We're Livestocking up!

Exeter Matford Antiques and Collectors Fair
Photo courtesy of Antiques Atlas

The last Exeter Matford Antiques and Collectors Fair which we were able to get to seems so long ago! 

Thank goodness then that it's on again this Saturday. It'll be an early start tomorrow to get on the train to Exeter St Thomas before a mad dash across the car park to catch the bus to the Livestock Centre where the fair's held. It's a little more expensive (£5 pp) to get in earlier but if you time it right it's well worth it.

We're praying that the weather's kind to us tomorrow because we've always liked the stalls outside. We're on the look out tomorrow for a mannequin so fingers crossed we find one!

You can find out more about the fairs right here, they're always worth a visit!

How true!
Image taken from the Exeter Matford Antiques & Collectors Fair Facebook page

Best-tember!

Our stall at the September Antiques and Vintage Fair

How can it be that September's fair has been and gone! Where's the year going? We had such a great one though. 

We got up early and over to the Strand Centre to set up for the day. Fortunately there wasn't as much to do as normal as most of the tables were already out. Result! Before we knew it the stallholders started to arrive and it was time to get our table already. This time we brought along some more unusual items too, including a scrimshaw, a signed David Sheppard print and some militaria.

Stephanie looking fab in her new vintage jacket

One of our regulars, Stephanie, was our first customer of the day. It's always lovely to catch up with her and her Mum especially as they've always supported the fair. Stephanie loves Paris and picked up two very pretty vintage Parisian bracelets and, as the weather has suddenly become very autumnal, decided to treat herself to a lovely 1980s jacket in autumn colours together with a matching green handbag. 

During the day we sold all sort of things including a very snazzy waistcoat, some 1920s style earrings, marcasite brooches, Star Wars memorabilia, a Peaky Blinders cap and the previously mentioned scrimshaw and David Sheppard signed print (which sold right at the very end of the fair just as we were packing up!).

We had one of the best fairs ever and we can't wait for the next one in October. See you at the Strand Centre on the 19th when we'll have lots more goodies for sale!

Let's All Go Down The Strand!

Very friendly stallholders - come and say Hello!

It's the next Dawlish Antiques and Vintage Fair at The Strand Centre on Saturday!  How exciting!

Why not come along and say 'Hello'?  You'll find plenty of vintage and antique bargains, get to meet our very friendly stallholders and you can even enjoy a cup of tea and a slice of cake from the café too!

We'll see you there!

Three of a kind!

Vintage shopping...here we go!

With Friday off work (due to one of the Old's Cool Trader's birthday) the weekend turned into one of our favourite kinds, a 3 day shopping extravaganza across a vast part of south Devon! Even the weather was lovely!

Friday saw us visiting Totnes Fashion and Textiles Museum. The day didn't go exactly to plan, probably as it was Friday 13th, and the train we needed to get to Totnes was cancelled. We decided to stay longer in Newton Abbot and after picking a beautiful 1930's style Gil Fox hat and a very cool Roxy Music song book we eventually caught the train (which was also late!) to Totnes. 

Totnes Fashion Museum 

We love Totnes, it's like going to Glastonbury, but in a town. Full of boho quirky vintage shops with a great market on a Friday there's always plenty to see and do. It's well worth a visit to the fashion museum alone. Run by volunteers the museum has over 40,000 pieces in their collection, some dating back to the 16th century, this year's exhibition though compact in size included some astonishingly glorious dresses, shoes and hats from the 1920s. You felt like you were in a film set for The Great Gatsby. The guide was so enthusiastic we could easily have spent all day in there too.

Saturday saw us venture off to Exmouth, one of our favourite picking spots. We got there early and enjoyed a breakfast wrap in Spoons before getting our shopping heads on. We seemed to buy everything vintage - vintage handbags (one with connections to royalty), long vintage gloves, vintage purses, a Burton's 1960s overcoat, an 80s dress Debbie Harry would have worn, vintage bolero jackets etc etc. We'd timed it well to have a spot of lunch with the parents too which was lovely way to end a lovely day in the sun.

We love fashion books

On Sunday it was over to the Exeter Flea Market where they close the whole of  Fore Street. We hadn't done so well at the June market but this time round we filled our boots. Fashion books for a £1 each...Chanel, Dior, Vogue...we were in fashion book hog heaven, vintage accessories, vinyl, CDs...we bought and bought and bought. No wonder we were exhausted on Sunday evening.

The next Antiques and Vintage fair is on this Saturday, 21st September, at Dawlish's Strand Centre.  Please pop along and say Hello.  We'll have some lovely vintage items which we've collected over the last few weekends for sale.

This Saturday...don't miss it!

Fair warning!

With just over a week to go until September's Antiques and Vintage Fair we're adding the final touches to our clothes rail. We've added vintage waistcoats, tweed jackets and tea dresses...something for everyone to cover all tastes, sizes and styles in fact. 

