Life's pretty busy right now. The last few days have been spent ostensibly taking Niobe to Exeter Uni's open day. Given the distance from Nottingham we decided to extend this visit by a couple of days to incorporate some of the sights ( or blog lover stops) so we travelled via Stonehenge, Plymouth and finally Exeter (it was a very roundabout tour!)



I had hoped to see lots of the places shown on the various blogs I follow but luck wasn't really on my side! Hunting for white horses carved into the hillside proved fruitless (although they are shown on maps - they were obviously always around the other side of the hill to the road we were travelling!). We did, quite by accident, come across this flight of locks - an amazing feat of engineering completed 200 years ago!






Stonehenge would have been difficult to miss although its disappointing that it's surrounded by some very zealous security guards.



Onwards to Shaftesbury and Gold HIll - which meant nothing to Niobe as she had never seen the Hovis advert! Still the view was lovely as we sat and enjoyed breakfast al fresco.



I did have to pop in and see the lovely Sue (Vintage to Victorian) at Dairy House antiques. Sue persuaded me to start my own blog over a year ago so I'm very grateful to her for setting me on this journey. I would have loved to spend more time there rummaging through Sue's lovely haberdashery and fabric drawers looking for treasures but we were on a mission and had lots to pull in!

Honiton was high on my list - Kirsty (from the Homemade Christmas series) had waxed lyrical about one of the antiques centres at Honiton - but - it was Sunday and the shops were closed. There was a lovely little vintage toys shop selling toys at ridiculously cheap prices - but that was closed too. I'm ashamed to say how used to 7day trading I have become and assume its the norm everywhere.

Onward to Plymouth via Dartmoor. I loved seeing all the ponies able to wander at their will. I was a little concerend when I saw this -



but seconds later the little foal was up on its (unstable little legs)...



Plymouth was decidedly open to visitors and it was fascinating to learn more of the place from where the Pilgrim Fathers left for America all those years ago.





Monday saw my excitement mounting as thanks to Sal of "Sals Snippets" I had to visit Totnes and Ashburton. Sal's mentioned shops in both of these places and Totnes was a delight with lovely places to eat and lots of delightful shops with a vintage vibe not to mention charity shops which are in a different league from those in the Midlands!

The Snug at Ashburton was great with some lovely fabrics - some of these had to come back with me. There was a wonderful shop the "Vintage Emporium" from where I had to have my nose surgically removed from the window. Again - closed!!! AAAAAGGGGGHHHH!!!! I wanted to buy and couldn't. Floral Vernon Wards tantalising me with their kitsch loveliness. I can't believe that I managed to forget to carry my camera at several of these stops.

Exeter ticked most of Niobe's list of "must haves" in a Uni although I have to express some disappointment at some of the accommodation. While I don't expect (and can't afford for) her to live in luxury - she doesn't have that at home - I was horrified at some of what we saw. As she said "it looks like prison". She opened a wardrobe door which then fell off in her hand... I can see I'm going to have to come up with some creative solutions! (Not to mention a toolkit!)



I was given a "two for one entry" voucher for the Eden prject - to be used by 31st August. If anyone can use it I'll be happy to pop it in the post - just e-mail me your address at wendyppshaw@ntlworld.com.

Hope you're enjoying the sunshine!

Love Wend

George's best bits

Ok,as you asked - it took some time to go through George's bags - see previous post if you didn't read it! It had clearly been stored for some time and was very mucky. I persevered though and washed everything before passing judgement!

The picture above shows the best bits I found. There was lots to send to charity shops and some for car booting (brasses, pewter etc)and this ...



Does anyone know what this is? Yes I know it' a stained glass piece for hanging in a window. Am I right in thinking Galleon images were big in the 40s/50s? If anyone knows anything about these please let me know.



Forgot to take a picture of this litle jug before I'd added it to my shelves



which are getting a bit crowded!




The coffee cans and saucers were all perfect and make a lovely little set. The coffee pot will look great when I've polished it and added some roses. The mirror can be added to my collection of mirrors but look at the tureen! It matches a little jug I bought at a car boot last autumn and again is perfect. I think it will look rather lovely filled with veg and used alongside my utility ware collection which is coming along nicely!



I've been making the most of the good weather and tidying some of my pots. I have an ongoing battle with slugs and snails so I keep my hostas in almost any container I can get my hands on



The next picture includes a geranium in a vintage colander. George has said that there are enough pots and pans in the garden and could I just provide a kettle and he could then sort himself out a cuppa while cleaning my windows!



I lost a lot of my pots over the winter due to the frosts. The picture below shows my most serious casualty which while looking perfectly fine in the picture is merely a half pot with no base. Still I think it looks just fine tucked around the lavender!




Have a great week!

Wend

Do I attract rubbish?

Well what would you say?