Autumn Cottage Diarist

Rather a bargain!

Off to Haynes Salvage and builders supplies yard and second hand furniture Emporium this morning - ostensibly to buy horticultural grit (they have exactly the right size for my potting mixes) - but also, of course, to browse around the Hall of Delight - the huge barn in which they house their second hand furniture. I'm never able to resist a look, and this morning I did well: I found a rather beautiful nursing chair (Edwardian, I think) with a hand stitched Gros Point and Petit Point cover.

You're coming home with me!

I like to think of it as a labour of love completed by someone over 100 years ago, which I will now bring back to life again. The webbing is stretched under the seat, there is a crack in the back of the frame and the stitchery needs to be freshened up; all in all it will be a labour of love for meas well...a nice little project for me in the studio over the summer - and an absolute bargain at just ten UK pounds!

This stitchery - done with devotion - deserves to be honoured

Watch this space :-)

Oh Dear - This Could Get Serious!

What started out as a Not Very Good Day (Pile-drivers thumping in the plantation across the road, JCB digging up more trees/wiping out hedgerow in the other direction…and all very NOISY) has turned into rather a good one.

Loathe to drive all the way up into Oxfordshire to satisfy my craving for a good poke around in an antique shop (second hand furniture store/Aladdin's Cave of any description), I threw caution to the winds and visited a little place I had heard of in the next village.

The owner of this hidden away little storage unit and workshop regularly advertises her mix of up-cycled and original-condition second hand furniture and other interesting items on the local Facebay pages, so I have known about her for a year or two now. I have resisted the urge to visit (knowing my tendencies!) but today I caved in…and I am so glad that I did . Suzanna Stacey-Hughes is a very warm and friendly proprietor, who made me very welcome and bid me take a long look around. She has some really lovely up-cycled furniture (very professionally painted and decorated) and boxes/shelves and cupboards full of other enticing  items that very happily occupied my time.

I came home with a very happy 'haul of smalls' - antique maps, interesting ceramics and a lovely Victorian beaded stole/shawl/collarette - possibly an item of mourning dress. Prices were *exceptionally* reasonable!

Then - on returning home - what I think is the best bit of the whole foray; sitting down with a cuppa and a cloth to dust, clean and look very closely. My goodness, these maps are nice. I'm also very pleased with a Royal Copenhagen plate and a lovely Doulton Chelsea Flower Show commemorative plate (1999, but for One UK pound, even lovelier!)

Suzanna (no affiliation) is on Facebook, and inhabits Unit 7 at the Studland Industrial Estate, well signposted in Ball Hill, just outside Newbury. She is well worth a visit (Her partner, also on the same site, deals in Coins and Stamps).