Lately to stay in my local area and avoid all unnecessary trips has seen me find my local traders all over again.  What has drawn me back to my high street? Service, stock and availability mostly, with the great feeling of finding what I need on my doorstep.  Since the lockdown I have been gardening again to fill a need for a quiet place to be. Our house, like millions of others, has been a school, a gym, a bakery, a laundry, had to function as a home and has been hectic at times. I needed to buy plants, compost, all manner of things that I had run out of and string.  Everybody should buy string.

I was surprised to discover how much of the things I wanted, I could find in these little independent traders.  My local nursery (Combe Dingle Nursery https://www.facebook.com/combedinglenursery/) observed strict social distancing when arriving to collect the goods that you ordered, and had all the plants (and more!) that I wanted.  Claire, the owner was brilliant, even when besieged by gardeners, and kept calm and carried on. Also, I know that when I spend with them, they too are spending within the local economy, they shop locally and go to school locally, they are part of our community and contribute to that too.  It may cost me more, but does it actually?  I had no postage and packing to pay, I didn’t have to travel far (the next village) to collect, and I can feel the reward, as it’s there exactly when I need it.  If you need something in the next five minutes, no amount of next day delivery is going to help. 

When the supermarkets were running out of produce and meat, my local farm shop still had everything I needed and the local butcher in town was amazing.  Again, it may cost a little more, but when I buy meat in Country Butchers of Holyrood St, Chard (01460 62282), there is a sign on the wall telling me which local farmer the meat came from, and I know that I have helped to support my local farmers too.  If we want British meat and British farming to survive, we need to buy from local suppliers and our local butchers.

For their survival we need to buy local, and shout about it.  If you get good service, tell people!  My friend Vince is a carpet fitter and flooring specialist, he’s been working away for 33 years and yet I’ve never recommended him to anyone!  I aim to correct that right away.  You can find him here https://www.facebook.com/Simplyfloored-107359900998687/?hc_location=ufi  Pop over and like and share his page if you feel like helping out a local business.  We need to use our locality to our advantage; we need to build a web of local traders instead of using the web to buy.  I’d rather deal with a real person. When we are a community (even a socially distant one), we are so much stronger.  Our weekly clap for the NHS brought us together in a strange way, but it felt good.  It was good to hear from the neighbours, some clapping, some clanging pots and pans, and someone rang our church bells. That’s my point here, we all need company, we need community.  Take a walk down the local high street next time you need something.  Talk to someone local or have a look here for recommendations https://www.thebestof.co.uk/local/taunton-and-bridgwater/chard/  If you want to recommend a local trader, please do! Pop over to https://www.thebestof.co.uk/local/taunton-and-bridgwater/recommend/ and tell us about them.  If they sign up with TheBestOf Taunton and Bridgwater after that, you get £50 for your recommendation.  If you use a business already on https://www.thebestof.co.uk/local/taunton-and-bridgwater/ leave them a review so that others can see why you liked them.  All the names go into a hat and one is drawn every month, the winner gets a £100 voucher to spend.  I’m off to recommend Claire and Vince for their amazing service and I’m determined to keep shopping locally. 😊