Trundling through life: Brigg

Showing posts with label Brigg. Show all posts

11 September 2025

Curiositeas.

So many High Street shops have closed but I've noticed one type of establishment continues to flourish, and that's small, independent eateries. We've got a lovely one in Brigg called Shipley's Curiositeas. It's a tea room and cake parlour (that's their own description).

Curiositeas has gloriously kitsch decor. Bunting, old china cabinets, lacy tablecloths and wonderfully mismatched china all set the scene for some great local food. It tend to appeals to an older clientele and both staff and customers are friendly and chatty.

Yesterday I met with a cousin and we went to Curiositeas for a lovely relaxed lunch. We each had salad followed by Lincolnshire Plum Bread with cheese but we could have had soup, sandwiches, toasties, baked potatoes and fantastic cakes. There's nothing very fancy or "messed about", just simple home cooking beautifully served.

When I first retired Shipley's was a greengrocer's but it struggled to compete with the likes of Tesco. Shipley's Curiositeas has a special place in Brigg. Long may it serve.

07 July 2025

Down the Rabbit Hole

Long time readers of this blog will know that I love going to Brigg. It's about nine miles from home and it's fully pedestrianised so once I have parked my car I can wander where I like on my trundle truck.

Thee are quite a few shops belonging to national chains like Tesco, B & M, and Boots but there are also independent shops.

Here's my butchers shop. Brigg still has four independent butchers which I find amazing. Newells sells local meat as well as cakes baked locally and a few vegetables.

Just along the road is Brian's Hardware which sells everything to do with hardware, DIY and gardening! I even bought my mobility scooter there and they maintain it for me.

Across the road is Jaylaur's Sewing Studio. It's been extended quite a bit since this photo was taken but it's as elastic as the Tardis! They sell fabric and haberdashery, run courses and are happy to give advice.

But it's The Rabbit Hole which is the most fascinating. Wouldn't you want to go into a shop with a name like that? It's the local independent bookshop.

Like most High Streets, Brigg is struggling but I for one appreciate the quality of the goods, the expertise freely offered and the sheer quirkiness of our independent shops.

And there are far more like this in Brigg.

22 February 2023

More yarn bombing pictures

Outside the jeweller's

Near a butcher's

Costa got a look in!

21 February 2023

Yarn Bombing

I was incredibly busy yesterday. The decorator was here painting the bathroom, work around the kitchen door starts next week and I knew I didn't have a moment to spare.

Then I got an email telling me Brigg had been yarn bombed and somehow I found two hours to nip over there.

Street signs are enhanced

A whale got stranded

Paddington needs looking after.

Knitted hanging baskets bring summer colour to a February day.

I'll bring some more photographs another day!

23 November 2021

It's good to talk

I went to Brigg today. It was such a cold day but so bright. I took the trundle truck (mobility scooter), of course and meandered along the riverbank. And I found a new notice, pinned to a bench. My trundle truck has a warmer seat than that looked but I hope it gets well used, even if not by me!

I went a little further along the river bank and saw an angler and remarked that he obviously took his fishing pleasures very seriously. He was baiting his hook and he told me that this stretch of river has lots of pike and perch.

Then I met a friendly dog which fancied a ride on the trundle truck so its owner and I had a chat.

Then a schoolgirl gave me a shy smile and wished me "Good morning!" on her way to school.

I hope lots of people use the chatty bench but to be honest, people talk in Brigg without any encouragement whatsoever. Has anyone seen this initiative anywhere else?

19 June 2021

Early to bed and early to rise . . .

. . . can be pretty boring!

I'm an extreme lark. I usually wake sometime around 4am and when I wake I really am totally awake. In the summer I make myself stay in bed until at least 5am but in the summer I get up any time after 4am. In some ways it's great. I get loads done before most people are even conscious, but sometimes it feels as though I have to wait a very long time for the rest of the world to have its essential first cup of coffee.

