and have been unable to find a sensible way out.

Supermarket style shopping is non existent so you are forced to the other towns, not that that's a particular hardship.

It has a lot to recommend it too, some of which you already know and you're close to some lovely countryside up on the North Downs and down along the river.

[poliphilo]

I've lived in some fairly rough places. Oldham for instance- where it wasn't unusual for tanked up hard nuts to go rolling past our house in the small hours of Sunday morning.

As for supermarkets, we currently live on the outskirts of a village where the nearest ones are a mile or two away. We cope by having food delivered.

So, no, if those are the only problems, I think we can cope...

[shewhomust]

I thought that Barter Books in Alnwick - which occupies the whole of the old railway station - claimed to be the biggest in the country, but I see that their website stops at 'one of...' Certainly a good bookshop is an attractive feature when you're thinking of moving - but weren't you looking at the coast?

[cmcmck]

Rochester stands on a river estuary which is the next best thing.

[poliphilo]

There is- or used to be- a pretty big bookshop in Hay on Wye too. It occupies or occupied a redundant cinema.

We still like the idea of living by the sea, but Rochester sits on a tidal river- which is nearly the same thing- and there are plenty of gulls...

[shewhomust]

Good point! Hay on Wye has a big bookshop in the castle, too.

I didn't know about the estuary at Rochester - I look forward to more pictures!

[cmcmck]

Something to whet your appetite.

A view from up on the Great Lines in Gillingham where we lived until moving to Shropshire looking across the bend of the River Medway and Chatham over to Rochester:

[shewhomust]

Very nice! There is, I have to admit, so much of the UK I don't know - and would like to!