There are some delightful shops along Rochester High street, and Pastures New is my favourite one. This shop sells mainly kitchen accessories. Al the items are of excellent quality and beautifuly designed, so this place is a perfect shop if you're looking for gift ideas. I come here on my every visit to Rochester and always end up buying something. The staff are very nice and helpful. Prices are affordable. The ground floor is a treasure trove of imported fancy cake tins, tubes and molds. It is here where I finally found a good quality french madeleine tin. The tea towels are wonderfully designed and would make a lovely present for someone who enjoys their time in the kitchen. The upstairs has more kitchen items plus hand made woden toys for kids.From what I saw they were beautifully carved and painted and very sought after. They will make a toy item to order, to a specified design, colour choice and picture theme. It would make a perfect Christening present, if you are tired of the silver spoons, ducks, combs and similar tacky stuff peple give on such occasion. read more

An adorable, cute and practical range of kitchen goods and traditional children's toys marked up by at least 20% over the odds. Lovely friendly staff, unless you get the formidable proprietress who has twice tried to upsell me on the price of goods into paying more for them and once refused to give me change as she didn't have any. A fabulous shop if you are thick-skinned, if not, you're far better taking the 45 minutes it takes to get to Whitstable and go to their kitchenware shop which not only has a similar level of quality, but actually has more choice and far, far better customer service. You shouldn't be made to feel angry, cheated or scared when buying whisks or enamelware! read more