Hello, we are the Gray Family: Peter, Clare, teenager James and two cheeky monkeys, Rosemary and April. We’ll be ‘blogging’ away throughout the year with reports of our attempt to service all our household needs from the local traders of Sudbury and surrounding villages. We’d love to hear your comments, suggestions or questions.

It will not have escaped anyone reading this blog that the entries have become thin on the ground over the past couple of months. I’ve been snowed under with work and we’ve all succumbed to the seasonal showers of snot and vomit our junior partners contribute to the household. What spare time we’ve mustered has been directed towards producing and distributing 3,000 leaflets to encourage support for our local shops over Christmas.
    Yet, with barely time to sneeze, we have not had any great trouble sticking to our resolution. Shopping locally has become a part of our weekly routine and we no longer have to give it very much thought.
    Like most changes of lifestyle, it’s just been a matter of adopting a slightly altered mindset. We’ve accepted that we can’t always have exactly what we want on demand and actually feel a bit more grown up because of it. We also feel more healthy, enjoying fresh fish every week, top quality meat and local fruit and veg that’s naturally in season. We’ve also developed a taste for premium locally made cakes, jams and condiments. Not one frozen pizza or microwave meal has passed our lips for a year.
    Not that we that we have completed our year’s challenge without failings: With no local supplier, Clare had to send a friend in to Waitrose to get nappy liners and she discreetly secured a pack of muslin comfort cloths from a distant chain store. There was the emergency pack of screws I bought and the odd tank full of petrol. But that’s it. Everything else – food, drink, clothing, cleaning products, DIY supplies, gifts and entertainment – we’ve acquired from local sources.
    You might imagine us celebrating the New Year by rushing back to the supermarket or the chain store sales. But we changed calendars without any such thoughts. ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. We started this project to highlight how well the town is served by local businesses. Over the past year we have been well served indeed and having built up some jolly repartee with our local merchants, they will continue to have our loyalty. And we’re not about to turn our backs on the low prices we’ve enjoyed.
    There are a few consistently sticky areas that we can now circumvent: The children are outgrowing their underwear and now we’ll be able to replenish their top drawer. Prescriptions and other pharmacy products have meant car journeys that we’d prefer to avoid. And there have been a few odd items for which we’ve had to set aside our better prejudices and buy big name brands; that’s something we’ll now be able to avoid if we can be sure that chain store equivalents come at a lower ethical cost. But one thing is for certain – we won’t be setting foot inside Tesco!
    One of the contradictions of the past year is that our stance has kept us out of Waitrose. As a worker’s co-operative, we’ve always been supportive of their business model. We will have no shame in venturing back inside for fish fingers and fresh pate – the only items we’ve truly felt bereft of all year.
    Overall, the year has been a very positive experience. We feel more connected – to the community, to the natural rhythms of the calendar, and to what really matters in a world that’s so full of distracting clutter.

I’d like to thank all those who took the trouble to offer comments of support over the past year. It has not been easy to find time to write our newspaper and blog articles and it has sometimes felt like we’ve been shouting into the wilderness. So we have genuinely appreciated every word of encouragement.
    There will always be those few who make their ill-informed assumptions and snide comments without the decency to identify themselves. Thankfully, they are very much in the minority and we have been pleased to note a general feeling of genuine good will towards the fine merchants of our town and villages.

Whether it’s turkey, goose or something more unusual you plan to put on the Christmas table, now is the time to place your orders with the butcher. If you want to push the boat out and have a whole salmon, that too will need to be ordered in advance.
    There’s not much new produce coming into season now, but still it is a time of plenty, with all the traditional Christmas fare available in abundance and much more besides:

Fruit:     Apples, chestnuts, cranberries, pears, quinces.

Veg:       Aubergines, beetroot, cabbage, calibrese (broccoli), cauliflower, celeriac, Fenland (dirty) celery, leeks, lettuce, Linzer Delicatesse salad potatoes, onions, oyster mushrooms, parsley, parsnips, peppers, pickling onions, pumpkins, red cabbage, sage, Savoy cabbage, spinach, sprouts, squash, swede, turnips, watercress. Main crop carrots and potatoes.

Meat:     Autumn lamb, duck, goose, guinea fowl, harvest rabbit, partridge, pheasant, teal, venison, wood pigeon. Game is at it’s best this time of year. Also casserole meats: brisket, stewing lamb, stewing steak, and for Christmas, turkey and gammon.

Fish:      Brill, cockles, local cod, codling, Cornish sardines, dab, Dover sole, hake, herring plaice, mussels, oysters, shrimps, skate, sprats, whiting. Salmon and smoked salmon is very popular around Christmastime.

(Compiled with the help of CA Watson & Sons greengrocer, John Coleman butcher, Munro’s fishmonger. Please remember that fish stocks are naturally temperamental and subject to availability.)

