Exploring the North East – Barter Books

At the moment Little Miss and I have a friend from the US staying with us meaning we’ve been off on adventures every single day. She’s an Anglophile and love all things quintessentially British which is great because I live in a rather historic part of town. We’ve walked miles every day and my legs are aching but it’s been great and I’ve really enjoyed being a tourist in the county I call home. I don’t plan on staying here forever, so it’s been great letting Little Miss explore!

Yesterday we took a bus down to the historic market town of Alnwick to Barter Books. This is somewhere I’ve wanted to visit for years but never had a reason to take the bus, and to be honest Little Miss was really too little to appreciate it. A return on the bus was so cheap and the weather held out for a little exploring too. However, this post is going to be completely dedicated to the bibliophiles Mecca of the North East, Barter Books.

Not only is Barter Books the biggest second hand book store in the North East, it’s situated in the old Alnwick train station. First built in 1881, this Victorian train station still has a lot of the original features that make this book store truly unique. It closed in 1968 and stood unused until it’s restoration and renovation into Barter Books back in 1991. If you’d like to read more about the station, the full history is here. Barter Books was the ambitious project of Mary Manley and her husband Stuart who have built the book shop around many of the original features of the station. It really is a sight to behold and I honestly don’t think my photos do it any justice it’s that beautifully done. From the children’s room which was originally the main entrance and still has the window where you would buy your tickets, through to the waiting room where you can now sit and relax, and in the winter the original open fires are still lit to give a cosy atmosphere and into the main station where the celling still looks like the old station roof.

The smell of old books as soon as you step in is beautiful and one of my favourite smells so this really felt like heaven. My favourite room is definitely the children’s room where there is a fab wooden van that your child can sit inside. There are comfy areas to sit down and look at the books and despite the chaos it’s so easy to find books suited to your children’s ages. Little Miss came away with a couple of books but she could have had so many more. Another of the rooms has a model train track running around above your head and a huge mural on the wall of famous writers. I especially love the quotes between each book shelf, I’m a complete sucker for a literary quote. The whole place is so well done. In the first room there is even an honesty box so you can have a cup of tea or coffee and even a cookie for less than £1. Little Miss and I got a chocolate chip one each.

Finally in the back of the station is the buffet, an awesome cafe that didn’t open until a few years back due to being situated in a “lost” room, you can read more about it here. It used to be the station boiler room until it’s renovation into the Station Buffet. You then have a choice of three rooms to sit in, the red room, the blue room and the green room. We sat in the red room which was originally the 1st Class gents waiting room (yes they had their own room). Everything on the menu was reasonably priced and the service impeccable! I had to beg the staff to let me carry my tray to the table! I went for the malteaser crunch and a Victorian lemonade.

What makes Barter Books special along with the fact it has such a wonderful location and books of every single genre is the fact you can bring in books to barter with. They value what you bring in and you can trade them for new books, or take their value. I didn’t realise this feature until I was paying (duh Amy, where did you think the name came from?) but it’s definitely something that will bring me back!

Barter Books is a must visit if you’re in the North East, not only is it a great place to visit in itself, but it’s also a short walk from the centre of the town, the castle and the Alnwick gardens meaning you can really make a day visit to this beautiful market town.