A Charity Shop Lover’s Guide to…

Over the last week someAMAZING thrifty sisters have linked up their brilliant posts to the Charity Shop Blog Hop. I absolutely loved reading their guides to their favourite haunts; some are incredibly practical with routes marked out on Google Maps, some describe the rationale behind their passion, and others still give a big picture- the lay of the land.

Here is a run down…

Nestled in the grassy meadows of Herefordshire is Hitchin – a place where my husband Tim once spent 30 minutes trying to thumb a ride so he could have the pleasure of describing himself as hitching in Hitchin, but also a place BRIMMING with chazza shops as Chris Tea and Cakes explains.  Chris’s ace post has photos, descriptions AND  maps- what a thoughtful soul she is!

South London got a thorough seeing to with Lakota of Faith, Hope and Charity Shopping giving a superbly entertaining run down of Crystal Palace and it’s secondhand treasures, myself detailing the ins and outs of The Golden Mile in Streatham and Bek of We are Wild Things revealing the very best bargainous pockets of South of the River,  including Bromley, Beckenham, Orpington and Petts Wood.

Fi, over at Living it Little has written a piece about York’s charity shop havens which has captured my heart. There is no way I am going to pass up a romp around those ancient grounds in search of a thrifty morsel sometime soon. Likewise with Samantha’s super helpful guide to Broadwater in the Worthing area– one of two posts combining my absolute favourite things of seaside and secondhand!
The other seaside/second hand mash-up is from the wonderful Jenny at Gingerbread house who uncovers the Alladin Caves of Teignmouth – also be sure to check out her other Charity Shop tours.

The lovely Mrs William’s has taken the WORLD as her  area of expertise in her deeply analytical comparison of UK vs America for second hand shopping.  I am massively jealous of her recent trip stateside as I dream of yard sales and estate sales!

Single Married Mum has done a beautiful write-up of her locals in Leominster – the pictures will set your heart a flutter!

And Lakota from Faith Hope and Charity Shopping has also linked up her brilliant charity shop tourism guide to Limerick, and with a hop, skip and a jump from one Celtic country to another we get to Aye Cotton Candy’s intricate guide to Glasgow – yet another ace blogger who loves to thrift.

Sneaking into the party just a little tardy is Liz from a blog that is new to me, Rose and Bird. Liz has done a fab write up of her locals in Bristol– a charming town I kind of wish I lived in.

Minibreak Mummy (another regular participant of Magpie Monday whose treasures always get me a bit green) chooses Beeston as the symbol of her passion for charity shopping, and shows off a recent haul too. And finally we have Jenny from Talking Up the Good who, as well as an amazing guide to the charity shops of Teddington, also expresses the reasons behind her love of charity shops – would Jesus be a charity shopper? How can you even ask? Of COURSE he would.

Right- that’s a little round up for you. You may not see me for a while as I am going to build a zeppelin, with extra storage, and and then spend the summer touring the world visiting these charity shops and a few extra estate sales.

PS- Thanks SO much for joining in. If you were like me it was hard to chose the route to focus on for this Blog Hop as I have so many favourites. Would you be up for making this an every-so-often link up? Say, every few months?