On Shopfronts, Stories and Small Joys: Why Your Town Needs You to Wander It
From blue moon ice cream to poetry prescriptions, Explorer Days connect us to what’s quietly slipping away.
While 11,341 independent shops closed their doors in the UK last year, I opened a few dozen.
Not mine—but the doors that held others’ dreams behind them.
Each time I stepped into a refill shop, an artist-run gallery, or a corner café with toast and conversation, I reminded myself: the high street is still alive.
It just needs us to notice it again.
I’ve come to see this not as nostalgia for what once was but rather as attention to what’s still here.
When I was little, my Saturdays weren’t for team sports or shopping centres. They were for going somewhere. My dad, a wholesaler delivering to small businesses, would bring me along. I’d carry a box or two and be ushered behind the counter, past the curtain, to a back room full of cardboard crates. A stool would be found. A mug of tea would be poured. And I’d sit amongst the apples and pears, offered toast, while my dad made deliveries and traded stories.
Back then, it didn’t occur to me that I was learning something. That these places—these independents—were the scaffolding of community.
But when my mum died, it became heartbreakingly clear. The same shopkeepers she’d spoken to every week for decades came to the funeral. One closed for the day. One wept on the doorstep as the hearse passed. Others filled the church pews. And in the months after, they were the ones who kept calling my dad—not for orders, but to ask how he was.
I think about that a lot now.
We talk so much about “community,” but we forget how often it begins in these small transactions. The ones where someone remembers your name. Where you don’t need an app. Where you're seen.
I’ve been annotating Explorer Days for years now—curiousity-driven visits to nearby towns with a loose plan, a bit of research, and a lot of openness. But more and more, those lists aren’t just growing. They’re shrinking too.
Places I’ve visited, loved, written down… are now gone. A paper shop here. A gallery there. A café I meant to return to.
The Centre for Retail Research found that in 2024, 45.5% more independents closed than the year before. We’re not just losing businesses. We’re losing the people-shaped worlds they create. The social glue. The soft edges of our worlds. The stories.
But here’s what I’ve also noticed: something else is emerging.
Where one thing disappears, something unexpected might take its place. A community sauna. A poetry pharmacy. A therapy room above a florist. In one town I found a shop that sold monster supplies by day and ran a children’s literacy programme by night. In another, a magazine store that felt like a museum. In another still, a bookshop that stocked only poems
You don’t stumble upon these in the same way while shopping online.
Explorer Days aren’t about escape. They’re about attention
They're how I practice wellbeing when I don’t know where else to start.
When I’ve been indoors too long, when I’ve felt out of step or out of touch, when my inner restlessness needs something gentle and grounding… I take a train. I wander a high street. I go somewhere I haven’t been before.
There’s often a pattern: An independent café. A bakery. A creative space. A bookshop
Something small yet still wonderful
I write down the name of the shop in the book I buy, so when I finally pull it from the shelf months later, I remember where I was before the story started.
These small wanderings help me reconnect. To where I live. To what matters. To what I might have missed.
And they’ve reminded me that our towns aren’t static. They’re waiting. Like Victorian debutantes, hoping someone might notice them and ask them to dance.
Maybe that someone is you.
What’s the last independent place that surprised you?
The bookshop you didn’t know you needed. The café you found when you got a bit lost. The artist-run space hidden behind the pharmacy.
Let’s help each other find more of those.
Download the Scavenger Hunt for Curious Locals
This is designed to help you rediscover what’s already around you. Take it out this weekend. Let it guide your steps.
And while you’re at it…
Nominate a Place for Our Guide to Life
We’re building a lovingly curated directory of places that make you feel more human—from refilleries and bakeries to museums, bookshops and creative sanctuaries.
Know somewhere that deserves a wider spotlight? Nominate it here
Own a place yourself? Apply to be featured
Because the world doesn’t need more noise. It needs more noticing.
Postcards from a Happy Place
A day at The Happy Place wellbeing festival — and the ideas I brought home with the tote bag
I’m sitting under the shade of a 100-year-old tree in a west London park, the kind with branches that creak when the breeze moves through them. I’ve claimed one of the bright bean bags scattered across the lawn and wedged it against the bark. It’s quieter here than in the big open-sided marquee where the talks are held. I almost left earlier — the heat was stifling — but this patch of dappled light invited me to stay.
This is the Happy Place Festival, Fearne Cotton’s annual celebration of all things wellbeing. Held in Gunnersbury Park, the event feels relaxed despite the crowds. There’s a sound bath tent, hormone talks, yoga happening under awnings, iced lattes for a quick pick-me-up, and a hum of voices talking about nutrition, breathwork, sleep, and happiness.
I wander a little, swap my trainers for sandals, browse the book tent, and eventually drift towards the Talk Tent — where the ideas start to land.
What Wellbeing Looks Like When You Do It at Your Own Pace
There’s a clawfoot bathtub painted bright yellow on the lawn. Giant HAPPY PLACE letters. Pink phone booths for Instagram moments.
People move slowly, or not at all. Some stretch into yoga poses. Others lounge with notebooks. I’m surrounded mostly by women. An older woman in a navy wrap dress stands near a mother and daughter in yoga pants. And I start to wonder: What are we all here for?
A day of self-care? A search for clarity? A break from decision fatigue?
For me, it became about gathering small, meaningful insights or the big ideas that I hope might stick. Here's what I took home from a single day of getting away from it all (so I could get back to it all).
