YOU can’t beat a good book they say. You can’t beat a good scone we say.
Combine the two and you’ll definitely want to read all about it.
This is The MainStreet Trading Company in pretty St Boswells.
The windows are themed from Harry Potter with the Daily Prophet advertising the nearby Borders Railway.
We’d no trouble finding the place as it’s right in the middle of the hill on Main Street.
That probably explains the name!
Actually, there’s a lot more than books and baking being traded here.
There’s also an award-winning deli and a cracking homeware area across the courtyard.
So reading and scoffing get put on the back burner for a few minutes until we explore. It’s well worth the delay.
Within the homewares section there’s a great selection of cups, jars, cushions, chairs and antiques.
The deli has a fantastic display of cheeses, local and far flung, that have won deserved acclaim plus plenty of tempting spices, jams and chutneys.
Thursdays, it seems, are particularly busy with bread delivered from the Great Northumberland Bread Company.
We head into the book shop and it’s a higgledy-piggledy gem.
Felt animal heads adorn one wall, sunglasses-wearing giraffe and snappy crocodile among them, each with a little card detailing some of kids’ delights.
And there’s no shortage of the above as the shop specialises in kids’ books as well as cookery and fiction volumes.
In the rabbit warren-like space you feel like you could lose the kids.
No, actually, you could.
Neatly under the stairs there are two book burrows. Think Harry Potter and his cupboard.
One is Peter Rabbit-themed, the other dressed up like Fantastic
Mr Fox and there are audio books playing three kids at a time, please, just ask for the tape to be changed.To read more Scone Spy reviews, click hereOur fellow customers are tucking into sandwiches, soup and some of the other tasty treats on offer.
But, fellow scone lovers, you know where our passion lies and we’re not disappointed. There are two types of scone on offer. Fruit and cheese.
Both are light and crumbly and the cheese in particular has a fantastic tang to it that really kicks in hard at the end.
Everything reeks of tradition. So, despite orchard fruits, pear and honey and passion cake on display we settle on a good old fashioned Victoria sponge.
It’s pristine and fresh, with our hefty chunk the first slice to come out of it.
With a cappuccino and a hot chocolate, both almost overflowing the white cups, to wash it down the whole thing comes to a pretty reasonable £13.
Where some book shops have become identikit clones this is individual, quirky and a real Borders beauty.
Warm welcome: 7/10 Location, Location: 9/10 Scone score: 9/10
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