Middlewich - not a place many people have heard of; we called in here on our narrowboat holiday this week.  We were travelling back from Chester to our base at Anderton, not far from the lift  (http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/Anderton-boat-lift). It was rather a rainy day, so I headed for the shops to see what the town was like.

Anderton Lift

A Tescos wasn't a good start as it's great to have a supermarket but often they can spell the death of the local high street.  

The local high street in this case is appropriately called Wheelock Street (named after one of the local rivers), being not far from the canal.  A canal which played such an important part in the history of this town (http://www.middlewich-heritage.org.uk/salt-and-canal.html) and continues to do so but now mostly leisure users.

I was pleasantly surprised to find two good butchers, fishmonger, cafe and bakers, newsagent, chemist, pet shop, children's clothes shop, a good-sized clothes shop (Fashionista, see picture) and an enormous gift and card shop, in amongst the usual take-aways, betting shops and charity shops.  And not forgetting the pub, The White Bear, which looked nice from the outside.


The gift shop's aptly called 
Temptations.  
I can't see a link to their website but, take my word for it, it's definitely a shop worth visiting if you're ever in the area.  There are several small rooms, offering cards, knick knacks, all sorts of gifts, hand-made chocolates and even flowers.





Although it was a Saturday, the shops were very quiet but perhaps that's because of the inclement weather, I certainly hope so.  Long may Middlewich shops be used and enjoyed by locals and holidaymakers alike and I look forward to visiting there again on our next narrowboat trip up that way.


Incidentally, this weekend - 13/14/15 June - there's the FAB Festival (http://www.midfest.org.uk/), that's the Folk & Boat Festival, which sounds fun.  We were there a week too early.