Until the late 1950s, several cottages along Bond’s End Lane were small shops selling bread, sweets, groceries and seeds. At the end of the Lane, where Bramley Close is now, the Stowe family ran a market garden business, growing fruit and vegetables for sale. Some other cottages in the Lane housed looms used by outworkers to weave Shutford Plush for a company based in Shutford. Shutford Plush was a soft crushed velvet cloth used in the making of robes for Coronation ceremonies. It was also used for furnishings in the Houses of Parliament and for royal servant liveries around the world. The lower cottage, these days incorporated in Long Cottage (now Lavender Cottage), contained a loom which was used by Joe Alcock, the last of the local weavers to weave Shutford Plush.