Continuing our series of the best charity shops in the UK, we visit Suffolk. Local girl Stephanie Stanhope from The Key guides us through a variety of towns and shares with us some of her best finds.
Suffolk is a great place to live or visit, especially during the summer months. There are many beautiful towns and villages, and in those beautiful towns and villages are some charming charity shops.
Felixstowe
This small seaside town has an exciting mix of high street, independent and charity shops. The main area of shops and cafes are located along Hamilton Road which runs through the centre of town to the sea.
Along this stretch you will find many great charity shops including: Sense; St Elizabeth Hospice; The British Red Cross and The British Heart Foundation. I discovered a wide range of dresses and skirts as well as an amazing range of new and used jewellery. My find of the day was a set of gold bangles from the St Elizabeth Hospice shop.
Ipswich
Ipswich is where I live so I’ve spent a bit more time in the charity shops here, and this is where I have sourced most of my clothes for The Key. You can find a whole row of charity shops along Upper Brook Street. However, my two favourite shops are Mind on St Matthew’s Street and Sense on Meredith Road.
Showing my sister some of the clothes I had found in the above two charity shops completely changed her view of charity shopping. She even purchased an extremely cosy duffel coat from Sense back in the colder months.
Woodbridge
Woodbridge is another small town with a beautiful mix of high street and independent retailers with a few charity shops thrown in. The charity shops we found were along the Thoroughfare. And although from the outside The British Red Cross didn’t look all that inviting, inside it was like an Aladdin’s cave of charity shops.
The clothes were ordered by colour, there was a wide choice of clothes and accessories and my sister and I both found on trend pieces that we loved. Mine was a white dress with black leather detail and Catherine’s was a cute florescent jacket.
Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh’s charming high street runs parallel to the seafront and is full of independent retailers, which is part of its charm. However, they have made room for a few charity shops including St Elizabeth Hospice and my favourite, Sue Ryder.
The range of clothes is more limited than the other areas I visited but I did pick up a really cute leopard print headband from their own collection of accessories.
Stephanie writes the blog Inspirations and Me and also runs The Key, an online shop selling beautiful pre-loved clothing for all shapes & sizes, supporting local charities and promoting voluntary work in the community.
If you’d like to guest blog for us about the charity shops you love in your area then get in touch to find out more about our unique blogging payment scheme.
Photos: Stephanie Stanhope