This is one of my favourite places in Belfast. A creaky, musty second hand bookshop just around the corner from my office, called Keats & Chapman. I visit it every couple of weeks and have whiled away many a lunch break wandering up and down its narrow corridors. Shelves of second hand books tower precariously above me on either side, holding hidden gems waiting to be discovered by the determined bookworm.
They have a huge fantasy section which I invariably gravitate towards but if you venture deeper into the bowels of the shop, you can find all manner of topics. The entire layout of the store appears shambolic at first glance but the more time you spend there, the more you realise there is a crazy logic to it all. Everything is just where it’s meant to be. I know it like the back of my hand.
I don’t think I’ve exchanged more than 10 words with the owner during my many visits. He sits hunched behind the counter, listening to an Irish language radio station. I don’t buy a book every time I call in, but when I do, money passes hands accompanied by a cursory grunt or nod. Some might view this as rude and, yes, his customer relation skills are a tad lacking but, to me, it adds even more to the charm of the place.
Whenever I cross the threshold of its door, I feel as if I’m entering a parallel universe, where I can leave behind the stresses and strains of the outside world. It’s a still sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of 21st Century life. I could spend hours, days, weeks in this murky domain, inhaling the musty aroma of battered first editions and crumbling paperbacks. Nothing costs more than £3.
Where is your quiet place, that sanctuary of calm you know you can retreat to when it all seems to be getting a bit too much? It could be a regular destination or somewhere you only visited once, but can conjure up in your minds eye in times of turmoil. How do you feel when you are there, or do you crave such a place, but have yet to find it? If the latter, then keep looking for it’s out there, waiting for you.
Black Thoughts 
Sounds like a perfect place….lots of books and no one to bother you asking if you need help….my quiet place is my big overstuffed chair in my library/home office. I put on some music…anything from Beethoven to jazz and read to my heart’s content.
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Your quiet place sounds idyllic. Enjoy 😊
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Interesting looking place. Fitting that it would be full of fantasy and mystery.
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Yes. It features heavily in my book.
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We’re empty nesters now, so my quiet place is anywhere at home. It used to be I’d have to go off and hide somewhere.:-)
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Yes. Locked in the bathroom 🚽
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Like Priscilla our home is beautifully quiet. I now attempt to find my quiet place in my head, wherever I am. I imagine a line I call the “plane of peace” and below it is the roller coaster of daily life. My spiritual arms are reaching upward to grab onto the plane of peace whatever the situation. It is a lofty attempt at making all of life a prayer.
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‘The plane of peace.’ I like that 🙂
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Very Black Books, FF 🤣
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Great name 👍🏻
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Target? No, kidding. I have a beautiful outdoor living space that I hide out in regularly. Total battery recharge!
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Sounds great. Lucky you 🙂
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Years ago, there was a lovely little used book store I visited once a week for about an hour or so. I went faithly for years. I absolutely loved it. Great prices, good location, lovely atmosphere. Sadly it closed shop. Now I go to a Starbucks twice a month and have a caramel macchiato and write when I can’t get it together in my nook at home
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Great blog!
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Thank you 😊
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I love the look of your quiet place. If I ever visit your neck of the woods I’ll make sure to go there. My quiet place is a little coffee shop called Apogee. There is art all over the walls, done by the patrons. There is also a selection of homemade items for sale.
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It sounds like a great place. Thank you 😊
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It’s in sketching and writing my blessings to friends and loved ones for their special occasions. I feel I am channeling God’s prophetic word of kindness and affirmation into their future. The Bible says what you sow you reap so I am doubly blessed!😁
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A lot of people relax the same way. Enjoy 😊
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Still looking. I have my at home retreat, but I can still hear what’s going on in the house. The beach or mountains I love, but are way to far to be convenient. But I’ll keep looking!!
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I hope you find your place 😊
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My little piece of heaven.
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Most of the places I go to escape are noisy, because my home sits in the wildland urban interface of the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana, USA. Very peaceful and quiet here. It’s an easy place to write from. I do, however, love bookstores! Indies & Used booksellers are a unique lot.
Thanks for sharing your quiet place!
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You’re welcome. It must be a beautiful part of the world to live in.
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That looks like the grandest hideaway ever. I’m jealous. I would honestly love to be outside more, but I cannot abide the mosquito population here.
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Hopefully they will leave you alone in future 🙂
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That sounds like a dream hideout!
My all time favourite place is my bedroom! LOL! I have three large windows over looking a beautiful corn field and since my house faces north, i get to see the sunrise and sunset ❤️ There’s also a bookshelf full of family pictures and my all time favorite books. Plus a night stand beside my bed full of hidden goodies that my children do not know about…so I don’t have to share. To top it off my bed is comfortable and has lots of pillows to stack around me, the perfect place to read. Yup. As boring as it sounds, that’s my quiet place.
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It sounds like a perfect place, Heather. Any child free zone works for me 😉
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I love used book stores, you never know the treasures you’re sure to come across!
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Yes, you just have to be prepared to dig around a bit.
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My deck, porch, bedroom, or, after everyone else is asleep, our living room. I used to retreat to the bathroom when the kids were little, though! There’s a used bookstore just like you describe on the island in Maine where I used to vacation as a girl. It was called The Lobster Lane Bookshop. I wish I could go back and spend a rainy afternoon there again someday.
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You should put that on your bucket list, Meredith.
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I will indeed go back one day!
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I have a similar place I go to. Also my library is another spot I retreat to.
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Libraries are great. There is one across the road from where I work. Sometimes I go there on my lunch break 😊
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Beautiful. I love used bookstores!
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You could weeks in there 🙂
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Hello! We are starting to make our first Christian feature-film! And I was wondering if you would be interested in reblogging our last post to help us get the word out about it.
Thanks!
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Over the years, depending on where I am living, my quiet place has of necessity changed. My most recent quiet place was the churchyard located behind the Parish Anglican church. It was peaceful, there were benches, and allowed time to walk and study gravestones of our ancestors, to sit and meditate etc. I used to take a Christian book and a Bible with me to have some time with God in peace and prayer. Now that’s changed. Sadly the churchyard is used as a cut-through for mothers dashing off to collect children, teenagers running through after school and after dark teenagers and YAs use it as a hangout to drink alcohol and take drugs. You even have to watch where you sit/tread as there are often needles etc strewn everywhere. So, now, I am trying to find somewhere else as a quiet place. 😦
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That’s so sad to hear. It sounded like a lovely location. I hope you find a new quiet place, soon.
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I’d say my quiet place was the beach near the home I grew up in. I feel at peace when I am there.
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Sounds like a great place. Enjoy 😉
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Oh! I love that look and description! Sounds like a magical place. Lovely!
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It is.
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