This beautiful photograph was taken by a volunteer arriving for work this week at Ilmington Community Shop. The early shift, from 7 to 9am, is a favourite for some volunteers. They appreciate the peacefulness of the morning: baking bread and croissants, taking in deliveries of milk and fresh local vegetables, laying out the daily newspapers. […]

…a chance to celebrate the abundance of foods which make up a meat-free diet. In the UK, 3.1 million people are now vegetarian or vegan, around 6% of the population and more than ever before. Here at Ilmington Community Shop, we stock hundreds of non-meat options: fantastically fresh fruit and veg; plant-based alternatives and a […]

Emma and Crendon relax with the morning papers, Cappuccinos and a breakfast flap jack. “If we only buy one, I know you’ll steal some of mine!” says Crendon. The couple are staying with relatives in Ilmington and are getting married in Cornwall next year. We hope they get a day as glorious as this

… a team of volunteers spent most of Sunday totting up every item on the shop shelves. Every year we undertake the annual behind-the-scenes stocktake. It’s a physical job which can involve getting down on your hands and knees to identify every household product, every pickle and preserve, every bottle of wine and tin of […]

…when day and night equalise around the globe and autumn begins in the Northern hemisphere. In the Cotswold village of Ilmington, people gathered for an Autumn Apple Feast, as they may have done hundreds of years ago. Ilmington used to be famous for its apple orchards and some ancient examples survive today. We celebrated in […]