East Anglia - books and beaches

Secondhand Bookshop in Holt, Norfolk

I have just returned from a wonderful holiday in East Anglia. Not only is the area packed full of treasure trove antique shops but there are secondhand bookshops galore. By far the best that I encountered was the above bookshop in Holt, Norfolk. The shop is reassuringly higgledy-piggledy with many wonky floors packed full of books on every subject. The fiction section is at the very top of the building so I busied myself amongst the cobwebs and found many, many gems. A whole host of old penguins and Virago Modern Classics jumped out at me and my budget withered away. Still, seven books for £13.00 is not bad.

I found:

• Devoted Ladies M.J. Farrell (Virago Modern Classic)
• That's How it Was Maureen Duffy (VMC)
• Frost in May Antonia White (VMC)
• The Ha-Ha Jennifer Dawson (VMC)
• Ordinary Families E. Arnot Robertson (VMC)
• A House and Its Head Ivy Compton-Burnett (Penguin)
• The Rector's Daughter F.M. Mayor (Penguin)

I have some work to do to catch up with Paperback Reader's admirable collection of the green Virago Modern Classics - but this wonderful little shop in Holt has helped.

As well as antique shops and bookshops, East Anglia has many stunning beaches. Holkham Beach on the north Norfolk coast is one of the most striking places that I have ever been to. If you have seen the film Shakespeare in Love then you will recognise it as the beach that Gwyneth Paltrow walked along in the final scene. Utterly breathtaking.

Holkham Beach, Norfolk