We’re Open …
The OLD Bookshop, St. Fenella by the Marsh, Huntingdonshire
What would like to drink with your book ?
Welcome to the first occasional newsletter from The Old Lame Duck Bookshop and Café (aka The OLD Bookshop) that opened on Monday. We are in the fenland village of St-Fenella -by-the-Marsh which the older locals know it by its unofficial name of Mirkmere. I have spent the winter converting the former bar of what had been the Lame Duck public house into a small bookshop that offers rather good coffee and proper tea. Before you ask about our name … I had pondered for a very long time over a suitable name until I noticed that neighbours would often comment “so you’re the chap who has taken on the Old Lame Duck” and realised that the name had already been chosen for me.
We specialise in nature related titles, and have decided to carry a good selection of whodunnits as well. Whodunnits, being usually cheaper than expensively illustrated field guides to birds and flowers and every little helps. This is a post-retirement project, I am not looking to make a fortune - but please note that I don’t do internet sales - you have to visit in person. Mind you, the tea is free if you do buy a book. A barn at the rear has been leased to the Southern Fenland Wildlife Trust (SFWT) for use as their headquarters - that should help me pay local taxes, at least.
I should introduce myself. I was looking for something to do after retiring. As well as running my (confession, semi-imaginary) shop with the aid of Redux, my cat, I work for the Wildlife Trust as the part-time warden of the Mirkmere Nature Reserve on the dark fen just to the north of the village. A job that mostly involves leading occasional nature walks for local school-children, emptying the litter bin in the bird hide and keeping a census of bird and plant species to be found in the small reserve. Calm occupations that suit me down to the ground.
Writing a semi-promotional newsletter was suggested to me by my alter ego, another Richard, who emigrated to Quebec some years ago. He has been a long-time patron of the Trust and writes a personal nature newsletter of his own all about wildlife and natural gardening. He thought I would enjoy doing so as well. As he said, “Yours is a hobby business in a hard to find village - you won’t have customers lining up outside. Lots of free time, put it to good use”. Consequently, I am taking Substack out for a run to see if I can attract some regular readers. I won’t only write about the OLD Bookshop, coffee, and local nature observations but plan to offer space to small businesses and interesting villagers with creative stories to tell. Whatever takes my fancy and might interest you.
** Starting with the next edition, there will always be at least one recommended
book suggestion/review - real books, my opinions, your choice.
As I write this, the world is beginning to feel spring-like, and the rain seems to have paused. I am sitting at a table in a sunny spot in front of the café where I can hear the singing of Blackbirds and various Tits, I see a Robin and there are Ducks on the river to my right. Mallards of course, a couple of Tufted Ducks, and a distant Grebe. There should be Greylag Geese on the Mirkmere Reserve. I can see a Coal Tit seeking something to eat on a lichen-covered branch by the waterside, and a Buzzard flew over ten minutes ago. There are daffodils, as there should be.
A brief introduction to the village is in order, I think.
St-Fenella-by-the-Marsh is a small, blink and you’d miss it, community in the area north and east of Pidley (yes, that really is the name of a village and you can find it on the map) in the black fen country of Huntingdonshire. You get here by a single narrow, winding side road - not the one to the golf course. “One road in and one road out, and nought but mud for miles about” being a local saying that tells you a lot about the fens. The population has never been especially numerous, though the village has prospered in its isolation over the centuries. Unaccountably omitted from the Domesday survey, St-Fenella/Mirkmere rose to prominence during a period of rapid development and local affluence, following shortly upon King John losing his jewels “somewhere in the Wash”.
The village enjoys several traditional seasonal celebrations and parades. Up to a generation ago, we even had our own morris dance tradition - some patchy records of which I have under the counter in the bookshop. My (now) Quebec friend used to dance with them and may know more.
The tallest building in this very flat countryside is the medieval church of St.Fenella the Fastidious with its fine examples of wood carving - the west door being particularly interesting, having been carved out of local bog oak several hundred years ago. It is surprisingly well known and was even mentioned in Pevsner … come for the carvings, then stay for a book, a chat, and a coffee. In the centre of the village square, I am looking at it as I write, is a splendid gilded, cast iron band stand erected by public subscription to mark some forgotten landmark of Queen Victoria’s long reign. The SFWT Mirkmere Nature Reserve is to the north and, if you follow these newsletters, it is a place we will be visiting.
There is only one remaining public house out of three, the expected range of shops and trades normal for a place of this size. Indeed perhaps even slightly above the normal complement in these days of Amazonification of commerce. We have the obligatory antiques shop, a baker, a general store come grocers, a garage, and a jobbing builder and decorator. There is a small sub post office, albeit one that is on its last legs and may not survive the decade unless the village store takes it on.
And then, of course, there is the Old Lame Duck Bookshop and Café.
A couple of pictures now to set the scene and that will do for this introductory edition. If you would like to use the handy link at the bottom of this page you may Subscribe (entirely free of charge, and extremely secure) and will receive future editions delivered to your inbox as and when they appear. In coming editions - let’s say more or less fortnightly-ish to start with - I will be writing about our community, books of course, the Wildlife Trust, nature out on the Fen (plenty of that) and other local matters and characters. Please join me and the community. I will happily answer any questions you come up with - use the comments button at the end of the page.
I plan a bit of creative local history for the next edition plus a couple of book suggestions - maybe more.
Hello Richard! I am ready to be transported to the bucolic English country side (real or imagined!) full of birds, hedgehogs, foxes, and hares and to learn of books and stories that remind us there is more to our lives than 24 hour "news" cycle and teetering world order! Besides who in Quebec can resist reading about a place where the daffodils are already blooming! Lead on!
I thoroughly enjoyed your post! What an amazing world we live in, that someone from Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A., could be reading about your retirement venture in Huntingdonshire England! Best of luck with your shop and on Substack. In a future post, you must tell about how your cat came to be called Redux — I’m betting there’s a good story behind that name!