Yesterday was the Bentley Priory Winter Fair. Deb and I had been invited to have a stall so we were up bright and early with baskets full of vintage goodies. Bentley Priory is the home of the Battle Of Britain museum and was where fighter command were based. It is a lovely old house with lots of character.
I loved the stained glass windows and the wonderful chandeliers.
Outside was looking very festive with Christmas trees and wreaths for sale.On the front lawn was a Hurricane and a Spitfire, amazing old planes and not as big as I imagined.
As usual Deb and I had too much stock to display and our table certainly looked very full ! However we had lots of nice feedback from customers and the Christmas shoppers seemed to like our stall.
I didn't leave empty handed. I found this great 1930s toothbrush holder. It has a hole in each side for toothbrushes and a little tray along the bottom for a tube of toothpaste. These were made in Japan for export and many ended up in the US. For now it has found a spot on my bathroom shelf.
I also found another Josephine book to add to my collection. I love the Honor C. Appleton illustrations.
And I couldn't resist these copies of The Girls Own Paper from the 1930s. The cover illustrations are wonderful. The only problem was choosing which ones to have . Some of the articles and stories in them are great and so funny.
And finally I treated myself to these gorgeous candles from The Spitalfields Candle Company. This one in the 1930s Coronation mug is gorgeous. The candle smells wonderful, it is scented with rose and geranium. The others are the Winter fragrance and Lemon verbena. They are made from a lovely organic soy wax and are very good quality. Apparently Liberty are selling candles in coronation mugs at the moment but are three times the price. If you like good quality scented candles check out their lovely website www.spitalfieldscandles.co.uk
And John and Libby if you are reading this, it was lovely to see you and thanks for making the journey x
I have used mainly vintage decorations this year that I have been collecting over the year, they are so much nicer than new ones. I found this little angel in a bag of vintage baubles I bought for 10p in the Summer at a table top sale.
The decorating in the hall, stairs and landing is virtually finished at last ! After years in a cupboard we have wired in one of a pair of lovely Arts and Crafts lanterns we bought a number of years ago on Ebay. These came from a house in Bournville and belonged to an elderly lady who was a member of the Cadbury family. They are really for an outside porch but for now I want to enjoy them inside. When I received them they came with some old unwrapped bars of Cadbury chocolate from the war.
I have really enjoyed decorating my kitchen dresser shelves with glass baubles, fairy lights and tea lights. I had these shelves this year as a birthday present and I love them. They came from a lovely old house in a village near Stratford upon Avon. I started off trying to be restrained with what I put on them but I seem to keep squeezing more on. 
And finally here are my lovely Advent blocks from the talented Annie at Birdcages and Butterflies. I was so excited when I received these in the post , I meant to buy some from her at our vintage fair in November and didn't get a chance. They are displayed with my Christmas Stanleys and my vintage American Disney decorations. Hope you all have a lovely week and a special hello to all my family reading this up in freezing Scotland. x
