Hart of the community

In my mind, Saffron Walden is an historic, rose-tinted town, full of beautiful buildings, sunlight, good manners and the idyllic image of a different time. I've never quite been sure when that time would be, but it's in the past and the women all carry parasols.

On the day of my visit, the reality was only marginally disappointing – I didn't see a single parasol. What I did get to enjoy included blue skies, a stunning library building and a very short walk to Hart's Books (this is obviously a town of readers). But I think I already knew this would be a place of beauty, because Hart's Books was the first bookshop Daunts opened outside of London.

The bookshop is found next door to the site of the original Hart's, so my first encounter was with the two signs next to each other, welcoming me in.* Stepping inside the next sight is of how big this bookshop is, with lots more space than you'd expect in a small town. There's a warmth and lightnes, with the general fiction stretching back to areas of non-fiction and children's books. And because this outlet is a local, community bookshop it follows its own layout, rather than taking on the continental (travel) organisation found in traditional Daunt bookshops.

The books themselves are varied, while also being as intelligent and well-chosen as you'd expect from a local indie bookshop, which meant both my boyfriend and I had plenty of titles to keep us busy. I particularly liked seeing the mix of lighthearted romance next to literary fiction next to all manner of genres, shelved simply by author and leaving the browser to decide what they feel like reading today.

While organisation by genre works, this simplicity of following only the alphabet in the fiction area has introduced me to a wealth of authors I would not previously have encountered and I'd hope opens other people's eyes to the potential of all genres too. So when I spotted Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Nicholas Sparks and Neal Stephenson within easy reach of each other I liked to imagine one day a browser would take home all three. My one book per shop rule meant I couldn't be that person, so I chose Stephenson's Cryptonomicon this time around. Having recently discovered his works it's a treat to be able to read another.

I also enjoyed simply walking around the beautiful space, which was crammed with attractive details, and we weren't the only people to be making the most of this bookshop, as a number of customers were also busy buying books. This was good for showing me how much the bookshop is enjoyed locally, but bad because my polite British manners meant I didn't feel I could keep the nice bookseller talking when a customer who was obviously in a hurry arrived at the counter. Still, if the existence of another customer is all I've got to complain about, things can't be bad, can they?

As a random way to conclude this week's blog, Hart's Books is also home to a Walking Book Club, which I think sounds like a wonderful idea.

Hart's Books
26 King Street,
Saffron Walden,
Essex,
CB10 1ES
Tel: 01799 524552
@hartsbooks


*I make no apology for the bad photography, if the sun is going to choose to shine on us it can create as many awkward shadows as it pleases.