we had a...

...great time at The first Doddington Does Vintage Fair last weekend. If you've never been to Doddington hall near Lincoln, it SO worth a visit. The Elizabethan house and gardens are just amazing and there's a fantastic farm shop and cafe. The thing about Doddington is, it's all so nicely done. Anyway, this was there first Vinatge fair and they did it with usual aplomb. There were lots of vintage clothing stalls, as well and homeware, a super-cool DJ playing vintage style sounds - even a gorgeous vintage ice-cream van selling delicious ice-cream. I tried to take some pictures of our stand, but like a berk, had the wrong lense on my camera - hence a selection of close-ups!

Anyway next stop, our Summer Open Weekend! 21st -23rd June. Lots of buying trips planned between now and then, so there will be lots to see. We'd LOVE it if you would share our event on your face book page https://www.facebook.com/DecorativeCountryLiving?fref=ts   ...share the  love!

Save the date...

...for our summer open weekend.

There's more information on our events page, but it's going to be such a fun weekend. Lovely Sue will be doing tea's and homemade cakes in the church school room again. Jenny the florist will be open selling her stunning flowers and arrangements and the Sunday is Open Gardens day in the village where we can all indulge our inner nosiness and wander round someone else's beautiful English country garden without fear of arrest!
You can wander round here too - we'll be full of gorgeous vintage stock as always, this time hopefully without the snow!
Please say you'll come!


Also, we're going to be here...

It's their first one, but it sounds fun. Lots going on and if you haven't been to Doddington before you must -  it's absolutely wonderful. Do come and say hello to us on our stall...you can bring us gifts of gin if you like! 

Have you discovered...

..Pinterest yet? It's a big deal in the USA, and seems to be gaining momentum over here now - especially as the official UK version was launched last week. Basically it's one big, ginormous on-line scrap book, where you can search for images or add or "pin" images of your own on to boards to make virtual mood boards or scrap books. It's huge fun and incredibly absorbing - the whole site is just full of gorgeous images - great if you are working on a project and need some inspiration. I've been helping a friend with a bedroom scheme, so I search "grey linen bedroom" and hey-presto, it gave me dozens of fabulous images that really helped pull the whole thing together. It's great for wedding, party, garden ideas too.
You can follow us on Pinterest, just type us into the search bar.

WARNING: Can cause extreme time loss. You allow yourself  5 minutes to have a quick browse, and next time you turn round, it's 3 hours later, the dinner's boiled dry, the children have passed out due to hunger and the dog's done a poo on the door mat.

I love this...

...Angela in London, one of our lovely customers emailed us this picture this week. She'd just taken delivery of the heavenly pink chest that she bought from us and decided to take a picture to show us it in place, in her daughters bedroom, when Saffron her rather magnificent cat decided to get in on the action. Adorable. I love all the other items Angela's used to accessorise too.
We LOVE seeing pictures of things that we've sold in place in their new homes. Do you have any that you could send us? We thought it would be fun to start a gallery. Just email us a snap - doesn't have to be David Baily quality.

Watch out...

...I'm in another of my "moods". I mean really. The weather? It'll be Autumn in about 5 minutes time for flips sake! Ok; so we had one quite nice day last weekend and admittedly we were in Norfolk at the time which was gorgeous. We were able to do this picture of our lovely vintage deckchair...

...and yes, the sky really was that blue.
Since then, we've had 90 mile and hour winds and now drizzling rain.
I've got a brand new pair of limited edition silver Bensimon plimmies that need wearing, a garden full of flowers that won't grow and the complexion of a bowl of cold porridge!
Am I ranting? I am aren't I.. Sorry.
I'm off to light the fire, wear boots and eat stew. 

I just had...

...to share a picture of the roses I bought from The Flower Stall, the florists in our village. The are heart flutteringly beautiful. I have them in a vase next to my computer and have just spent 10 minutes staring at them and sighing. Excellent work avoidance.

Also, I have a dilemma. I love this cotton scarf...

...and I love this linen scarf...

...so which one do I go for? Both you say?...

A huge, big...

...thank you to everyone who came to our open weekend. It took more than a few 10 foot snow drifts to keep so many of you away and it was a really lovely, busy weekend. The feedback from those who came was fantastic and the ladies in the tea room raised a very tidy sum for the church roof fund selling their delightful, beautifully presented teas, so we've already started planning the next one and will you keep you posted with dates. We did have plenty of calls and emails from those who wanted to come but couldn't - one lovely lady even sent us a picture of her car buried in snow! So for those who missed out, do get in touch if you want to make an appointment to have a look round once the worst of the snow has gone.

A few images taken just before we opened...