Malvern, before it's a memory

As you can see, we had lovely weather on Sunday for the big Fleamarket there.  I went in search of views afterwards, driving along the back of the Malvern Hills until I could find somewhere to stop and a view which wasn't totally behind a screen of trees.  More at the end of this post.  The header, by the way, is also taken from the same spot.

A nice little assemblage of Kitchenalia.  I would have quite liked those sifters.

At the back of the sheds, some forlorn soft toys from bygone years.  The little dawg at the back was SO sweet.

Altogether now: "Coats comes up from Somerset, where the cider apples grow."  I was singing that all day.  I have no room in my kitchen for it, but liked it all the same, just couldn't justify spending £45 on it.

One of the better stalls.  He has some nice furniture and interesting things.

This was my favourite amongst the stalls though.  Some nice pieces of treen, two lovely horses top left by the flour bin, and some good stuff generally.

We had a lovely chat with the chap, who had come down from Yorkshire.  I was fascinated by the little "whisk" in front of the dark stool.  Apparently it came from Norway, and is one of those bits of inspiration (or desperation!) when a wife asks her husband to make her a whisk.  Stood up on end, it became obvious what it had been made from - a section from a well-grown Christmas tree!!!  Back left was a fabulous pestle and mortar (the latter made from a hollowed-oat piece of oak), and I also liked the painted candle box to its right.

A close-up of those horses.  I would have LOVED to get that little farm horse by the flour bin.  I should have checked the price. . . though looking sideways at it I think it is £40 or so.

A selection of quilts - though many of them were the modern Made in India patchworks which seem to sell dearer 2nd hand than they ever did new!

Some more here.  The yellow and pinks one is definitely a home-made quilt from the 30s probably, and I think the 3rd one from the left was too.

I quite liked this hand-made hexagon quilt.  It was £45, but having bought the partly-made one for a fiver first thing, I can now make that up myself instead.

'Yer 'tis - not a Granny's Flower Garden like the other one, but a nice one all the same with lots of Laura Ashley material in it.   I then had a wonderful time just going round all the stalls again looking for Laura Ashley or small print material to use, and came up with these:

The green print was £3 and the other two good lengths were £2 each.

This was the box of left-over bits of mostly Laura Ashley material, so will go into the main quilt in the fullness of time.  I like to have a hexie on the go - it's portable and I have LOTS of fabrics, including lots of 70s fabrics still which I can use up.

For £6 I bought this still-wrapped roll of 70s wallpaper ("Ascot") for our eldest daughter, as she has 70s china of a similar design and colourway and I thought would probably use this in her kitchen (perhaps on the cupboard doors).

I went to chat to the lady (Torquay Pottery collector) who I was talking with last time.  She showed me her rare (and valuable) vase which was one of a pair someone was buying off her.  I have committed it to memory and will know it when I see it if one turns up in my travels.

A sad reminder of a much-loved pony, whose hoof was turned into an ink well (common back in the day).  I have to say, Shamrock had quite the most low at the heel and long in the toe feet I have ever seen . . .

Then there was Jimmy, whose hoof care was also lacking, and he had a very upright boxy foot.

There seemed to have been a job lot of these skep style beehives, made from basketwork covered in dung.  European without a doubt.

Rocky Raccoon . . .

Lastly, some more splendid scenery.

I'd climbed up onto this pathway which ran alongside and above the road.  You don't know how much I wanted to just carry on walking and find my way up onto the top of the Malvern Hills.

Lastly, the Cats Cottage which is at Willersley, near where we turn off to/from the Hereford road on our way to Malvern.  It was still to be found with smoke coming out of the chimney and cats on the remaining upright window sill until a couple of years ago.  This is for Blue Shed Thinking who knows it well.