The following article was published in the 'Eco Echo' on the 9th of November 2009:
"I recently moved to Little Walsingham and discovered that this ‘holy village’ has a surprisingly lot to offer. On my first strolls around the village with my 2 year old daughter Molly I discovered an enchanting shop called b kidz.
From the outside the shop looked very inviting and that was definitely noticed by my Molly; her nose was pressed against the front door window and her eyes warned me – I WANT TO GO IN, and I will. This time I was more then happy to give in. Inside, the shop exceeded my expectations! I discovered lovely soft organic cotton baby clothes and blankets. Clothes for the older ones, up to 12 years, are simple and bright.
The toys…. well, you feel like a child yourself ; there are games, puzzles, original birthday gifts, beautiful dolls, high chairs, prams, wonderful dolls houses with furniture, garages, knights and castles a good selection of books and my favourite, a fantastic wooden cooker with pots and pans, a chicken for the Sunday roast, wooden breakfast (with a toaster!) and tea set. In the back of the shop my daughter discovered her favourite; a little shop with a till, scale, basket and different things to sell or buy. I can’t tell you how excited I got when I saw that b kidz also has many of the Le Toy Van and my favourite Moulin Roty toys.
With my daughter on the rocking horse I started chatting with the owner, Annie Gordon. I quickly found out that Annie is a mother of 4 and grannie of 2. The reason why she started b kidz is that she found it difficult to find the right toys and clothes for her own grand children. These 2 grand children have been and still are her inspiration when looking for clothes and toys. She started b kidz 5 years ago searching for ‘just’ funky clothes and groovy toys. But she developed some sort of an ethos or maybe better a philosophy and decided that clothes had to be fair trade, preferably made from organic cotton. Toys had to be child friendly, non-toxic, leave something to the imagination of the child and environmentally friendly and fairly traded as well. She consequently started selecting suppliers who had the fair trade label, who paid decent wages to their employees, who ensured normal working hours and who cared for the environment as well.
I would definitely recommend b kidz. I am sure you won’t be disappointed by either Annie or the things she sells. If you can’t make it to Walsingham she also has a website www.bkidz.co.uk (free 2nd class postage in the UK). Not everything is on it but if you are looking for something specific please ask her or write her an email and she will try her very best to get you what you want. b kidz is open Mondays – Saturdays from 10.00 – 17.00hrs. For late night shopping please check out the web site."
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