A Wander Through Wells........

A rather grey Friday was spent by my friend and I at the American Museum at Claverton Manor in Bath. It was time again for the annual vintage textile event.

We would normally enjoy a cup of tea on the terrace with the stunning view over the gardens, but not this year....

The chilly weather did inspire me to buy this gorgeous Welsh blanket though, with its festive colour scheme. (I have plans for it....;-))

I also bought the pretty embroidered cottage picture, beautifully stitched by hand.

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Saturday, hubby and I drove into Wells, which is less than 1/2 an hour from our home.

A market is held in the high street on Saturdays and creates a bustling atmosphere. I watched a lady producing a fabulous bouquet of cut flowers, including the largest blue hydrangea heads I think I have ever seen. The £50 price tag was a little beyond my budget!

We sat with our picnic, over looking The Bishops Palace and gardens away from the crowds, before walking back to the main high street.

If you walk through the arch, to the left of the National Trust Shop, you will come face to face with the impressive Wells Cathedral, with its hundreds of carved figures across the front.

This statue had two jackdaw friends using his hands as convenient perches!

We then walked up the side of the cathedral, just in time to watch the 600 year old clock strike 1pm.

If you carry on past the cathedral you will reach 'The Vicars' Close' built in the C14th, which is said to be the oldest complete street in Europe.

The behavior of the vicars centuries ago was often scandalous with them womanizing, fighting and stealing! The vicars were formed into a college and the Vicars' Close was built to house them keeping temptation well away!

It is still lived in today.

At the bottom of the close is a stairway which took the Vicars directly to their hall giving them further protection. It is linked to the Cathedral by a covered bridge.

Hope you enjoyed the mini tour and are enjoying your weekend,

Niki x

Nostalgic Summer Memories

Resistance is useless.....I found a pile of old postcards at a local sale a week or so ago. The beautifully printed images were far too dreamy to pass-up....I had to bring them home with me and to share them with you on my blog.

They remind me of my childhood summers, when the school holiday seemed to stretch on for ever and ever and every day the sun would shine.

We would visit my dear grandparents who were very keen gardeners and we'd all play bowls on the lawn, or have running races between the rose borders. Butterflies would be drawn to the colourful herbaceous plants and you could catch them for a moment in jam jars placed over them whilst they sipped nectar.

So, in a year that seems to have been one long season so far, with no real summer to speak of, these artistic glimpses of summers-past serve as a reminder of what might have been....

The following collection of cards, probably from the 1920's, where from original water colour paintings of 'Old Mill Garden, Wannock', which I believe is in East Sussex.
The Rock Garden in June.

Arums by the Stream.

The New Garden with View of the Downs.

Sundial & Veronica.

Verbena in Bloom.

The Rose Garden.

Tulips in the Tea Court.

I hope that you like them as much as I do.

Niki x

September Update.

I have updated my website today with over 65 new items in the on-line catalogue. I hope that you will enjoy taking a look if you have a moment.
My thanks to all who made a purchase from my last update and thank you for your kind emails and for finding the time to comment on my blog.

I have been working on a few hand made items, including: an antique fabric basket cover.
(Sorry, I'm reserved - Thank You!)

Another brooch display/storage frame. (Sorry, I'm sold - Thank You!)

And a fun coordinating sewing kit. (Sorry, I'm sold - Thank You!)

Some of the vintage items include an original oil painting of pastel coloured anemones.

A retro china tea set with flamboyant red roses.

And plenty of books, including 3 wonderful film-lover annuals from the 1930's. (Sorry, I'm sold - Thank You! 1 left)

I shall also be adding a new inspiration gallery page to my website.

If anyone would like to email a photograph to me of an item that they have purchased from my website, showing it in its new home, I would be happy to include it on the new page. It could be fun to share ideas and influence like-minded people on this inspiration page and for you to see your treasures on the www. You can use the contact page on my website to send any relevant photos - thank you!

