Sunday Boot fair & Victorian finds in our garden

Today, I did my first boot fair in 5 years and there was a lot to get rid of! Phoebe, Alan & I headed off to Yeovil (Somerset) where there is a big boot fair that takes place there most Sundays. (In case you some of you are thinking of going soon, IT WILL NOT BE OPEN ON 5th APRIL but will be open for business as usual from 12th April)

We had a very good day for it. The weather was perfect, lovely & sunny.

Today was about getting rid of things, it wasn't really a buying day but that did not stop me from coming back with a few things nevertheless...

As I was laying my table not long after arriving, I saw a lady walking up to my table with a vintage child mannequin on a wooden stand, you can imagine my thoughts... 'Oh if only we had arrived earlier'.... I immediately said to Alan, I must have a very quick look around. Feeling a sudden sense of urgency, what else might I miss out on otherwise???....

And here are the things I came back home with

My favourite purchase of the day. The colour

was what I was really drawn to, green again!


I have a set of little glasses, now I have the matching jug.

I was also very pleased with set of keys, one of them being

Georgian.

These little saucers will find a good place in my kitchen

This fire screen was just £1

Roses bowl

One stall was selling these old cotton & silks threads,

I bought all the entire box (35 in all)

This plate is hand painted. Not in perfect condition

but I like it.

After the boot fair was over we returned home.

After unloading the car, we spent a bit of time outside. Phoebe continued working on her den.

Phoebe's 'secret' den

One of the views from our back garden

After Phoebe had finished working on her den, we went into the back garden to do some digging...

Our back garden was not as we wanted it, so we had a digger get rid of a concreted patio area so that we could have a large lawn and shrubs around and possibly a vegetable plot at the bottom. After the digger left, we found hundreds of piece of crockery and glass. We found several bottles which are intact. Some had what look like medication in.

Most of it dates from around the second half of the 1800's to early 1900. We have several boxes full of these bottles and broken pieces. I plan to make something with some of the pieces we have found. It's great fun and so interesting! Feels like 'Time Team' (TV programme on archeological digs)! We have not found any gold coins so far though...

This is one aspect of the back garden, as you can see a lot of work is required. We have to do some repairs on the outbuilding that you can see. At the moment we use it as a shed but want to convert it into a proper insulated & heated utility room. There is still a very old fashioned toilet in there! The garden... well, once we have removed as many pieces as we can, we will have to landscape it. LOTS of work but I look forward to seeing the end result.

Old barn in front of our house. When you go inside you step back in time. It used to be a stable. I will do a feature showing some interior pictures. It has not been converted in to anything. It remains a rare example of what the inside of this stable looked like over 100 years ago. You can still see some of the hay the horses fed on. Some the old leather harnesses are still there! Owls and other animals find shelter there from time to time. Explore the barn where time stood still in one of my future posts...

FINALLY:
Ali from Message in a Teacup is having two gorgeous Easter giveaways! Please click on the link for more details on how you might win....

That's it for now, I'm about to go and watch a bit of TV. I miss Larkrise to Candleford on a Sunday evening...

I wish all you a all have a good start to the week!

A bientôt!

Isabelle x

Belated Kreativ Blogger Awards...

DOUBLE AWARD!



Thank you so much to Nicky from Hollypops who passed this award to me and also to Maggie from SweetScarlett who passed this award to me a couple of days later.

THE AWARDS ARE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED AND MADE MY DAY!

Being new to this, it took me a little while to get my head around what to do. I should have posted this about a week ago really , so a bit belated here are the Kreativ Blogger Award winners:

PASSING ON HOLLYPOPS AWARD

Seven things I love, in no particular order. (I haven't included my family as that goes without saying)

1) Chocolates from the 'Chocolate Line' in Bruges
They do fantastic window displays. The second picture
depicts Cyrano de Bergerac, all made of chocolate!)



2) My Daughter's laugh (It's a good hearty laugh!)


3) Freshly made Belgian Waffles (The ones with lumps of sugar in)


4) Chanel's '31 Rue Gambon' Eau de Toilette


5) Wearing vintage clothes -I love this faux fur coat,
I bought it on Ebay (Here shown modelled by the
seller or seller's model)


6) Anything relating to Grace Kelly/ Princess Grace


7) Garden flowers in vases throughout the house


Here are the seven blogs whom I am passing the award on to

Stephanie from Bonjour Madame
Laura from 52 Flea
Marie Reed from My Vintage Wedding
Carole from Maynard Greenhouse
Beth Niquette from The Best Hearts are Crunchy
Mate from Bleu de Lavande
Clare from Daisy Darling

Not sure if I have to do 2 lots as I have received 2 awards??? I'm sure someone will tell me if it's wrong.....and I will know for another time.

