Visiting Barter Books in Alnwick
When we were up north at Easter, one of the last places we visited was Alnwick. I have always wanted to visit Alnwick Castle – because of its links to Harry Potter but also because it just looked like such an incredible castle. But whilst researching Alnwick Castle we discovered Barter Books – and just had to visit!
What is Barter Books?
Barter Books is reportedly one of the biggest secondhand bookshops in the UK. It’s vast, full of every kind of book you can think of from modern fiction to historic, vintage masterpieces. Based in an old railway station, it’s super quirky and a great place to spend time.
Getting to Barter Books
We drove past Barter Books on our way to Alnwick Castle and realised it’s just a stone’s throw from the town. There is parking on site, but it is notoriously hard to navigate, so we stayed parked at Alnwick Castle after we’d finished enjoying all the castle had to offer, and wandered to Barter Books. It’s only a few minutes walk.
The shop is a joy. From the minute you step inside you are met with comfy sofas and seating areas, open fireplaces and the smell of food and coffee from The Station Buffet, the on-site cafe – and ice cream parlour!
There’s a model railway making it’s way around the bookshelves above your head as you browse, lines from poems everywhere and huge murals on the walls. It’s a really eclectic place, created to intrigue and inspire. I absolutely loved wandering amongst the shelves.
Browsing Barter Books does feel slightly haphazard, with different genres in different areas, a children’s area in a corner but no real rhyme or reason to the bookshelf positioning. Teen fiction moved straight into horror next to it. But, if you’re prepared to wander, or ask the staff to point you in the direction of the section you’re after, then you will love Barter Books.
On our visit to Barter Books, after a long morning Alnwick Castle, the children were happy to sit and relax whilst Dave and I looked at the books. I have half a dozen authors that I was interested in finding more books by and Dave just had one or two titles he was looking for.
We tried the Barter Books catalogue search computers but with no joy – they didn’t seem to have all their stock listed – and so instead just manually looked around the bookshelves. It was lovely to browse.
Books vary in price – with the prices written softly in pencil inside the front cover. We ended up spending about ยฃ12 on four books which is more than we usually spend on second hand books but they were in good condition – and Dave’s one he’d been wanting to read for ages!
We spent about an hour at Barter Books and loved the experience. We would definitely return – and maybe even have a hot drink or lunch there next time!
You can find out more about Barter Books over on their website and for reference the address is: Alnwick Station, Alnwick NE66 2NP