This morning I was up at 4.05am, a time which many people think shouldn't exist. I sorted my finances, did a few surveys, entered 189 competitions, answered my e mails and then thought about other things to do.

I decided to go to Brigg. In fact I was in Brigg by 7.30am. A quick look around the fruit stall on the market and a visit to the hole-in-the-wall and I was ready for anything but the shops weren't open. Hmm. So I decided to go for a (trundle truck) ride along the tow path.

Even in the town centre bushes and wild flowers have been allowed to grow but the cut grass shows them to perfection.

In the quiet morning I could see the beauty around me. I felt this native elderflower was as gorgeous as any foreign rhododendron.

The wild roses are at their peak at the moment and this bush flowered generously.

I thought this gentleman had a very good idea taking advantage of the picnic table as he enjoyed a flask of coffee,

And I was still able to join the queue waiting for Lidl to open and eight.

And have a very nice snooze after my lunch.

08 June 2021

Smiles

I woke up this morning to a sound which I have never heard in the eleven years I have lived in this house. It was a cuckoo! Their numbers are in decline so that was very special. Are they the only birds which are better known for their song than their appearance? It was good to wake with a smile on my face!

It is a beautiful morning so I decided to go to Brigg to do my shopping. In Lidl a schoolgirl, aged maybe 13, was ahead of me in the queue at the till. She gave me a shy smile and "Good morning" and she helped me put my stuff on the conveyor belt. I don't really need help but I wanted to encourage this bright young lady who wanted to make her bit of the world a better place by offering help when she could. She renewed my smile.

Then I went along the tow path to get to the market place and I met a gorgeous golden cockerpoo. I love spaniels of any description but this one really won my heart when, to his owners intense embarrassment, he tried to climb on the platform of my trundle truck. A lot of dogs do this if they have other human friends who use mobility scooters but I love it! This dog not only made me smile, he made me laugh!

A happy morning - and I was home by 10am!

21 September 2020

An infectious disease

Each morning Alexa and I say "Good Morning!" to each other. Alexa then tells me a special fact for the day. Today she told me that it is International Gratitude Day so this morning I decided to have a Thankful Day.

It started with reading blogs while sitting in front of my SAD lamp and drinking coffee. So much there to be thankful for!

Then I had a lovely hot shower in my lovely bathroom. Sheer bliss!

I had an appointment for a flu vaccination in Brigg and as the weather forecast looked good I decided to spend a little time in Brigg. I took a mask and did a little shopping. So much effort is being put into keeping us safe. Who couldn't feel grateful! I trundled along the river bank enjoying the glorious day, the swans on the water and the sheer bliss of being out.

And best of all, a lady called Pat (whom I'd never met until today!) stopped me and thanked me for my smile. She'd been feeling glum but my smile had made her feel happy. She said my smile was infectious!

How lovely is that! Maybe I could start a pandemic!

20 August 2020

Adjusting 6

Up to now my "adjusting" posts have been about lifestyle changes as I have become more isolated but now I have to adjust to coming out of isolation and being closer to other people. I say closer, but it still isn't close.

Yesterday I went into a shop for the first time. I had to go to Brigg to drop off books at the Oxfam book shop but didn't go into the shop. However, I decided to go to Wilko's, a shop which I have missed far more than I would have expected. It was quite well organised and I felt safe but a largely one way system was tricky on my mobility scooter. I say largely because a couple of aisles were cul de sacs and therefore two way so I had to turn the trundle truck in a very tight space.

I've visited a few friends when we have been able to sit in the garden. I've avoided drinks because I want to avoid the inevitable consequences of drinks! However, when I visited Jack (who has just had a cataract operation) I went into his house. He's fine and his wife would be very proud of his housekeeping.

Jack has been coming and sorting my garden for me and Annie-the-hone-enhancer has been a couple of times too. Once her children are back at school I will stop her coming here as I think she could be a risk to me. She understands my position completely and we have come to a suitable financial arrangement which keeps both of us happy.