Have a great week,

Niki x

Beautiful Bibury

Having spent a whole week at home, either on my PC, sewing machine or keeping my three girls in check(!), I really felt the need to get out into the world for a few hours yesterday. Hubby and I decided to take a ride out to Bibury, which is a charming old Cotswold village surrounded by picturesque countryside. Bibury was once described by William Morris as "the most beautiful village in England".

The Swan Hotel stands beside the River Coln which runs through the middle of the village.

Its smoothly flowing water provides the perfect home to trout, as well as swans and ducks.

But it's Arlington Row that most visitors come to see. Built in 1380 from Cotswold stone, the row was converted into tiny weavers cottages in the C17th and is now owned by the National Trust.

Even the tiled roofs are made from slithers of the local stone. I loved the mounds of moss growing within the nooks and crannies.

It was a delight to see sheep still grazing in the fields around the cottages, as it was wool which provided employment to the people of the village in the past.

We were so lucky with the weather; it turned out to be pleasantly warm and the sunshine highlighted the mellow old stones in a feel-good glow.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend,

Niki x

Time for a Change......

I'm finding it difficult to believe that it was a year ago that I wrote about harvesting the plums from the little tree in my garden and making jam with the ripe fruits......but here I am again today with a basket filled with pounds of delicious plums awaiting their crumble topping!

And it was almost 18 months ago that I redecorated my kitchen with its red and cream scheme.

I had been feeling rather restless recently and in need of change, so decided to have a few hours to myself and 'play house'. I moved all of my red kitchen accessories into the utility room in order to create a blank canvas. The neutral cream walls and pale painted cupboards in both my kitchen and utility room mean that I can easily swap accent colours around for a fresh new look.

I pulled my mis-matched collection of vintage china out of the cupboards and arranged it on the dresser- all can be used by the family - nothing is too precious.

A gathering of salt and pepper pots here.....

And an apple green trio sits upon a pile of assorted tea plates at the other end of the shelf.

I've also been recycling some of my vintage fabrics within the room. A classic C1950's fabric printed with pink roses on a polka dot background curtains off part of the shelved alcove next to the dresser. It's good to have a hiding place for more kitchen paraphernalia that doesn't need to be on show.

The French tin canisters have always been in the kitchen, I just thinned out the set a little, for a less cluttered feel.

(Yes, the old telephone does work - it's been rewired to modern standards - I love the sound of the old brass bell ringers. Makes touch dialling to the bank a problem though! ;-))

One of my most favourite vintage Sanderson fabrics has been used to curtain off another area in the kitchen.

Threaded onto tension wires, it creates another storage space in the room. I'm sure that these floral fabrics would have originally been produced as bedroom curtain designs, but I love them and want to look at them everyday, so why not add them to the room that I use the most? - Vintage china often features colourful roses and summer flowers, which coordinate well with the nostalgic prints of the fabrics.

Fresh roses are welcome too!

I also needed to make a curtain for the glazed front door. The ceilings are over 10ft high in this side of the house (the kitchen used to be my little vintage shop at one time) which means that I need a long length of fabric when it comes to making full length drapes. I didn't have a long enough piece that looked right for here, so decided to use three! The centre panel is a flamboyant C1950's vibrant pink rose design, which is so cheerful and pretty.

I topped it with this dainty Sanderson fabric......

....and a hemming panel was made from spriggy vintage cotton.

So my cost-free makeover is complete and has produced a calmer atmosphere to our family kitchen. It seems to have created more breathing space with just the things I love or that are used regularly out on display.

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I have also been framing some of the 1950's advertisements that I discovered in the old magazines last week (see post below). I loved the 'Blue Hyacinth' artwork from 'Cussons', so this now hangs in our bathroom. I hope to add a few others to my website when I find some suitable vintage picture frames to complete an authentic look.

If anyone would like to email me a photograph of an item that they have purchased from my website, showing it in its new home, I would be happy to include it on a new page that I shall be adding to my website. It could be fun to share ideas and influence like-minded people on this inspiration page and for you to see your treasures on the www.

You can send them to me via the contact page on my website - thanks!

Have a great Bank Holiday weekend,

Niki x