Out for a Jaunt

 Kington, where we stopped on the way home so Tam could have a look round.  There were several properties in and around Kington that were possibles when we were house-hunting.  It seems very quiet there though (makes Builth look quite bustling by comparison, but then we are at a x-roads in Builth, and all the through traffic goes up the middle of the town.

At Malvern last weekend we'd picked up a flyer for an Antiques Fair near Leominster today and tomorrow, so we went along to have a Day Out. Tam came too.  It wasn't a huge Fair, but there were some lovely stands there and more upmarket than Malvern Flea, so it made a nice change.  Interesting to see what is trending too and noticing what the Interior  Designers were honing in on. I noticed a battered old bowl which had taken my eye at Malvern when I staggered past with the Le Creuset casserole (and gone by the time I passed on my way back).  So I had been right to hone in on that and had I had any money on me at the time, I would have asked the price.  That'll teach me to give my money to Keith to look after!

This coffer was probably Spanish, and very decorative.  We have no room (and no spare money for it) so we weren't tempted.

There were plenty of Windsor Chairs too - some better than others - but this is our specialist starter for 10 and so we are very fussy!  Some of the prices were a little eye-watering too.

This was a small settle for children - never seen one quite like it before.  To the right, beneath the glass paperweight, was a lovely little William III oak box with drawers inside.  Lovely but a heck of a price.  Wish I'd taken a photo of that too.

A smart Governess cart on the grass outside, and some rather splendid Ionic columns in the background, along with some cupboards and chests of drawers, not quite in sight here.

There were a few more stalls inside the house too, so we had a walk round before heading back towards home.  It made a nice change from the more run of the mill things on offer at Fleamarkets in general.

Coopers Yard in Kington.

    This is the ship's lamp we couldn't use here.  We have a couple more like this too - one has red glass (being used for the port side of a ship).  

    Well, we have discovered another Antiques Fair on next weekend, not too far afield, so we may check that one out too.

    Meanwhile, have a good weekend.  I hope to finish my book (Dark Tide) - it's really good, and I recommend it (and anything else Philippa Gregory has written).

Satisfied update on the Fair . . .

I'm relieved to say that today was a very different sort of selling day with LOTS of people through, as the weather was excellent.  In fact, it warmed up so much in the afternoon we wished we were in shorts!

So, it was worthwhile and we will do the next Fair there too.  Time to start hunting for some more tempting goodies!

This was the lucky shelf - 3 pieces sold off here! Sad to see the little bunny go as he had black eyes like boot buttons.

Off to relax in front of the Antiques Roadshow shortly.  I have a glass (or 2!) of wine waiting too.

Day out at the Antiques Fair

Yesterday K and I had a great day out at the big Antiques Fair up at Builth Wells. It's about a hundred mile round trip from here, but it was our last day out before winter confines us to quarters, so we made the most of it. I gave myself a £20 budget and more or less stuck to it (£2 over). I was fortunate to find 4 beautiful (early?) Victorian hand-made lace bobbins for just £2.50 each. With my lace-making ancestry on mum's side, I am determined to learn lace-making, even though it looks terrifically complicated, so I am very gradually getting together what I need. I am having problems with loading photographs from my camera to the computer at present (I believe I have a glitch in the computer) so whilst I've taken photographs, I can't share them on here yet. The photos included in this post are from the Antiques Fair at Builth back in May of this year.

This is "my" sort of stand - lots of gorgeous goodies. . .


Outside stallholders take their chance with the weather holding, and have a mixture of items on offer. Nothing to tempt us here . . .

As my remit was ONLY to look for the things I needed and not be distracted, top of the list I had an earthenware jar to replace the one my daughter broke a few weeks back. I found one twice the size, although it will need another lid making for it, and got it for £12.



It was actually quite tiring walking round and round, and going back to stalls you'd seen first when you wanted to make an offer on something, having checked you couldn't find something better/cheaper elsewhere. Fortunately, it isn't SUCH a huge fair that you completely lose track - though if you were a china collector that was more than a possibility as there was some wonderful china on offer, but I have reached the stage where I can pretty well resist the temptation, as I am meant to be finding new homes for some of my present collection! Having said that, I was really taken with some unusual yellow Vaseline glass items on one of the stalls, and may get one or two bits if I see them at auction in the future. Just for an example, here is a picture I found on the internet. Stunning isn't it?


I will continue this thread WHEN I have got the photos loading again. The computer won't een load existing photos up properly so I have a glitch somewhere in the works, that's for sure. Hope it's not an expensive one . . .