The Little Travelling Bookshop

Aim: We’re converting a vintage van into a small bookshop and unique events space. We need your help to get our mobile bookshop on the road.

The Little Travelling Bookshop

The Little Travelling Bookshop is a vintage van which we’re converting into a small bookshop and unique events space. From Spring 2021, we’ll be popping up at fairs, festivals, markets, in your community and at schools across Scotland. Our events, from author talks, to book launches and signings will help foster connection in your community.

Independent bookshops play a vital role in our communities. They’re a place to escape to when life gets too busy. Or to connect with like-minded people. A place to find books that affirm our beliefs, or challenge our perceptions, or build our empathy.

But for many people living in rural parts of Scotland, their nearest bookshop is miles away. That’s why we’re making it easier for you to shop for books, and enjoy the bookshop experience, by travelling to your communities in our vintage van.

We'll sell books by a diverse range of authors, with a particular focus on health and wellbeing. And as part of our mission to encourage people to embrace the Joy of Missing Out, we'll sell coffee and other beverages, cakes and pastries, as well as small gifts such as candles, flowers and gift cards all sourced from Scottish producers. 

We'll also host engaging events that encourage people to get out of their homes and into social (albeit socially distanced) settings.

Why we need your help...

We've found the perfect vintage van for our bookshop - a Citroen HY van! We love them because they're robust but also friendly looking. We're currently having our van restored and reinforced, extending its life by at least another two decades. But now we need your help to convert the interior!

We’ve gone for the horse box version, which is a bit bigger than the short wheel base but not so big that we can’t manoeuvre it around Scotland’s winding roads. The smaller interior space means that we need to get creative with the exterior too, to maximise the space for displaying books and still have room for coffee / tea making facilities and our small gifts selection. 

The interior conversion will include:

• Shelving for books inside the van and also built into one of the side panels
• Lighting
• Electrical + water systems
• Coffee machine

With your help our mobile bookshop will be entirely special and unique in Scotland! Here's a digital mock-up of what it'll look like...

How can you help?

Buy one of our Rewards!

Funds raised from the sale of our rewards will go directly towards the interior conversion of our vintage van. For our rewards you can select one of our beautiful gift boxes or choose to attend one of our events. Or why not pay for The Little Travelling Bookshop to pop-up at your local school? You can even hire out our beautiful van for a special event of your own! Whatever way you choose to support our campaign, we can guarantee that it'll bring you joy and we'll be eternally grateful.

Our Gift Boxes

For our gift boxes, Becca our founder, has hand-picked books that she thinks you and your family and friends will love and she's packaged them up with beautiful products sourced from local Scottish producers - perfect for treating yourself or your loved ones this Christmas. Becca has reached out to each of these producers because they either have a personal connection to her or a strong social or environmental focus (and in some cases both!).

So, by purchasing our gift boxes from our campaign you'll not only be helping Becca get The Little Travelling Bookshop on the road, you'll also be supporting some amazing Scottish businesses.

£35 | Coorie In Gift Box | Select the Coorie In Gift Box Reward and you'll receive The Art of Coorie: How To Live Happy the Scottish Way by Gabriella Bennett and The Scottish Bee Company's Lavender, Tea Tree & Apple candle. Cost of delivery included.

£35 | Coffee Break Gift Box | Select the Coffee Break Gift Box Reward and you'll receive either A Promised Land by Barack Obama or A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough and a bag of Unorthodox Roasters Live Wired coffee (whole beans or ground). Cost of delivery included.

£40 | Bake Off Gift Box | Select the Bake Off Gift Box Reward and you'll receive ARAN by #GBBO semi-finalist Flora Sheddon, 1.5kg of Scotland The Bread wholemeal flour and a jar of The Scottish Bee Company's award-winning Scottish Heather Honey. Cost of delivery included.

£50 | Book and a Bouquet Gift Box | Select the Book and A Bouquet Gift Box Reward and you'll receive either Ghosts by Dolly Alderton or Failosophy: A Handbook For When Things Go Wrong by Elizabeth Day and a stunning bouquet by We Are Gloam. Only available for delivery in Scotland. Cost of delivery included.

£80 | Book Lovers Gift Box | Select the Book Lovers Gift Box Reward and you'll receive all of the short-listed Booker Prize novels! Cost of delivery included. 

