Plenty of rural towns have epic shops. They are like well kept secrets, slightly off the beaten track, but once you have found a gem you always go back and even better if they have an online store so you can stay in touch and order online if you spot something you love. One of the places I always love to go when I am in Ledbury is Tinsmiths.
Ledbury is a gorgeous market town near to Malvern in the Midlands. It’s just big enough to be bustling and is awash with pretty listed buildings making it very easy on the eye. There are plenty of places to stop and have a bite to eat and a coffee if you fancy and the carpark is still pleasingly inexpensive, unlike many larger towns and cities!
Tinsmiths is set in the beautiful heritage section of the high street down a fairy lit alley full of posters and murals. When you reach the shop itself you find it in two parts with a small courtyard in-between. One half is a 16th Century former tinsmiths workshop and the other is a space age glass bauble of a building.
Tinsmiths is my go to place for all fabrics, fixtures and home accessories or just for inspiration. The staff are extremely experienced and helpful in terms of measuring and cutting fabric and creating curtains and blinds. They have a made to measure service, which is great, but will always help you with your own projects. I spent ages in Tinsmiths a couple of years back going through the finer details of how I might create some curtains for our spare bedrooms. This was something I had never done before. I only had a sewing machine, YouTube and the will to do it. I had no idea how technical it was going to be matching the patterns of the fabric left to right and actually making these two little squares in each of the dormer windows. I managed it and so long as you don’t look at them too closely they look great. I couldn’t have done it without the vast amount of advice and guidance I received at Tinsmiths whilst pouring over my chosen fabric. The fabric section of the shop is brim full and you can’t really go wrong. Everything is gorgeous, it’s hard to choose. Luckily you can take fabric samples home with you or easily order them online.
Aside from the fabric Tinsmiths has a lovely collection of jewellery, scarves, buttons, iron on appliqués and so many other treasures. There are bathroom accessories, kitchen accessories, prints and ceramics. Each item is artisan and covetable. I quite like to pop in just to buy something little like an iron on motif for the kids school bags or a new hand towel for the downstairs loo. In any case it it’s unmissable when I am close to Ledbury, I’ll always take time out to visit Tinsmiths.
Wellies by the Door 