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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Patrick Butler Social policy editor

‘Absolutely beautiful’ but no shops for miles: the Cotswolds’ rural food deserts

Stone cottages with thatched and tiled roofs line a quiet Cotswold village street with a bench and parked car
Kempsford’s nearest food shop is 3 miles away. Photograph: Rob Read/Alamy

What does a “food desert” look like? In the case of the modestly affluent Cotswolds village of Kempsford, very pretty. When I visit the sun is shining from cloudless blue skies on to lovely honey-coloured stone houses, some draped in purple wisteria.

Aside from the loud hum of US air force planes revving up at the nearby Fairford airbase it’s a picture of rural calm. There’s a primary school and a pub. A house on the main street is called “The Old Bakery”. But there is no shop selling food for miles.

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