Because that's the adjusting I have to do at the moment. I have to prepare for a winter of isolation in case we have a second wave of this wretched virus. I think it's really important that children can go back to school but that may have consequences for everyone else as well. August is for me a time of relaxation but it's also a time of making sure I am ready for a long and difficult winter. And for hoping that it's neither as long nor as difficult as I fear.

20 December 2019

In praise of shop staff

This morning I went into Brigg early to do the last bits of Christmas shopping. Not presents - I bought or made most of them ages ago - but food. It's no good for me to go in on Christmas Eve as people get a wee bit impatient with old ladies on mobility scooters. That's not how I think of myself but it is undoubtedly how people see me when they are feeling harassed!

Anyway I was in Brigg before eight this morning and my first stop was Lidl. The chap on the till was chatty and he told me he had started work at six and wouldn't be finishing until four but he still had a cheery word for me.

Then I passed B & M and a man was raising the shutters but he gave me a really cheerful "Good Morning". It was so cheery that I thanked him and he was kind enough to say that I'd made his day by my own cheerfulness and my "Thank you".

On to the butcher. My butcher is of the traditional kind - big blue apron and loads of useful advice. As soon as I stopped near his shop he was outside pulling down the awning so that my scooter wouldn't get wet whilst I was inside. And we chatted and laughed whilst I bought sausage made from locally produced pork. home cured bacon and our traditional Lincolnshire Plum Bread.

It was the same in Tesco and Wilko when I went in there. The staff were in Christmas jumpers and in great humour.

Retail staff are in for a few days very hard work, the culmination of several weeks hard work. They will also have Christmas to prepare for their own families just like the rest of us. I too was in a profession which had lots of extra tasks in the run-up to Christmas but although it was hard work I suspect that I got more thank yous than many shop workers so this is my personal thank you to all those who keep cheerful and look after us,

Thank You!

23 November 2019

The water isn't just indoors

I live about forty miles from areas where there has been horrendous flooding over the past few weeks. My dining room is wonderful compared with many people's homes. I have to wait a couple of months for my new carpets but the damage here is minimal compared to those poor people in South Yorkshire.

However, this area has had its own floods and several road closures. The church where I led worship last Sunday is about eight miles from home and I had to travel fifteen to get around the various diversions. The river in Brigg is usually a quiet backwater but it overflowed its banks (not too badly) a few days ago. I didn't visit then but I have visited twice recently. The sluices were opened to release water a couple of days ago and the Ancholme is now back to something like normal.

12 September 2018

Votes For Women!

Plenty of home made bunting.

Out to Brigg today, to Brigg Women's Institute. I'm a member at Brigg as well as Caistor and on the second Wednesday each month I go to Brigg. Today was Brigg WI's celebration of the hundredth anniversary of start of women's franchise and we combined that with a meeting run with many of the elements which were common in WI meetings in 1918.

Holly Mumby-Croft

Back in 1918 only women over the age of 30 who were householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5 and graduates of British universities were allowed to vote. Not exactly universal female suffrage. It wasn't until 1928 that women got the vote on the same terms as men.

But 1918 saw that all-important start of women's suffrage and 2018 has seen celebrations of the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act. Brigg WI decided to celebrate the anniversary in style.

Kate in charge!

We stood in our green, purple and white bunting festooned room and sang, "Jerusalem" just as our foremothers would have sung in 1918 and then we watched a demonstration of upcycling. (Early WIs always had a practical demonstration, a talk and an opportunity to socalise) before Councillor Holly Mumby-Croft spoke about her own career in politics. Holly is a District Councillor in North Lincolnshire and last year she stood as a parliamentary candidate winning 17485 votes but sadly the sitting MP won 20916 so she isn't an MP yet,

The WI had a great time. Many of us, (me included) wore "Votes for Women" sashes and Kate, our President was especially stunning.

14 June 2018

Tales of the Riverbank

Brigg is a small market town just a few miles from home and it's one of my favourite places to go for an hour or two. When I was a girl traffic used to thunder through the town, but it now has much better roads and the historic heart of the town is now pedestrianised and very trundle-truck-friendly.

