Welcome to Rosie Hopkins Sweetshop of Dreams

Travel Guide

The fictional town of Lipton was partly inspired by the James Herriot books and she mentions at the start of the book that both these and her love of Derbyshire inspired her to recreate that sense of pleasure and rural fun.

Having tried really hard to find Lipton in real life – there must be one and if not Jenny Colgan should build one! – that we came across Hope set in the Hope Valley. Now if this not the place to recreate the hope and happiness of the Colgan novels then we don’t know what is. Having seen the map of Lipton at the start of the book, we can’t help feel that Hope really matches up. And there are lovely cafes and places to stop off here and in nearby Castleton and eat those sweets that Jenny suggests you make with the recipes at the back.

But the real setting here of course is the world of sweets –

The lady who smelled of parma violets?

She filled the bag with the sweet shiny fudgy caramels

Sherbet lemons or chocolate limes? Penny chews or hard boiled sweeties Remember the lady who would pour them from a metal dish into a paper bag. Remember how they’d twist the top of the packet to stop them falling out?

Rosie comes to Lipton to try and rescue but ends up getting lost involved in a veterinary emergency and the city girl in the village feel is always set for a few laughs as the navigates her new surroundings. The villagers are a quaint bunch of folk such as the strapping countrymen, a doctor and the local handy man and are all a far cry from her high maintenance boyfriend back in London.

An at the centre of Lipton is the heart of the village, its sweet shop –

And this sweet shop has hidden depths, secrets harking back to WW2….