Bookshops and Stargazing; Featherston Booktown
Sitting happily side by side; Mr. Feather’s Den and C’est Cheese
Disclaimer: I am an ambassador for Featherston Booktown so I feel absolutely no compunction about shouting my love for this place from the rooftops!
Nestled beneath the Remutaka ranges with a pristine night sky twinkling overhead, Featherston is an hour away from New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington. Featherston might be small, it only takes two minutes to drive through, but it is mighty. New Zealand’s only book town, it has SEVEN bookshops, the world’s only surviving Fell Locomotive and one of the finest cheese shops I’ve ever set foot in. The most famous book town, and in fact the first to be founded, is Hay-on-Wye in Wales. Typically small rural towns, book towns have a concentrated number of antiquarian or second-hand bookshops. With members from Sweden to Malaysia, book towns have helped to drive rural economies and propagate a love of reading throughout Europe and beyond.
Featherston has seven unique bookshops, each with their own specialist or niche interest
The Dickensian Bookshop 78, Fox Street, Featherston
Owners Dave and Patsy do have an area dedicated to Mr. Dickens, but stock a wide range of classic literature from the Victorian era to more contemporary Pulitzer Prize winners. Having rescued so many books that their home was overflowing, their passion for forgotten books led to their own bookshop and there’s also a tearoom on the way!
Messines Bookshop : Military History 76, Fox Street, Featherston
Named after Featherston’s sister town in Flanders, Messines specialises in Military History books. Highly appropriate for a town where the World War I military training camp was larger than the town itself with its own post office and hospital.
Loco Coffee and Books 50, Fitzherbert Street, Featherston
Welcoming and eclectic, Loco is run by Kate who has created a community space to share a good coffee and a love of books. Home to the Featherston book club, there are comfortable couches to sit in whilst you drink Loco’s excellent coffee and consider your next bookish purchase.
Mr. Feather’s Den 19, Fitzherbert Street, Featherston
Susan has an artist’s eye. Stocking new fiction for children and young adults as well as a selection of vintage books, Mr. Feather’s Den has retro lighting, taxidermy and “bibelots” otherwise known as small decorative objects! These are beautifully grouped and displayed, often with a sense of humour, and the whole shop is a treasure chest. I had to be stopped from buying a taxidermied mouse in a nightshirt last time I was there
For the Love of Books 89, Fitzherbert Street, Featherston
A bookish Tardis, For the Love of Books is somewhere that you could spend hours browsing. With comfortable chairs, a play area and everything easily laid-out from fiction to technical books, there is a book here for everyone
The Featherston Ferret 50, Fitzherbert Street, Featherston
With a byline like “Weasily found, Stoatally different” how can you not love this bookshop which was originally founded on Wellington’s Cuba Street. With an emphasis on New Zealand history and literature, I spotted a few rather beautiful folio editions here
Chicken and Frog: The Book Book Shop 3, Clifford Square, Featherston
Appropriately situated right next to a children’s playground, Chicken and Frog is a bookshop especially for children. Joanne worked as a primary school Librarian and knows what appeals to her young clientele. With book nooks and interactive displays, it’s a joy to spend time there
If you’re wondering what stars have got to do with any of this, other than I like the idea of bookshops and twinkling stars in the same sentence, the Wairarapa is aiming to be New Zealand’s next Night Sky Reserve. You can visit Stonehenge Aotearoa and watch the stars align at night or have the star tour come to you with Under the Stars
Tempted yet!? If you need any more reasons to visit Featherston and the Wairarapa region, have a look at my other blog posts too!