5 Takeaways from The Happy Place Festival
1. Midlife Is for Beginning Again
“Everyone has something.” — Donna Ashworth
Poet Donna Ashworth shared that she didn’t begin writing until her mid-40s. “It was either me… or it,” she said. There was something inside her that needed to be expressed — even if it emerged messily.
Holly Tucker, founder of Holly & Co, echoed this. She shared that 75% of the small businesses they support were started by people aged 40–60. Midlife isn’t an ending. It’s the start of something else.
2. Listen to the Whispers of the Soul
The idea of tuning inward came up again and again. Katy Hill spoke of following the “whispers of the soul.” Kelly Holmes said she’s living not in the “if onlys” but the “maybes.”
What if we don’t need to have the whole plan — just enough of a nudge to start?
3. Time Is Measured in Moments, That Become Years
“Life is 80 summer holidays.” — Julia Bradbury
Oliver Burkeman’s 4000 Weeks was cited more than once. It’s a reminder that life is not endless. Julia Bradbury put it plainly: "You only get about 80 summers." She advocates for nature snacks as the way to reset her days — stepping outside every couple of hours to widen your gaze, regulate your nervous system, and remember you’re alive. The evidence backs her up. A University of Exeter study found that if 1.2 million people took part in a green prescribing project that would save the NHS £635.6 million.
4. Start Imperfectly, Stay Imperfect
“Just begin.” — Donna Ashworth
Donna’s talk — and the reading of her poem “Just Begin” — was a balm for the overthinkers. “Someone here needs this,” she said before reading. She was right. That someone was me. And maybe it’s you too.
Start before you’re ready. Begin without knowing the outcome. Let the thing live in the world. That’s where the magic happens — not in the editing, but in the doing.
5. Small Impacts Matter
“What’s my impact?” — Holly Tucker
Holly said she grounds herself daily in one question: What will my impact be today? Not in a pressure-filled way, but as an invitation. She believes we all have the potential to lift others — to support their dreams in small, significant ways.
And if you don’t know your answer yet? Ask yourself: What lit you up when you were 10?
Wellbeing That Feels Possible
There’s a lot out there right now about how to live better. Some of it’s helpful. A lot of it is loud. What this day reminded me is that you can be curious without committing to a complete reinvention.
Wellbeing isn’t a fixed destination or a 12-step plan. It’s something you get to define. Something you can build, imperfectly. Slowly. Softly. On your own terms.
Your happy place might not be mine. And that’s more than okay.
So, what’s your Version of a Happy Place?
Maybe it’s not a festival. Maybe it’s a book, or a walk, or a quiet cup of tea. The point is not to do more. It’s to tune in.
Here’s a gentle question to leave you with:
What whispers have you been ignoring?
And what might shift if you started to listen?
Want to explore this further?
We’re creating spaces for the wellbeing curious — people who want better days, not busier ones.
Why We Created a Wellbeing Guidebook (and What It Might Unlock for You)
Discover why feel-good places matter for your happiness. This wellbeing guidebook explores how everyday spaces—from creative studios to independent bookshops—can support your emotional wellbeing and inner world.
What do we really need when we’re feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure of our next step? Not more noise. Not more sitting with our ever spiraling thoughts. Not pressure to fix or upgrade or optimise.
Often, we just need a place to pause.
A space that makes us feel something again.
Somewhere that helps us remember who we are.
That’s why we created our wellbeing guidebook—an ever-growing collection of feel-good, real-world places that support emotional wellbeing, gentle exploration, and the kind of connection that genuinely helps.
Because sometimes it’s the right place that can help us find our way back to ourselves.
Why Place Matters for Our Mental Wellbeing
Wellbeing isn’t just something we do in private with a journal, or during a one-hour class. It’s also shaped by the spaces we move through every day.
Whether it’s a forest walk, a quiet café, a workshop, a cold-water swim, or a tiny bookshop full of soul—the right space can ground us, support us, or simply give us a new perspective.
Science backs this too: studies show that spending time in certain environments—especially nature-connected or creativity-rich spaces—can lower anxiety, boost mood and regulate the nervous system.
Connection Is Part of the Cure
The modern world is increasingly isolating. We’re online, overstimulated, and often emotionally undernourished.
But when we step into the right places—places that welcome, hold, inspire or comfort us—we’re reminded that we don’t have to do everything alone.
That might be a shared table at a local supper club. A movement class where no one cares what you look like. A gallery that sparks something long dormant. These places reconnect us: to others, to our bodies, to our creativity, and to the wider world.
Why Exploring Out There Helps Us Explore In Here
You don’t have to travel far to feel a shift. Sometimes going just a few streets away can spark something powerful.
This guidebook isn’t about bucket lists or big-budget retreats—it’s about discovering destinations for wellbeing that feel human, thoughtful, and accessible. It’s about using the outer world to support your inner one.
Because when you change your environment, even briefly, you often change your story. And that’s where something new can begin.
The If Lost Start Here Guidebook: What It Is
It’s not just a list. It’s a lovingly curated collection of spaces that help people feel better in real life. Every entry is chosen with care—not because it’s trendy, but because it offers something meaningful.
The guide features places that support:
Mind–body wellbeing through movement or stillness.
Creativity and self-expression
Experiences of awe, presence and joy
Know a Place That Deserves to Be Seen?
If you run, own, or simply love a place that helps people feel better, we’d love to hear about it.
Because sharing these spaces matters—and someone out there might be looking for exactly what you offer and what you’ve found.
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