A day out at Malvern Fleamarket

Our eldest daughter arrived back for the week on Saturday.  Yesterday morning, cruel parents that we are, we dragged her out of bed at first sparrow f*rt to drive well over the English border to visit the Malvern Fleamarket.  We had not been before, and she has only been to the local Carmarthen Fleamarket - which is very small compared with Malvern.  

We spent five hours wandering round, and in the end, came away tired out, spent up and still a good few stalls unseen, and there were apparently  not as many stalls outside as there usually are!  Sometimes up to a thousand.  Ye Gods!

I wish I could say that I bought the patchwork above.  Probably 30s.  She wanted £45, and came down to £35, but it was the first row we were walking up and I didn't dare blow all my money so early in the day.  I thought about this LOTS, and philosophically thought if it's meant for me, it'll not go by me.  It was still there after lunch, but then outside folks began packing up and so we had to get a move on as we had only seen perhaps 1/3 of the entire site.  When we had been around, she too had packed up and left . . .  Ah well.

A rather monochrome photo of the spine of the Malvern Hills.  You can just see specks which are people up there walking.  Many MANY years ago I was fit enough to get up there and the views were amazing.  As we were coming in to Little Malvern yesterday, the views were stunning, but I was driving and there was nowhere to stop and capture the scenery.  The showground has the backdrop of  the Malvern Hills and is a beautiful spot.

I loved this beautiful stained glass window (wish it had the light behind it).  It wouldn't suit in our current house, style-wise, and I doubt the price would have suited our pocket either!  Probably £200 worth.

 

A typical stall.  Lots of these folks do house clearance, and of course, buy stuff from auctions and car boot sales, so you normally get a totally eclectic mix.

A real Man's Stall this one.  I thought Morning's Minion's husband would probably appreciate this display!

This was beautiful and I loved the faces in the design - one at the bottom of the handle, and another (or is it an owl?) just below the central blank.  Probably silver and almost certainly beyond my price range . . .

Another pretty hexagon quilt, but sadly some ofthe silks used in it had perished or were very fragile.

 

There were all sorts of interesting stalls . . .

Jewellery galore . . .

And some very strange items on some stalls . . .  Doll's Houses and, erm, African figures . . .  

Oh, and a lot of bad taxidermy.  If you don't care for stuffed animals, look away now!  Having been shown a Bad Taxidermy site by my daughter the night before, I am afraid I couldn't resist taking some photos of my own yesterday . . .

A moth-eaten fox who looked like a visit to the dentist and perhaps the optician might be in order . . .  The title for this is "Sausages" as he reminded me of the little rough hairy dog on Esther Rantzen's programme all those years ago who used to "say" that word!

Various examples of the art . . .

A splendid Capercaillie.

A rather leary looking fox strikes a pose . . .

A most curious collection here, inluding a . . . lamb?  Do you think the taxidermist had ever SEEN a lamb in real life?

Hmmm . . .

And what did I buy?

This beautifully depicted cast iron horse, anatomically correct (!) and it reminded me so much of my lovely Arab, Fahly, in a bad mood!  He cost me just £4 . . .

And an early (and new-to-me) design and shape Torquay jug.  £4 again . . .  I came home happy : )

T bought a ring, a 1930s necklace, a French tray-topped 1960s table, and a tie . . .

My husband bought various edged weapons and a HUGE cigar box.  It was solid mahogany and when he asked the price (£5) he was expecting the chap to say £45 or £50.  He nearly ripped his hand off trying to get the money out of his pocket quickly!!! 

So all in all, a really LOVELY day . . .