We approached Wimbledon village via a pleasant walk through Wimbledon common, once home of the Wombles. Wimbledon village is more of a village than an actual village with its rural feel, bakery, a Bayley & Sage, boutiques, horse stables and posh people. And two charity shops: an Oxfam and a British Red Cross. Oxfam is narrow but long, and pricey; Red Cross is spacious and slightly more reasonably priced.

It’s a long walk down Wimbledon Hill Road to Wimbledon proper; a pretty ugly town with ubiquitous modern mall and office blocks. Usually pretty busy. Walking down the Broadway our first stop is a British Heart Foundation shop, typically cramped. Further on is a FARA, then a Cancer Research (spacious, good books), a Scope and finally a Trinity Hospice. All pretty good but nothing really spectacular about them.

Barngains of the day: Martin Amis’s Visiting Mrs Nabokov and Other Excursions, hardback, £2.25, from Cancer Research; Playmobil Advent Calender 2010, boxed, as new, £4.99 (RRP £14.99) from British Red Cross.