PASSING ON SWEETSCARLET'S AWARD

Seven things I love, in no particular order. (I haven't included my family as that goes without saying)

1) Walking around the Helford River (Cornwall) area


2) Morris Minor car in cream or green

3) Afternoon tea


4) Bruges, Belgium


1940's/50's Glamorous look


6) The Song of Bernadette (Film)


7) Niki's book Living with Nostalgia
(That book was made for me!)



Here are seven blogs whom I am passing the award on to

Denise from A Bun Can Dance
Ruth from Oh So Vintage
Ann from A Vintage Mood
Bashayer Make Room for Living
Robin from Robin's Nest
Julia from Julia Crossland
Diane from Lavender Dreams


REALLY HARD to chose, there are many more I feel deserve the award too!

A NOTE TO THE BLOGGERS I HAVE PASSED THIS AWARD ONTO:
Whether you wish to pass the award on to another 7 bloggers and list 7 things you love is entirely up to you. Please don't feel obliged, only do it if you feel like it!

A bientôt!

Isabelle x

P.S If you live in Somerset, you may be interested in this Afternoon Tea Invitation post from Denise A Bun Can Dance

Shepton Mallet Antiques Fair Weekend

I hope that you have all had a good weekend. On Saturday afternoon I went to the Shepton Mallet Antiques Fair. Unfortunately, I left my camera behind :-( As I was wandering around looking at the different stands, I found myself drawn to a particular one. I liked the colours on show and the way it was all laid out. I started chatting with this very helpful lady from that stand. Further in to the conversation, I discovered that this helpful lady turned out to be Liz (The Washerwoman)! Although we have posted on each others blogs we had not met before. I found several items which I liked and bought (A green painted basket, green hat stand, lace & 2 pictures)

Tapestry fire screen bought from another stall.

The dark wood is going to get a coat of Farrow & Ball

paint.

The basket has found a new home

I love these sheer green 1950's curtains

The landing is still having decorative touches added here

and there but this is what it looks like so far. More pictures

to go up & other things too. Will show finished look in a future post.

I do like the landing, I find it quiet serene. Not an obvious place

in a house to want to sit down, read or have a quiet 5 minutes

but it works for me.

Recognize some things?

Cushions on the antique pine settle

A glimpse of some of the items to be found on the shelf

I recently had delivery of this very pretty

little rabbit named Maggie from The Vintage

Magpie's shop. She is so adorable!

Beautifully made.

Also last week, a parcel from Pretty Petals during

the week. I bought some old wallpaper cuttings

and 2 ballerina prints. Really lovely designs!

I framed one of the wallpaper cuttings as you

can see from the picture above (Blue floral)

This is also on the landing.

I had a very good Mother's day yesterday. Alan cooked a delicious roast whilst Phoebe and I played with a ball in one of the fields in front of the house. It's nice to be able to have the day off from cooking , housework etc. I hope all you Mothers out there had a good day too!

A bientôt!

Isabelle x

Enjoy it, spring is here at last!

Daffodils & lilac, such a good combination

Sanderson fabric, I never tire of that design

And now on to this.....

On Tuesday our phone rang, I answered it to be greeted with very loud crackles then all of a sudden, complete and utter silence. The line was dead, I couldn't dial out or receive calls. I then discovered that the internet was not working either. We had been in touch with BT several times over the past 4 weeks as we kept getting terrible interference on the line and at times could barely hear the other caller. Our internet connection was always coming and going. All very annoying and inconvenient.

The earliest BT could come over was yesterday afternoon . They finally discovered that there was a fault on an outside cable which they fixed. Had they paid more attention to all our previous calls, they could have fixed it sooner instead of waiting until we lost all connection. Sorry, feel better now I've had my little moan!

I thank all of you who have left such lovely comments on my blog. I enjoyed reading them all when the internet was connected again. Being without internet for 48 hours means that I have quite a bit of catching up to do now with emails, Ebay and blogging. I shall soon be paying a visit to your blogs though.

During the week, I saw this card sold by Oxfam and sent it to a friend of mine.

I feel sure many can relate to that feeling!

I also found these whilst browsing in a charity shop in Frome

A small throw

Notice the colours again, greens and blues...


Royal Winton jug & pretty aurora borealis crystal brooch

Work in the house is progressing. Phoebe's room has been completed. Alan has been working hard on my work room. We have had a cloud of dust in the house since removing the old wallpaper! Lots of work as the bare plaster is not in good condition. Alan comes out of that room looking as if he has had a bag of flour poured on him. He is good though, not a single complaint!

Have a great weekend and enjoy the arrival of spring time!

A bientôt!

Isabelle x