{"id":88348,"date":"2012-12-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travelstartblg.wpenginepowered.com\/the-book-shop-scotlands-favourite-bookstore\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T13:51:02","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T13:51:02","slug":"the-book-shop-scotlands-favourite-bookstore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-book-shop-scotlands-favourite-bookstore\/","title":{"rendered":"The Book Shop: Scotland\u2019s favourite bookstore"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Wigtown is Scotland\u2019s book town, home to more bookstores than any other town in Scotland (more than a dozen). And The Book Shop<\/a> is Wigtown\u2019s favourite bookstore (or perhaps my favourite bookstore from my visit to Wigtown, which is almost the same thing \u2013 no?) Surely that makes The Book Shop Scotland\u2019s favourite bookstore? I think so.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not only the favourite, though. The Book Shop is also the largest second-hand bookshop in Scotland, with more than 1.6km of shelving holding more than 65,000 books. 65,000 books! They\u2019re also the oldest bookstore in Wigtown, and they\u2019re online. How\u2019s that for an anachronism?<\/p>\n

What I loved about The Book Shop wasn\u2019t just the fact that it\u2019s a treasure trove of books, old and new, but also that each room inside the shop has its own special character. There\u2019s the main room, where you enter the shop, and where the grumpy (but actually delightful) bookstore owner, Shaun Bythell, can be found behind the counter most hours of the day or night. There\u2019s the middle room, where a resident skeleton hangs out alternately from the ceiling, in a chair reading a book, or dressed up in any manner of outfits. Then there are a pair of back rooms, crammed with books, and \u2013 my favourite of all \u2013 a garden room with windows looking out onto the leafy garden, filled with books about \u2013 you guessed it! \u2013 gardening, amongst other subjects.<\/p>\n

Well, at least that\u2019s my memory of this special place. Luckily, you don\u2019t have to trust me, because there\u2019s a video tour of it, to be found here.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Book Shop<\/a> also plays an active role in the annual Wigtown Book Festival, which is held from the end of September for a week, and sounds like a raucous celebration of all things literary. Find out more about that, here<\/a>, and if you do happen to visit The Book Shop, please send my regards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Book Shop is Wigtown\u2019s favourite bookstore – or perhaps my favourite bookstore from my visit to Wigtown, which is almost the same thing \u2013 no?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":88349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_destination_ratings":[],"_destination_review_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,445],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","category-destinations-travel","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Book Shop: Scotland\u2019s favourite bookstore - Travelstart Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-book-shop-scotlands-favourite-bookstore\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Book Shop: Scotland\u2019s favourite bookstore - 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