We'll have plenty of pretty vintage handbags and stylish shoes for sale too, buy now for Christmas pressies or the party season. 

So come along to the Strand Centre on Saturday 21st September...get there early to avoid disappointment!

Incredible Crediton!

Waiting for the train!

Vintage shopping can be like the buses....you wait for ages for good stock to come along and then you have two great hauls in a row.

The weekend before last we thought we'd done well in Newton Abbot but Saturday in Crediton surpassed it. Our favourite find of the day had to be an original pair of suede Levi's dating back to the late 1960s. Very, very rare! Who know Levi's sold suede trousers? They're even embellished with iron on flower power transfers from the time and a 'Love' sew on badge. Groovy baby! We bought the trousers with a suede gilet too, which also seems to be from the same period.

Very rare vintage Levi's suede trousers and gilet

Other items included a Berketex flowery dress (my Mum used to wear a very similar one in the 1980s), a very pretty powder blue velvet Alexon jacket (which also dates back to the 1980s), a 1970s bomber jacket and a Miss Selfridge Handmade black velvet jacket. All perfect for the vintage girl's wardrobe. 

Velvet jackets and 1980's Berketex dress

With bags brimming full of vintage loveliness we took a well deserved break in Spooneys before catching our train into Exeter.

Mine's a pint!

On the way to the train station though we picked up a Joe 90 book, 2 Starsky and Hutch books and Fonz books. Needless to say we picked up lots of CDs along the way too, at the last count 26! 

TV pulp fiction

Who know in the 1960s that Revlon produced an eau de cologne called 'Pub'? We didn't until we picked up a bottle on Saturday, still in it original box!

'Pub' Eau de cologne

We had a great time and with credit to Crediton we can't wait to go there again.

All You Tweed is love!

All You Tweed Is Love!

With autumn definitely in the air the waistcoats have already made an appearance. Now it's Harris Tweed's turn.

Harris Tweed has to be a staple item for every discerning gentleman's wardrobe (and ladies as a matter of fact...they look great with a tea dress and a pair of brogues/DMs). We've been wearing them for years.

Quality Harris Tweed jackets are much harder to find now, but as they come in so many different weaves and are made to last a lifetime we will always buy them when we see them. We'll have a couple for sale along with some other lovely vintage jackets at our next fair on Saturday 21st September so get there early to avoid disappointment!

'Bovey' bees!

Beautiful morning waiting for the train

Due to being particularly busy bees recently doing lots of other things like going to Beautiful Days Festival, running our antique fairs and summer days out it had been ages since we last popped to Newton Abbot for a good look round the shops. This time though we decided to combine it with our first trip to Bovey Tracey for the Nourish Food Festival too.

Good pickings!

Up bright and early we caught the train from Dawlish to Newton and the gods were certainly looking after us on Saturday as picked up all kinds of goodies. Our picks included a Football Association annual dating from 1949 which has great graphics and tells you what the game was liked in the 1940s, a pair of very elegant black Karen Millen shoes still in their original box and a pair of Dolce & Gabanna designer jeans.

We visited our favourite stall in the market too and bought a letter from Bing Crosby (omg! someone was definitely looking out for us) and some very cool postcards from the 1960s which included some designed by Martin, the man behind the Mad Magazine look. 

Cowboy pulp fiction and 1960s postcards

We were both chuffed with what we'd picked and after a rainy interlude we popped on to the 39 bus to Bovey Tracey. As we hadn't been there before we didn't know what to expect. Bovey Tracey, 'Gateway to the Moor', is a very picturesque town full of pretty shops and houses. The streets were overflowing with the food festival and we were ecstatic when we saw our favourite Brimblecombe cider there.



Happiness = Brimblecombe cider and artisan scotch eggs

A pint of Brimblecombe washed down the delicious artisan scotch eggs we tried beautifully. We had a good look around Bovey and came across a great bric 'n' brac stall where we bought two lovely vintage handbags, one dating from the 1920s still in it's original box (incredible for a bag which is nearly 100 years old) and a pretty brown leather one. On the way we tried all the gins available for tasting (it would have been rude not to!), our joint favourite was Trevathan's Chaffeur gin from Cornwall, then we popped into Dartmoor's Whisky Distillery and the Courtenay Antiques Centre where we had a lovely long chat with its owner. We then popped back on the bus to Newton for one last dash around the shops and a quick cider in Spoons.



At Dartmoor's Whisky Distillery

Sunday saw BMAD come to Dawlish. BMAD (Bikers Make A Difference) are such a great charity and they've raised over £600k for sick, disabled and disadvantaged young people in the local area.  We love it when they make their annual visit to the Lawn in Dawlish and bring their fantastic bikes with them.  Our favourites are, of course, the vintage ones (BSAs, Nortons, Triumphs) but this year some of the modified bikes were just stunning.



BMAD comes to Dawlish

All in all a jam packed weekend, full of bikes, cider and rich pickings!