As we approach the end of our year, we still get asked, “How will you cope with Christmas?” The expectation seems to be that we’ll have a hard time finding presents, food and drink. In fact, I confidently predict that providing for the festive season will be a doddle, and a pleasant one at that.
    In this region, we are fortunate that most traditional Christmas fare is produced near at hand, coming directly to local outlets without being channelled through ports, depots and motorways. So we can enjoy freshness and quality without paying for the processes in between. Apparently, in a certain supermarket some cuts of meat are double the price of the top-quality equivalent on Sudbury market. In fact, Coleman’s prices remain unchanged since last year. Our greengrocer labels the origins of his produce, so we can tell at a glance just how much of it is local, and there’s not much on our Christmas menu that isn’t.
    With farm shops, the market, farmers’ markets and speciality grocers around and about we can easily fill in the gaps with cheeses, dried goods, confectionery and luxury items.
There’s always a chance that someone might fancy a bit of booze. A mixed box of Mauldon’s ales is on our list and we’ll be taking advantage of free deliveries from Dragon Drinks (in Pentlow) of any spirits, wines and posh cordials that take our fancy.
    Throughout this year, buying presents has been a real pleasure: always affordable and never a challenge. In all corners of Sudbury and surrounding settlements we’ve found many super outlets from which we’ve bought books, toys, china, electricals, and exotic gifts. We’ve also found great presents in such unexpected places as Rafi’s Spice Box, Gainsborough’s House, and even Melford Green Alpacas. And, with craft fairs and bazaars breaking out all over the place, we really will be spoilt for choice. It is very gratifying to see family members genuinely pleased to open something a bit different from the ubiquitous, over-priced tat that adverts try to foist upon us.
    There will always be those who prefer to drive miles for the privilege of fuming in the shopping centre traffic jam and then compete for the attention of indifferent sales staff. They may grit their teeth and attempt to get all their food and drink in one unwieldy trolley-load. For us, opting for the rich selection of local shops and traders means that the lead up to Christmas will be about community spirit, cheerful banter and taking our time to enjoy the season of goodwill.

Over the past months, I’ve had a number of comments about my email address, which blatantly ends in ‘@waitrose.com’. ‘Hypocrisy’ they shout, but perhaps they don’t know that Waitrose donate all their broadband proceeds to charity. And without the imperative to cut corners for profit, they offer an exceptionally good helpline service, which I’ve given a thorough testing, Luddite that I am.
          During a talk I gave recently, I was also asked about my banking. Like broadband there is no local provider, but that doesn’t mean there is no ethical option. I have banked with the Co-op for many years, impressed by their ethos and proud ethical claims.
          Our project to avoid all supermarkets and national chains has not been without its dilemmas. In order to highlight the breadth and quality of local businesses, we have had to shun the retail arms of these two worthwhile organisations. Like the Co-op, Waitrose is a workers’ co-operative (part of the John Lewis partnership) and though it is not perfect, it avoids many of the nasty business practices of its rivals. I also understand that Roy’s is an East Anglian company and so counts
as relatively local.
          But, though these may be very much the lesser of the supermarket evils, for those concerned about where their products come from and where their money goes to, there’s rarely a better option than local independent shops and traders.

Some months ago, when the days were warm and the nights were short, I spotted an old fireplace at Manders auction in Clare. Looking forward to cosy winter evenings by a roaring fire, I reckoned I would just clean it up a bit and slot it into place in the chimneybreast. As I raised my hand to bid, I had little idea of the upheaval I was welcoming into our lives.
    Taking advice from the local sweep, I soon learnt that to ‘clean it up a bit’ required a full restoration project spread out over several weeks. To ‘slot it into place’ would involve some fiendish brickwork, a new hearth and a whole lot of mess. Thus, it seemed appropriate to undertake a long-overdue overhaul of the living room at the same time.
    With the wife and the kiddies in forced exile, my existence over the past fortnight has been one of dust and fumes, cold and fatigue, baked beans and my dad’s jokes.
    But the misery of the whole project has been very much tempered by the generous advice and expertise of local tradesmen. Zigi’s in Halstead provided an elegant and cheap solution to my damaged firebrick. At Kent Blaxill and Ridgeons (both locally owned businesses) the staff were helpful beyond the call of duty and courteously coped with my dithering and daft questions. PC Electricals (North Street) had everything I needed for the rewiring jobs. At CC Discount Heating (Goal Lane), the chap patiently offered various options for a knotty radiator predicament that arose.
    I am constantly impressed by the general ‘can do’ attitude that pervades our local businesses. Not once did I hear previously familiar terms like, ‘If it ain’t on the shelf we ain’t got it’.
    And it’s surprising what’s available locally for even specialist jobs. Just as we were scratching our heads over a pricey quotation for a new hearth, we happened upon the Tile Gallery in North Street. There, I was able to get all the materials and instructions to build a virtually identical hearth for a fraction of the quoted price.
    The family is now reunited in a dust-free home. Just this morning, Sudbury Chimney Specialists kindly found a slot in their busy schedule to undertake the final fixing of the fireplace. Now we really can look forward to cosy winter evenings by a roaring fire.

One of the consolations of winter is the hearty stews, pies and soups that warm from the inside out. All the necessary ingredients are in season locally, and much more besides, including the mighty sprout!. Here’s the full list of November’s produce:


Fruit:    Chestnuts, cranberries, quinces.

Veg:     Sprouts.

Meat:    Goose, guinea fowl, pheasant, teal. Also casserole meats: brisket, stewing lamb, stewing steak.

Fish:     Sprats



Fruit:    Apples, pears.

Veg:     Aubergines, basil, beetroot, cabbage, calibrese (broccoli), cauliflower, celery, courgettes, cucumber, fennel, leeks, lettuce, mint, new potatoes, onions, oyster mushrooms, parsley, parsnips, peppers, pickling onions, pumpkins, red cabbage, sage, Savoy cabbage, sorrel, spinach, spring onions, squash, swede, turnips. watercress. Main crop carrots and potatoes.

Meat:    Autumn lamb, duck, grouse, harvest rabbit, partridge, venison, wood pigeon.

Fish:     Brill, cockles, local cod, codling, Cornish sardines, dab, Dover sole, hake, herring plaice, mussels, oysters, shrimps, skate, whiting.

(Compiled with the help of CA Watson & Sons greengrocer, John Coleman butcher, Munro’s fishmonger. Please remember that fish stocks are naturally temperamental and subject to availability.)