Country Living

Yesterday I went to London with my lovely girl. We had tickets for the Country Living Spring Fair. There were lots of gorgeous stands but it was absolutely packed. It was so crowded it made getting round really difficult. After about an hour my lovely girl had had enough and she disappeared off over the road to a couple of her favourite clothes shops. Although I enjoyed looking around I will never go on a Saturday again, although I am not sure a week day would be much better.

This is a lovely tile I bought from the Welbeck Tiles stand. I will use it as a pot stand. They had the most gorgeous range of tiles in rose designs and also their new patchwork collection shown below. The ones I really loved were old, coloured sea side postcards reproduced on to tiles. Have a look at their website to see their latest tiles although I don't think the brand new patchwork collection is shown yet.

I bought these vintage green glasses from the lovely Velvet Ribbon stall along with the pretty painted glass pot.

This is a new tea cup from Caroline Zoob. I bought one at the Christmas Fair in a different colour and love it. The blue buttons were from Marti.

A trip to London wouldn't be complete without a visit to Cath Kidston so we went to the Kings Road branch. This is a make up bag from her vintage range made from old fabric. I loved the colour and design and needed a new one so was very pleased to find this.

I bought a couple of packets of seeds for Mr C, some napkins for lovely girl's birthday cake in a few weeks time, a couple of hooks for the kitchen, and a key ring and a cherry beaker for my lovely girl. I didn't feel too guilty treating myself as my mum and mother in law had both given me money for my birthday a few weeks back knowing that I would see things I liked at the fair.

Finally we visited The Natural History Museum. It's quite a long time since I had visited and had forgotten how vast it was. It was raining heavily outside so we spent an hour or so wandering around looking at dinosaurs and having a snack before heading home.

Fun At The Fair

Yesterday was the big day, a good time was had by all although I think we are all feeling pretty tired today. Lots of lovely sellers and fellow bloggers came from far and wide and it was great catching up with everyone. Unfortunately the weather wasn't kind to us and we didn't have quite as many customers as last time but those who came said they really enjoyed it. In all the excitement I forgot to take my camera with me so you will have to excuse the quality of the pictures taken quite late in the day on Mr C's phone. Lots didn't come out at all so you will have to check out pictures of the other lovely stalls on other blogs as they appear.

The pretty rose tapestry picture and crocheted flower corsage were from the lovely Karen of Tilly Rose and were some of my few purchases. I was very restrained partly because I was too busy to get a proper look round.

This sweet Easter nest brooch and lovely scented soap were a present from the very kind Sandie of Sandie's Patch who made the trip from Leicester with her sister to pay us a visit.

I also treated myself to this gorgeous blue rose tin and little notebook from Tracey of The Vintage Bothy. Zoe of Penny Blossoms also popped in and brought me a lovely bunch of daffs as a late birthday surprise. It's amazing how friendly and thoughtful some of our fellow bloggers are, even though often we have never met before it seems we already know each other.

This was Lindsey of Elsie Sparrow's gorgeous bike with her lovely handmade children's goodies.

This stall belonged to Kris selling 20th century home wares and vintage clothes.

Sharon of Clover Cottage was doing her first ever stall and she was a great success, her fabric covered note books and her embroidered pictures were very popular.

These blurry pictures are of my stall but give you the idea.

We think we will probably do another fair later in the year around early November time when people are starting to think about their Christmas shopping again, but we will keep you posted. Anyway thank you so much to all our wonderful customers and the lovely group of friendly people who all turned up to sell such gorgeous things and who made the day such fun.

The Fair Is Coming !

Only a couple of days to go until the Northampton Easter Vintage and Home Made Fair on Saturday. The next few days are going to be pretty hectic getting everything ready and we are feeling a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Fingers crossed the sun will shine and we are as busy as last time. I thought I would give you a little preview of some of the vintage lovelies I am sorting through ready to go on my stall. But first I wanted to show you my lovely shelves that I found in Stamford on my birthday trip out last week. They are covered in very chippy paint and really need a coat of paint but I couldn't wait to get them up so Mr C kindly put them up on the newly painted landing.

Pretty Spring colours

1920s/30s vanity set in it's original floral box

Summery cottage garden florals

tea time-- biscuit tins and tea cups

this lovely child's size eiderdown has found a home with me but needs a wash and freshen up on the washing line

Mother's Day presents from my lovely girl. The tins have already been put to good use in the kitchen and the gorgeous hydrangea is brightening up my hearth. The little Goebels skier salt shaker was a bargain from ebay and I couldn't resist him.

Hope to see lots of you at the fair on Saturday.