Events

Our events, from author talks, to book launches and signings will help foster connection in your community, improve mental health and wellbeing and increase learning in children (for whom we’re developing a specific activities/events programme). 

Why not buy a ticket to one of our events and we'll send you details of our summer events programme launching in April 2021 before anyone else? We can tell you now that our first event will be our launch party for the bookshop, featuring our fully restored vintage van! Places will be limited so buy your tickets early.

Pay for The Little Travelling Bookshop to pop-up at your local nursery or school...

If you have or know children at nursery or school, then you can pay for The Little Travelling Bookshop to pop-up at their nursery/school and Becca will read 1x class their favourite stories! Every child in the class will also receive a The Little Travelling Bookshop goodie bag and 10% off any books bought at our bookshop.

Hire out The Little Travelling Bookshop!

Have you got a special event that you'd like us to help you plan next year? No problem! You can either hire out The Little Travelling Bookshop for a day or why not let us organise the whole event? 

A bit about our founder Becca

Becca Flory is the founder of The Little Travelling Bookshop. A lawyer turned entrepreneur, Becca has always dreamt of building a business that makes a positive impact on the world. Her previous start-up was an ethical fashion brand that received national press coverage and numerous awards. But after a series of life changing events, Becca began to think more about her life purpose and what makes her happy. With The Little Travelling Bookshop, she feels like she's found it.

A keen writer, Becca is currently honing her skills by writing blogs for The Little Travelling Bookshop and articles for magazines geared towards mental health and wellbeing. A piece for Happiful Magazine will be out soon.

At the age of 34, Becca suffered a pulmonary embolism, unprovoked (medically speaking) and out of the blue. Unable to do much of anything as her lungs recovered from the blood clots, Becca sought solace in books. After years of not being able to finish any of the books she started, Becca used her recovery time to immerse herself in books on race, relationships, spirituality and women’s rights. And she started to think, how can I encourage other people to read more and to learn from books, the way I have? Becca came up with the idea for The Little Travelling Bookshop because she wants to reach as many people as she can with her bookshop - yes, physically but also because she knows that so much can be gained from our shared experiences and learning, and particularly improving our mental health and wellbeing.

Becca wants to travel as far and wide as she can with her bookshop. To places where people want to gather and chat or simply sit down in a comfy chair with a good cup of coffee and read books that affirm their beliefs, or challenge their perceptions, or build their empathy. To escape, and to journey to far off lands and find different perspectives. Help get Becca and The Little Travelling Bookshop on the road by supporting her campaign!

Here's what people are saying about our mobile bookshop:

"I live for books and reading and this is a wonderfully inspiring idea!"

"I run a social justice book club and would love to work together in the future! It’s a great idea and I can’t wait to see where this goes. Well done!"

"There's nothing I don't love about this idea"

"This is a lovely idea! Best of luck! Come to Kelburn Festival!"

"What the world needs is The Little Travelling Bookshop!  I personally cannot wait to buy books from you and be woven into the story of its success. Love it!"

A special thanks to our collaborators...

Scotland The Bread. Scotland The Bread is a collaborative project to establish a Scottish flour and bread supply that is healthy, equitable, locally controlled and sustainable. Their idea is simple: grow nutritious wheat and bake it properly close to home.

The Scottish Bee Company. Iain and Suzie are good friends of Becca. They founded The Scottish Bee Company in 2017 because they felt strongly about the UK's declining bee population and decided to do something to help.  Today, The Scottish Bee Company has over 500 hives equating to around 25 million bees at the height of summer!10p from every jar of honey purchased is donated to www.repollinate.org.uk, their sister charity that aims to protect all types of pollinators through wildflowers spaces and education programmes.

Unorthodox Roasters. Becca just so happens to live opposite one of Unorthodox Roasters's two coffee shops, where they also roast their beans sourced from their 10.5 months travelling across Latin America.
Handy when she's in need of a pick me up! On the good advice of Neil, one of UR's co-founders, Becca's chosen their Live Wired coffee to include in our Coffee Break Gift Box reward.

We Are Gloam. We are Gloam are a group of amazing women who transform spaces using their styling and floristry skills. We're thrilled that they've agreed to send bouquets to the lovely people who opt for our Book and a Bouquet Gift Box reward. They'll use seasonal local blooms and foliage where possible.

See you at The Little Travelling Bookshop soon!