What a way to spend an afternoon

Just over a week ago my DD Heidi and I manned our stall at another of Bea's Vintage Extravaganza fairs and what a great day we had.

Yes we managed to sell a little which is always good, but far more than this we met some lovely people and were thoroughly entertained by the 40's Home Front.

We even got to join in the Charleston stroll, though all the lovely dancers put us to shame with their energy and stamina. They barely stopped all day. It was like having our own cabaret show right in front of us, and I'm sure they won't mind me saying their wasn't a teenager among them.
Debbie who organises the event puts loads of work into making it a success for sellers and buyers alike, but it is hard and getting support is a slow process.
I do hope though that anyone who visited and enjoyed the day will let her know on her Facebook page as with her daughter now at school, she may have to stop doing them and I think it would be Grantham's and our loss. We have so little of this sort of event here in the town and it would be great to see more people get behind it. ( And what better excuse could you have to get dressed up!)
There was a good selection of stalls with some beautiful vintage items, vintage clothing, hand knitted toys and decorations as well as vintage cars and caravans and even vintage fair games. We could have  spent all our takings quite easily
Thanks Debbie for a brilliant day. I know our customers seemed to enjoy the whole atmosphere and Heidi and I certainly did.
If a bit of extra help with the organisation is what's needed to keep going you know where to come.

I've been inspired now to run up some vintage style skirts and dresses, so am off to my sewing room.
Have a great week.

TTFN

Jenny (and Heidi) xxx

Vintage Snobbery......

I've always loved old things, be it houses, furniture, films,books or clothes. As a teenager I read countless historical novels and even when buying our first home, new builds did not do it for me. Apart from the fact that on our budget we got three times more space for our money, I just loved that the properties we viewed had character, a story to tell.
Our first home was decorated with a nod to the Victorian era of its construction, with dark wallpaper and the compulsory aspidistra. A piano in the dining room was decorated with pictures of our ancestors and, well, I have to admit it was all a bit gloomy!
In fact it wasn't until about 10 years ago that my tastes started to change and the beautiful distressed greys and creams of French interiors took my fancy. Much of my home today still reflects that style, comfy distressed but lighter and fresher looking.

Only my kitchen and sewing room show that in my heart I'm really a vintage girl. Fascinated by the social history of the 1940s and 1950s. I love to watch films and series based on the era and Housewife 49, Goodnight Mr Tom and the more recent Home Fires are among my favourites.
We've started to attend one or two festivals over the last few years and have been amazed at the enthusiasm and good nature of those who attend. Complete strangers have come up to us to comment on our 'costumes' and taken pictures, so I have felt that we must be doing something right!

However that isn't always the case. A couple of years ago before we really got into researching our look, we attended a local War Weekend. We went to the dance on the Saturday night, which was well attended and great fun and then we went on the Sunday to visit all the stalls and displays.
The morning started with a service, which was very moving, immediately followed by a fashion show. Something I was really looking forward to.
There were about 20 people in the line up the first of which was an elderly gentleman who had obviously based his look on one of the principle characters in WW11.
The compère smiled sweetly and asked this 'gentleman' to tell the audience how he had got into dressing up!
Well if looks could have killed, that compère would be no more. Pulling himself up, the man in question returned...
'We don't dress up, we are re-enactors! Every piece of our clothing and accessories is original and authentic. People who come to these events and dress up, in what they think is the style of the period let these events down. We have been used as extras in films and television and producers know that if they employ us we are the genuine article'
To be frank my reaction was to be dumbfounded! Surely without we common folk who just 'dress up' most of the vintage events in the country would not survive. Ok if sticking religiously to authentic clothes etc. is what you want to do, then great, and of course you are saving these things for another generation to enjoy.
For the rest of us, dressing up helps us be part of the whole scene. We do our research and where possible buy one or two original pieces, but what about the make do and mend ethos of the era. Surely we are being authentic by researching styles and altering more modern garments to the styles of the day. Clothes that may otherwise end up in landfill.

So I'm glad that I took no notice of said gentleman, and continued to 'do it my way', 'cos we have had some amazing outings and met some lovely people through the whole vintage scene.
As you can see from these pictures of our recent trip to Goodwood, we even enjoyed the racing and a bit of celeb spotting!
So I'm off now to prepare things for our next Vintage Fair as part of Bea's Vintage Extravaganza at Grantham College on Saturday 3rd October. If you are local it would be lovely to see you there, whether you dress up or not!

