As we find ourselves in the midst of another national lockdown, it is clearly a time which provokes all sorts of emotions from many of us – but owners of retail businesses are going to feel the impact in a very real way.

Certainly not the only way to gauge community activity, a High Street provides a useful barometer for villages like Lindfield. And whilst it’s easy for us to ‘harp back to the good ol’ days’ when there were multiple butchers, a bank and a hardware store – that doesn’t really change anything for the better.

What could change things and help secure the colour and variety of window displays for years to come is us making decisions to support these businesses, especially when we come out of this current lockdown period. The businesses on the High Street are almost all independent traders – most of whom are having a pretty bad year! Could you think about what Christmas presents could be sourced locally? We are all romanced by the ease of global retail giants offering simple one-click purchases – but what is possible, if we make just a bit more effort? Some High Street shops have even begun offering ‘click and collect’ during this second lockdown.

At Lindfield Life we would like to encourage everyone to support businesses in the village, so we’ll be trying to connect and showcase these on our social media presence. But for those not active online, perhaps a walk down to the High Street could trigger some festive foraging inspiration?

Christmas shopping and your daily exercise; now that’s two for one value!