Mystery Giveaway

As some of you know I am a member of Etsy Midlanders, a group of great Etsy sellers offering a range of lovely hand crafted items and a sprinkling of vintage. I am not actually taking part in this giveaway but will be offering something in the next one. In this giveaway six Etsy sellers are taking part and each will be offering a mystery prize as part of the giveaway. All you have to do to take part is to visit each Etsy shop and pick your favourite item and then list your six items in your comment. Good luck !

Special Day

Today was my birthday and I treated myself to a day off work and slow start to the day. I caught up on some lovely blogs over a nice cup of tea and opened some lovely pressies.

I had some beautiful flowers including this gorgeous hyacinth and rose posy from Crocus. This was a lovely surprise from my sister up in Scotland.

The pretty green enamel 'pot' planted with Spring flowers was from my friend Deb.

My lovely girl knows me well and bought me some pretty earrings, a new mug for my morning cuppa and a lovely spotty glass I had commented on when we were in CK in london a few weeks ago.

My biggest surprise was this fabulous tomato red coat that I had spotted weeks ago but couldn't justify buying it for myself. This will be something I wear and wear, it has a fabulous lining and a 50s/60s style swing shape.

Mr Corner House and I then set off for a trip to Stamford which is a beautiful market town with some fantastic architecture spanning centuries. It is also full of lots of lovely shops and places to eat.

There seemed to be lots of doors painted in varying shades of green.

I love this shop, full of lots of lovely things including a great range of Cath Kidston and Emma Bridgewater. I treated myself to a couple of bits of Cath.

This week I have found a few charity shop bargains including this original Lloyd Loom Lusty table.

I found three of these printed 1950s tablecloths for pennies. I particularly like this one with the roses and cottage design, I think it looks very Cath Kidston but the real thing.

I hope you all have a lovely Mothers Day weekend.

Circle Of Friends Award

The lovely Annie from Birdcages and Butterflies recently gave me this award. The conditions of accepting the award are to list five things I like doing and then to pass the award on to five more bloggers I would like to know a little more about. So here goes ....

1)Pottering around charity shops, car boot sales, flea markets and generally anywhere I might find some vintage treasure (that includes the local tip where they sell things on). I seem to have developed a real aversion to proper shops and only venture in to town when I absolutely have to. There is nothing better than getting up early on a warm , sunny morning on a Sunday in the summertime and heading off to a boot sale. We always take a picnic of fresh coffee and croissants and a rug to sit on next to the car when we have finished. I usually spread out all of my finds for closer inspection.

These are some of this week's finds including a lovely Deco tea set. This wasn't cheap by charity shop standards but still a bargain for such a complete and pretty set. There's also an old BOAC fan and various bags of vintage buttons and buckles as well as some pretty china posy ornaments and a child's gondola basket that was only 10p !

2) Reading- I do love reading but seem to get very little time to do it any more. I read every night before going to sleep, it can be a novel, a reference book, magazines or the newspaper. I love curling up on the sofa with a snuggly eiderdown, a large mug of Earl Grey tea and a pile of my favourite magazines.

3) Going for walks with Josh my loveable and naughty rescue dog. He is a Bearded Collie crossed with a Border Collie and seems to enjoy herding me around the

house like one of his flock. It is so relaxing to take him out for a long walk and watch him run around so excitedly. He is great fun and makes us smile every day even though some days he can be very naughty !

4)Visiting new places- I love visiting new places both in the UK and abroad. In December I took my lovely girl on a trip to New York which was a real adventure. I love the British countryside too and especially the coast. One of my favourite places is the North Devon coast but parts of the coast in Northern Ireland are stunning too

I have had lots of holidays in Northern Ireland and there is always somewhere new

to explore. I love history and wherever I go in England I try and visit a National Trust property or site. We have been members for years and have visited some

wonderful places.

5) 'Home is where the heart is '- I love just spending time at

home with family and on my own. Life is so hectic and work so demanding the bits of time I get just to relax at home are precious. The photos are of some of the windows in my house. There is a lot of original stained glass but where there was plain glass Mr Cornerhouse had windows made to his design. He had the heart windows made for me to go in the kitchen shortly after we moved in. The colours don't show up too well on the photo but the heart is a gorgeous deep pink and the little diamonds are also shades of pink. They cast wonderful patterns around the room when the sun is shining.

Now to pass on the award, this hasn't been easy because I follow so many great blogs but I have had to narrow it down to five so here they are....

Andi- andisenglishattic

Clair-pepperpi

Bridie-vintageflair1

Wendy-Wendy House

Karen-Tilly Rose