Sedbergh sits under the Howgill Fells inside the Yorkshire Dales National Park, a Cumbrian market town that has been part of Westmorland and Furness since 2023. The town's visitor site says it became England's official Book Town in 2003, after a group of residents formed the Sedbergh Literary Trust, and the NW Evening Mail repeated that date on 8 October 2026. Great British Life's history of the project, written for the twentieth anniversary in May 2025, traces the idea to the slump after the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak and dates the shared book centre and visitor office to May 2005. Money figures are in pounds sterling.
Seven of the twelve stops are in Sedbergh itself, and six of those are within a quarter-mile of St Andrew's Church: Westwood Books on Long Lane, the dealer shelves of Howgills Bookshop, Clutterbooks and Sleepy Elephant on Main Street, the book corner of Farfield Clothing off Joss Lane, and the People's Hall, where North West Book Fairs pitches its Sedbergh fair. Farfield Mill's pre-loved bookshop is the exception, about 1.2 miles east on the road to Hawes. The town's own site is frank about scale, writing that only a couple of shops sell books and nothing else, while many others keep shelves on the side.
The other five stops need the car. Kendal, nearly nine miles west, adds Oxfam's Highgate shop, the Lions' charity bookshop in Wainwright's Yard and a fair at Stricklandgate House; Kirkby Stephen, up the A683 to the north-east, has a new bookshop that also takes and sells pre-loved copies; and Ingleton, over in North Yorkshire to the south, gets a summer fair on the same circuit as Sedbergh's.
Secondhand and antiquarian bookshopWestwood Books
Long Ln, Sedbergh LA10 5AH
A building at the eastern end of Main Street that had been a factory and, before that, the local cinema and village hall, opened as a bookshop at Easter 2006 by a couple who had kept a Hay-on-Wye bookshop for more than 20 years; its About page says local owners took over in June 2020. Two floors hold more than 70,000 titles, mostly secondhand with some new and antiquarian stock, and scarcer copies go into a dedicated Collector's Book Room. The NW Evening Mail gave the same stock figure on 8 October 2026 and headlined it as the biggest bookshop in the Yorkshire Dales. Westwood buys according to condition and what it already has, and would rather sellers made contact before arriving with boxes.
Hours: Daily 10:30am–5pm (Apr–Oct); daily 10:30am–4pm (Nov–Mar)Website Multi-dealer bookshopHowgills Bookshop
Sedbergh Information Centre, 72 Main St, Sedbergh LA10 5AD
Shelves rented by secondhand dealers inside the Information Centre, about 230 yards east of St Andrew's, with a subject list that runs from cricket, railways and outdoor pursuits to Lakes and Dales topography, local history, maps and prints. It descends from the Dales and Lakes Book Centre that opened alongside the visitor office in a former National Park office, ready for the bank holiday weekend at the start of May 2005, as Great British Life recounted in its anniversary piece. On 17 January 2026 the centre's Instagram account joked that it carries so many books some visitors take it for a library. The website gives 9am to 4pm every day while a December 2024 post said 10am to 4pm, so ring 015396 20125 before an early start.
Community charity bookshopClutterbooks
77 Main St, Sedbergh
The book outlet of Sedbergh's community charity shop, between the Information Centre and the church, where the town's visitor site also lists music, games, puzzles and collectables beside the books. A Daily Express travel feature of 24 February 2026 pointed readers to its shelves of secondhand books, and on 8 July 2026 the charity posted on Facebook that donations were welcome from Monday to Saturday. Takings from Clutterbooks and from Clutterbooks & Clobber, the general charity shop further along Main Street, go into a fund that makes grants to local groups; the Express listed that second shop among the town's book outlets in August 2025.
Book fair (People's Hall)Sedbergh Book Fair
The People's Hall, Howgill Ln, Sedbergh LA10 5DQ
The People's Hall, a short walk north-west of the church, is the Sedbergh venue of North West Book Fairs, which held fairs here on Saturday 23 May and Saturday 18 July 2026. Its Facebook notice for the July date promised around twelve dealers selling secondhand, antiquarian and collectable titles alongside ephemera, a café with home-made food and a small free car park, with pay-and-display spaces on Joss Lane and at Loftus Hill as overflow. The printed programme for 2027 brings the fair back on 22 May and 10 July and puts admission at 50p to £1.
Hours: Sat 22 May and Sat 10 July 2027Website Where can I find cheap used books in Sedbergh?
Start with the charity counters. Clutterbooks on Main Street turns donated books into grants for local groups, and the pre-loved bookshop on level 4 of Farfield Mill raises money for the mill itself. Over in Kendal, the Lions' bookshop in Wainwright's Yard sells only donated stock for club causes. The Book Shelter costs nothing if you bring a book to swap. On fair days, getting in to see the dealers at the People's Hall costs between 50p and £1, if the organiser's 2027 leaflet is a guide.
Where do I sell used books in Sedbergh?
Westwood Books buys, but wants to hear from you before you bring anything: it chooses by condition and by gaps in its stock. Up in Kirkby Stephen, the Book Nook's part-exchange scheme lets you trade books in against new ones. Clutterbooks, Farfield Mill, and in Kendal both Oxfam and the Lions, take donations rather than buying. Before you choose, take one picture of the bookcase in BiblioScan, which tags every spine it recognises with a likely resale price; the copies worth a listing on Vinted, on eBay.co.uk or with Amazon.co.uk get set aside, and the remainder can head to a dealer or into a charity bag.
Which day is best for book hunting in Sedbergh?
Saturday, ideally on a fair date. All the Sedbergh shops that list their times open on Saturday, though Sleepy Elephant and Farfield Clothing both shut at 3pm, and the North West Book Fairs dates at the People's Hall and Stricklandgate House in Kendal fall on Saturdays. Avoid Tuesday for Farfield Mill, which closes that day, and Sunday for Farfield Clothing, which lists no Sunday hours; Sleepy Elephant only opens on Sunday afternoons.
Are there any used book fairs in Sedbergh?
Yes. North West Book Fairs brought around twelve dealers to the People's Hall on Howgill Lane on 23 May and 18 July 2026, and its 2027 programme brings them back for two more Saturdays, in late May and early July. Kendal's next fair at Stricklandgate House is on 21 November 2026, Ingleton's community centre has one on 8 August 2027, and Clapham village hall hosts another on 25 October 2026. Death in the Dales, the crime-writing festival, sells tickets to talks, not secondhand stock.