TTFN

Jenny xx

Oh what a lovely Fair

Has it really been 3 months since I last posted on my poor blog?
It certainly doesn't seem like it!
My only excuse is that I have been happily engaged in other pursuits. A brief holiday in gorgeous Whitby, a busy half term week with the grandsons and a bit of time preparing for the lovely vintage fair which we attended today.

Organised by the equally lovely Debbie, Bea's Vintage Extravaganza held at Grantham College was an absolute delight!
Vintage stalls, Vintage clothing, Scrumptious Tea Room provided by Claire of Liberty Rose, Classic cars, vintage caravan, Ice cream van plus live music including a spot by the fabulous Elaine Bishop and dancers too, what better way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

We met some super people, really friendly and just an absolute delight, and we can't wait to meet up again hopefully in October in the same venue.

So come on Grantham, so many people complain that nothing happens here, and this was a day of real entertainment and great shopping as well! What more could you ask for. 

Well organised, well advertised and well if you weren't there you missed a gem!

So its back now to the wedding planning and the final push to get everything done in time. Only 3 months now...Eeeeeeeek! Yes it's scary, but exciting too. As each piece of the jigsaw puzzle drops into place, we can begin to see the overall picture and it's not looking bad! Of course I will breathe a little more easily when the bride (and her mother) has a dress, but of course you will have to wait until August to see how that turns out!

Have a great week, and I hope I can get back here again before the big event,

TTFN

Jenny xx

PS   I may not post regularly at the moment but I do keep up with lots of your blogs so I don't feel totally out of touch : )

PLEASE NOTE AS FROM 31 OCTOBER, ENGLAND IS SHUT!!.............

No not really, but more of that in a minute.................

First and very importantly I would like to draw your attention to this Poster ..................( Picture nicked from Elaine's site...but I have told her)....

I think it is so good that we can promote such lovely events, even though like me you may be far away and sadly unable to attend. With so many of our High Streets becoming little more than 'Pound' shops, Estate Agents and though I am not really complaining about these, Charity shops, it is wonderful to know that small groups of enthusiastic people are gathering together talented crafters and suppliers to provide us with the kind of shopping experience we seem to have lost.
This fair brings the collected and collectibles, the hand made and carefully sourced vintage or vintage inspired goodies that so many are now finding really desirable.
So come on ladies if you can get to Pamphill, near Wimbourne Minster in Dorset on Monday 29th November you are in for a real treat. And you will get to meet a few of the lovely ladies that many of you chat to on a regular basis.

AND NOW......to get to the title of this post....

On Sunday, as we do at least twice a month now, we planned a visit to yet another NT property or landmark, within about a 40 mile radius of our home.  Those further away we are gradually getting round on our weekend visits away which we are very fortunate to be able to do about 4 times a year.
Well this Sunday our plan was to go to Keddleston Hall in Derbyshire, but no... the house is closed from 3 November!..
Next we looked at Sudbury Hall,......closed from 31 October.....
Calke Abbey?..........no! closed from 31 October

OK so the grounds of most of them are still open, but it is quite a long way to each of these so we rather wanted to do the whole thing. We know that they need to do maintenance (and dusting) but its a shame they all seem to pick the same time to do it!

But not to be daunted we set off for one of our favourites...Nene Valley Steam Railway intending to catch the train to Ferry Meadows near Peterborough and enjoy a lovely walk around the park....

But you've guessed it........no it wasn't closed....just no trains running!!!

Plan 327......

We eventually drove to Stamford, where we enjoyed a stroll taking in the beautiful Georgian buildings and did a bit of window shopping.  We also discovered that a musical version of  'The Railway Children' is on next Saturday evening, so took down the details to see if we could get tickets. ( I know it's a children's story but I love it, along with 'Goodnight Mr Tom',  it is one of my all time favourites.)

We discovered the most amazing little collectibles shop and.......It was Closed!!!......

.....but we will be back.....

From here we drove to Rutland Water and finished our day with a bracing walk around the lake,

There were even trees with leaves still........................
tho' we didn't expect to find these hiding in them, (the leaves that is not the trees!!)

and finally off to Empingham for a warming meal....and a well earned glass of wine!!

Well it has now taken me 2 hours to upload the photos for this post and quite frankly I am fed up, just as we thought blogger was behaving, here we go again.

So I am now going to take out my frustration on a pair of slippers, for me, .... (oops hope the sewing machine isn't listening or that's another no-no) and wish you all goodnight.

I think I may even resort to a stiff Whisky, (such decadence)!!

TTFN

Jenny xx