UK Revisited 1: Cirencester

When we were in the UK I fell, hard, for Cirencester. It is a largish cathedral town in the Cotswolds and is oozing with charm and history. It is also still prosperous, with only a few empty shops in tucked away corners. In some towns we visited, up to a third of shops were empty. So sad.
Cirencester has an amazing cathedral, amazing shops, and predictably, no discernible decent coffee.
A shop that really captured my imagination was Cirencester Cupcakes. the lady who owns it set it up with her redundancy payout about three years ago - initially working from home. It was what she really wanted to do, and that was inspiring! She introduced me to the Giant Cupcake concept, which I intend to exploit further, and she was so happy! Clearly she works like a trooper, running a business by herself that covers so many points of sale, products etc. But she was happy.
I didn't get a photo of her or a decent one of the shop alas - we went off to have a (blah) coffee nearby and when I went back, she had nipped out. I am sure we will meet again :)

Tucked away in Swans Lane, you still cannot miss the hot pink fabulousness!

Where it all happens - a simple set up not unlike a domestic kitchen, but it works well.

My other favourite shop in Cirencester is Plum Boutique. Like a one off TCD, really, it stocks sizes 14-32, really gorgeous stuff from all over Europe (apparently Germany and Scandinavia make lovely larger size designs) where I bought a fab shirt and earrings. The owner was SO friendly and the prices, by our standards, pretty reasonable. The shirt I bought for 85GBP, but a shirt like it, had I been able to get one here anyway, would easily have been 400NZD, which is over twice the price. Hmm, maybe I ought to be importing such things into NZ!

Anyway, I love Cirencester. So much more to it than these two titbits. I have since found out that my unerring ability to spot the most expensive thing in a given space is still working - the area is among the dearest real estate in the UK. Weel, it's a decent-sized town, it has history and is gorgeous, it is in the Cotswolds - not surprising really!