At the heart of the town is a dreamy river called the Ancholme. Much of the Ancholme was canalised in the eighteenth century but there are still some "real" bits and both the canal and the river are lovely.

There's a family of swans and cygnets, entirely at home under this busy road bridge.

Along from them ducks dabble under the pedestrian bridge. Both places are good for rich pickings of food from passers by.

Today is a working day but at a weekend the river is home to a local rowing club.

Dog walkers, joggers and bird watchers use the tow path.

And even trundle truck users can enjoy getting out.

07 March 2018

Birds

I think I rather underestimated how much my cold knocked me back. I am having real difficulty in getting back to a reasonable active lifestyle. The steps are even more babyish than I had thought they would be.

I am managing a little though. On Monday I went to Brigg, mainly to replenish the supplies of bird food. There seems be to very little interest in the poppy seed hearts, Niger seeds or mixed seeds which I put out but the local birds can't get enough of the mealyworms and fat with insects in it. This sort of cheep food isn't cheap food by any means but I'm having such entertainment that I'll pay. The winds last week meant that mealyworms blew from the table but I melted some waste fat from the kitchen and mixed the worms with that and they then stayed on the table until fetched by the birds.

The Ancholme at Brigg

Brigg was lovely as always. It's a trundle truck users dream. Everyone gets free parking for two hours in Brigg but there is no limit for Blue Badge holders. Once parked I can get the TT out of the car and trundle to my heart's content as the whole shopping area is fully pedestrianised and there is a path down by the river which means I can soon be out of the town and watching birds in the countryside and on the water.

Stixwould signal box and the canal beyond

Yesterday I went to talk to my spiritual counsellor. Henry sees his clients in a converted signalbox at an old railway station near a canal. It's a lovely comfortable room but one of the best things about it is that the bird watching is great. It's rather nice to be able to break off from the conversation when something interesting is happening outside. Yesterday there were egrets visible from the signal box and I watched a moorhen who I think was prospecting for somewhere to build her nest.

I'm no twitcher but there is something very special about seeing nature going about her business.

12 August 2016

Kindness appreciated

For me one of the worst things about disability is the realisation (or the fear) that sometimes other people feel they can't do what they want to do because I would be excluded. I often make excuses rather than join in something when there is a possibility that I will hold others back.

Last week however, I got a pressing invitation to join with a Trefoil Guild walk and I am really glad that I allowed myself to be persuaded. It was along the river bank near Brigg and I enjoyed it so much that I went back a couple of days later and did the "walk" again.

Isn't it wonderful how many really good projects have been funded with National Lottery money! This project is the redevelopment of an abandoned canal-side path and will eventually be fourteen miles long. We just went a couple of miles.

Part of the river is canalised and it was fascinating to see the twenty first century motorway thundering over the eighteenth century canal.

It's a wonderful leisure facility with luxury small craft on the water and dog walkers and runners on the path with both able to enjoy the wildflowers.

And just for once I wasn't the only trundle truck user!

That's not me!!!!

08 January 2016

No brainer!

Today's pleasure really took no thinking about - the pleasure of a fine day! It feels as though it has been raining for ever but today I woke up to a dry day.

And so the trundle truck and I went to Brigg, a small market town not far from home which has the great joy of free parking! It's a great place for me to go as the town centre is largely pedestrianised and trundle truck accessible. It's got lovely small shops including butchers and bakers and some medium sized supermarkets. I didn't need much but I did need cash and I wanted some wool to complete a project.

And I could rejoice in a dry day. So many in this country are really suffering because of the very wet winter we have had but here in Lincolnshire we've had it wet but only very localised (and predictable) flooding. Today Brigg was quiet and I could go to my favourite wool shop and my favourite "bargain" shop. I could enjoy the view of the river.

We Brits pride ourselves on being able to moan about the weather, no matter what it's like, but today I just enjoyed it.

Search This Blog