. . . and we came home cooked to a turn . . .

As you can see, these are the temperatures we were working in at the weekend - and it got hotter still, as at this point our neighbouring stall-holder put the barometer under the table,for fear the thermometer would explode!  For two pins, after suffering from the heat and humidity on the Saturday, I would have packed and gone home, but when you have invested a good chunk of money to pay for the stand at a 2-day Fair, you are inclined to think you will keep trying.  As it turned out, we took just £60 on the Sunday and so might just as well have thrown in the towel the previous day . . . Who wants to linger in a giant greenhouse when the temperatures are so high?  Every stall selling a fan or two sold them, and people were walking round  visibly perspiring (you should have seen us lot behind the stalls, even with fans going full blast we were wilting.)

The lovely setting was absolutely lost on me this time.  I just wanted to be Somewhere Else!  So did a lot of people and numbers were well down.  It didn't help that the England match was playing on Saturday afternoon and it was empty after 2 p.m.

Sorry, a slightly steamed-up lens photo of part of my stand display.  Studio pottery, including that gorgeous 1969 Royal Copenhagen bowl. That cost £21 back then!! In front of it is a French flail.  

The African masks began to be affected by being in full sun, so we had to keep moving them to the shade, and then beneath the table, and we took them home Saturday night.  The two lamps to the left are small vintage Lucas lamp (quite desirable we have been told), and a lovely French "onion" ship's lamp, used port side on a ship. The two American bar chairs to the right have swivel seats and are so comfy to sit on.  Nobody was even looking at furniture though, and we should have taken it all home Satuarday night . . .

I like the unusual and I love history, especially social and domestic.  The beautiful Bushel measure (imperial, dated 1861) is a recent auction find, and the amazing and possibly unique Viking-style kettle cooking pot is a design not changed from Viking times and still used around 1700, which this one dates from.

This lovely old travelling box would have been in use when Jane Austen was walking the streets of Bath.  The name on it is "Mifs Halliday" - a family from Gloucestershire, who originally came down from Dumfries-shire when Walter Hallyday became Master of the Revels to King Edward IV (in 1461).  The family settled in Rodborough parish, where they obviously still are.  

A blurry close-up of the beautiful portrait of an Arabian horse, dated 1913.  If it doesn't sell, I am happy to keep it!

Right, there are more photos from the weekend which I will put up later.  I am glad to report it is a tad cooler today, and my breathing is starting to settle down again - it was bad in that heat and humidity and I spent as much time as I could on Sunday sat outside with my book, whilst Keith manned the stand (he doesn't mind heat!)