It was a dispiriting trip into Nailsworth the other day.
Opening its doors for the last time at the end of November is Nailsworth Ironmongers. Run by Gordon and Debbie, this wonderful emporium is a distillation of the seasons. In January it would be my first port of call for heritage varieties of seed potatoes and onion sets. By spring I’d be in to buy new buckets and lids for making elderflower champagne and cordial (the old ones having been commandeered by my other half for home brew projects of his own or as rhubarb forcers). It’s May and we’d need citronella tealights and mozzie repellant for long al fresco evenings (well - a few this year anyway). Autumn welcomed the jam and jelly makers and Gordon was there with maslin pans, kilner jars, thermometers and jelly bags. And in Winter we were back for a new galvanised dustbin incinerator along with our regular supply of bird seed to help our feathered friends, plus we’d brought our broken tools (a spade and fork with broken shafts) that we felt still had life in them to the ‘NI hospital’ for a little tlc from whence they’re returned as good as new.
Opening its doors for the last time at the end of November is Nailsworth Ironmongers. Run by Gordon and Debbie, this wonderful emporium is a distillation of the seasons. In January it would be my first port of call for heritage varieties of seed potatoes and onion sets. By spring I’d be in to buy new buckets and lids for making elderflower champagne and cordial (the old ones having been commandeered by my other half for home brew projects of his own or as rhubarb forcers). It’s May and we’d need citronella tealights and mozzie repellant for long al fresco evenings (well - a few this year anyway). Autumn welcomed the jam and jelly makers and Gordon was there with maslin pans, kilner jars, thermometers and jelly bags. And in Winter we were back for a new galvanised dustbin incinerator along with our regular supply of bird seed to help our feathered friends, plus we’d brought our broken tools (a spade and fork with broken shafts) that we felt still had life in them to the ‘NI hospital’ for a little tlc from whence they’re returned as good as new.
Gordon prides himself on selling loose items rather than large packets. If he doesn’t have what you are looking for, he will know a man who does - and he’ll give you his name and number! And that’s what we’re really going to miss...the sort of service you simply don’t get any more in our bigger, more impersonal stores. It may be a cliché but, 'You don’t know what you have till it’s gone' is soon going to ring true to a lot of people.
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