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A white corner building with green-painted window frames carries a sign reading 'The Open Book', a chalkboard and bunting outside.
Dumfries and Galloway

The Open Book

A bookshop in Wigtown with a holiday flat above, where guests run the shop for the length of their stay.

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Welcome

In Wigtown, Scotland's National Book Town, the Open Book is a small bookshop with a twist.

Upstairs is a holiday flat, and whoever stays there also runs the shop below for the length of their visit.

That means the bookseller behind the counter changes from one stay to the next, each bringing their own way of arranging the shelves and welcoming customers. Guest booksellers call it a unique experience, and shoppers have praised the warm welcome and the care taken in choosing books for them.

The shop usually opens from 8am to 4pm on weekdays and from 11am to 3pm on Saturday, though hours can vary with each week's bookseller.

Round the cornerWell-Read Books of WigtownA secondhand bookshop in Wigtown, opened in 2018 in the old Grapes Bar by Ruth Anderson, a retired QC, with a crime book club.1 min by roadSee itWhitewashed cottage row with green doors and hanging flower baskets on a village street
Before you go

Shop hours set by each week's guest bookseller; usually weekdays 8am to 4pm and Saturday 11am to 3pm.

Where
2 High Street, Wigtown, DG8 9HQ.
Stay
The flat above the shop.
The catch
You run the bookshop.

Opening hours

Their website
Monday
8am–4pm
Tuesday
8am–4pm
Wednesday
8am–4pm
Thursday
8am–4pm
Friday
8am–4pm
Saturday
11am–3pm
Sunday
Closed

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Where it is

At 2 High Street, Wigtown, DG8 9HQ.

Close byWigtown.
  1. WigtownWigtownScotland's National Book Town.Under a mile 1 min by road
  2. Vintage typewriter and stacked leather books beside a tartan-cushioned armchair in a libraryThe Book Shop, WigtownScotland's largest second-hand bookshop.Under a mile 1 min by road
  3. Stone cottage with a green Celtic knot sign, seen through a leafy tunnelByre Books, WigtownUnder a mile 1 min by road
  4. Inside ReadingLasses: shelves of new books by women writers on one side, and the café counter on the other, with cakes under glass domes, a chandelier and bottles on a shelf above.ReadingLassesA bookshop and café on South Main Street in Wigtown, specialising in books by and about women, with homemade cakes.Under a mile as the crow flies
  5. WhithornWhithornSt Ninian's town to the south.11 miles 16 min by road
Directions
Whitewashed cottage row with green doors and hanging flower baskets on a village streetShoppingWell-Read Books of WigtownA step away
Copper pot stills in a row in the still house at Bladnoch Distillery, under a timber ceiling, with the spirit safe beyond.AttractionsBladnoch Distillery0.9 miles
A woman with grey hair and glasses smiles beside a large tree trunk in woodland, wearing a green jacket with a round embroidered badge.AttractionsFreelance Ranger3.5 miles as the crow flies
Whisky barrels line a gravel path beside a distillery's glass-fronted timber buildingAttractionsGalloway Distillery6.4 miles
Landing craft 433 unloads vehicles onto a Mulberry harbour pontoon causewayAttractionsGarlieston Mulberry Harbour7.9 miles
Carved stone slab with cup and ring marks set among grassAttractionsDrumtroddan Cup and Ring Marked Rocks11 miles
Ruined stone abbey framed by a doorway, grass filling the roofless naveAttractionsWhithorn Priory and Museum11 miles

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