Hopewell is a lovely wee town, it has to be said.  It has the distinction of being the burial place of John Hart, one of the signatories of the American Declaration of Independence and is historical, by US standards, having been founded in 1703.  The predominant architecture is what the Americans call Victorian; 2 storey, clap-board house in pastel colours or white (with the odd bright yellow or purple), nicely decorated with eaves and the like and, above all, with lovely porches or decks looking down the open front gardens to the street.  Come the spring, I imagine all the local sitting in their rocking chairs, puffing contentedly on pipes and supping their sipping whiskey, raising their hats to ladies passing and calling greetings to friends.  Or at least that might have been the case a hundred years ago.  Now it is more likely to be iced-tea (whose idea was that?  Take a perfectly good beverage and the drink it cold!) but you get the picture.     

It also has a remarkably good and varied selection of restaurants for such a little place, ranging from Das Kitchen (no, not German but Thai, bit confusing) and the Peasant Grill to the Brothers Moon and three Pizza places.  And a great wee cafe, Boro Beans, which actually serves Barrys Tea, from Cork. We haven’t tried them all yet, of course, but what we have tried has been good.     

Which makes it all the more puzzling that there is a dearth of good food to be had in shops here.  There are two Deli’s, or groceries, which have an amazing variety of sandwiches, cold meats etc but which have no fresh produce at all for sale.  Nothing.  Not a banana.  Everything processed and packaged.  Sugar in the bread.  Chemicals in pretty much everything.  Why?  You can of course get fresh food in the area but you have to go to one of the malls near Princeton.  I am sure that there are local suppliers so we will need to do some home work and get sources for fresh, organic food.