I love attending village events, particularly when there’s something very special to celebrate, as there was at Wootton-by-Woodstock. I was there to present an award to manager Pan Jones and the 40 volunteers who have run the community shop since 2007 when the village shop closed.

The shop has been declared the Community-owned Village Shop of the Year, by the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council. This award is well deserved as the shop continues to meet its financial targets and stocks local foods if possible. But that’s not all. The friendly, helpful service the volunteers provide greatly influenced the judges’ choice. They were also impressed with the fact that the shop stays open until 7pm on weekdays to enable people to stock up with food on their way home from work — a service which is greatly appreciated.

I loved the fact that the volunteers also dress the windows, changing them weekly with an imaginative display that encourages shoppers to add extra things to their shopping basket.

Pam Jones explained that unlike many village stores, which buy in bulk from one outlet, they purchase stock from several suppliers and producers. Yes, this means extra work, separate orders, and loads more invoices, but Pam thinks it’s worth it, as they can use local suppliers and tailor their stock to meet the needs of their customers. The bread, for example, comes from Hawkins, in Carterton, who deliver daily. At the weekend they also sell artisan breads and tarts from La Parisienne, near Cirencester.

Until recently, the shop stocked the usual frozen ready meals produced by national companies. Now they stock handmade frozen ready meals supplied by COOK, the new food outlet that recently opened in Summertown.

Pam said: “ These are proving so popular as they are cooked on the premises by chefs with the same ingredients we use at home. They taste really great and there is such a variety, including a wonderful range of Indian meals and delicious home-made puddings.

“We have a double freezer filled with these meals now. Customers who have tried them are coming back again and again because we can offer them a big choice of meals, including vegetarian lasagne.”

One of the most popular lines in the shop is their Top Shelf wine sourced by wine buff and volunteer Mike Biggs. He spends his free time scouring the countryside looking for wine deals, which enables the shop to offer quality wine at just £5.90 a bottle. Pam says: “Visitors are often surprised to find we can offer wine at this price; it’s thanks to Mike that we can. He even gets us bottled water from Blenheim.”

Mike does pick up more expensive bottles too, but even these don’t go beyond £12. Fairtrade goods are stocked as well and a local farmer keeps them supplied with free- range eggs. The deli shelves are kept filled with goods from the Meat Joint, near Deddington, and the rich Jersey cream comes from a dairy in Church Hanborough.

During the summer months, fresh fruit and vegetables are supplied by gardeners in the village who take a great pride in filling up the vegetable baskets outside the store.

Regrettably there is no Post Office as such, but customers can buy stamps and be assured that their mail is collected daily by the Royal Mail.

Basic items such as tinned goods and pet food are also available, along with copies of The Oxford Times.

Pam is confident that the store offers almost everything the customers need. She laughs at the fact they can even book their baptisms at the shop, too, as her husband, who is a volunteer and also the local vicar, can often be found serving behind the counter.

She said: “This is one village where the shop and the church are certainly not dying out. It is a village where the community is working together to ensure this never happens.

“Now that spring is under way we even conduct a Toad Watch Project, which requests drivers to slow down in the Horseshoe Lane area and invites residents to help toads cross the road safely as they head for the riverbank at this time of the year,” she said. Now what other village shop encourages that? No wonder this remarkable little shop won the award.