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The BearCat SwapShop originally started in 2009
Sam put out a blanket of unwanted items with a 'Help Yourself' sign at the Sunrise Festival in Bruton, things started to disappear, and also new things appeared on the blanket. This continued throughout the weekend, with people popping back to see what new things might have arrived... and so the SwapShop was born! The first official outing was at the OffGrid Conference in the Mendips. So far, contributions to the SwapShop have been stored in barns to stock the next pop-up swap, this has meant that some items are damaged due to damp, especially over the winter months. Our new permanent home will mean that the SwapShop can continue all year round, Yay! The Honesty Jar is now at Grassroots Garden Centre, Stalbridge Road (A357) Henstridge BA8 0SA |
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🌈 How the SwapShop Began
The Honesty Jar grew from a simple act of sharing — one that started on a blanket at a festival campsite.
Founder Samantha, then touring with a Victorian horse-drawn stage, laid out a few spare items on a blanket and invited people to swap what they had. What followed was a weekend of warmth, laughter, and unexpected magic: people found exactly what they needed, others discovered treasures they hadn’t expected, and everyone left smiling.
That first SwapShop sparked something powerful — the sense that when people give freely and trust each other, the right things find their way to the right hands.
Samantha’s inspiration also reaches back to childhood, when her grandfather ran a caravan site in the Lake District. A single landline hung outside the barn with a jam jar beside it — a place to contribute toward call costs. That was her first experience of a trust-based payment system — an early “Honesty Jar.”
Later, at a local fair, she came across a “Magic Hat” café, where visitors were invited to pay whatever they could for tea and cake. The idea that something could exist purely through shared goodwill and voluntary contributions struck a deep chord.
From those roots, Samantha began running clothes swaps and community events, mixing live music, craft workshops, storytelling and conversation. As she faced her own mental health challenges, she saw how these spaces gave others safety, purpose, and connection too.
What began as small gatherings evolved into BearCat Collective and, eventually, The Honesty Jar — a thriving reuse project and social space where people, not profit, come first.
Today, The Honesty Jar remains true to that spirit: community-powered, sustainable, creative, and built entirely on trust and kindness.
The Honesty Jar grew from a simple act of sharing — one that started on a blanket at a festival campsite.
Founder Samantha, then touring with a Victorian horse-drawn stage, laid out a few spare items on a blanket and invited people to swap what they had. What followed was a weekend of warmth, laughter, and unexpected magic: people found exactly what they needed, others discovered treasures they hadn’t expected, and everyone left smiling.
That first SwapShop sparked something powerful — the sense that when people give freely and trust each other, the right things find their way to the right hands.
Samantha’s inspiration also reaches back to childhood, when her grandfather ran a caravan site in the Lake District. A single landline hung outside the barn with a jam jar beside it — a place to contribute toward call costs. That was her first experience of a trust-based payment system — an early “Honesty Jar.”
Later, at a local fair, she came across a “Magic Hat” café, where visitors were invited to pay whatever they could for tea and cake. The idea that something could exist purely through shared goodwill and voluntary contributions struck a deep chord.
From those roots, Samantha began running clothes swaps and community events, mixing live music, craft workshops, storytelling and conversation. As she faced her own mental health challenges, she saw how these spaces gave others safety, purpose, and connection too.
What began as small gatherings evolved into BearCat Collective and, eventually, The Honesty Jar — a thriving reuse project and social space where people, not profit, come first.
Today, The Honesty Jar remains true to that spirit: community-powered, sustainable, creative, and built entirely on trust and kindness.
A trip down Memory Lane...
We're trawling the archives, please enjoy some pictures of
BearCat SwapShops & Crafts over the last 10 years,
at rural village halls, country fayres and festivals around Dorset & Somerset.
We're trawling the archives, please enjoy some pictures of
BearCat SwapShops & Crafts over the last 10 years,
at rural village halls, country fayres and festivals around Dorset & Somerset.
