Jazz and Boules at the Brocante - 11th May 2013

Another fabulous day at the Brocante in Alice Park on Saturday despite the blustery weather. We set up in beautiful sunshine and Saravian who came to sing her wonderful jazz certainly brought out the sun later.  People came to browse the fabulous array of decorative antiques, wonderful prints of vintage bathers, vintage jewellery and stunning lampshades, whilst sampling the delights of the café. Adrian Chivers and Chris Garratt had brought along their boules friends and played for a while, creating a wonderfully relaxed vibe. They were kind enough to let me have a go and I'm now hooked! 

 

Eirlys very kindly came to lend her quirky bunting and looked quite the picture of French chic putting it up in the morning sun.  Sarah Corbett brought a little bit of vintage beach as she moved in with her wonderful beach hut, a print of beach antics at Trouville nestling behind.  As she and Eirlys reminisced about the beach there thoughts of Jacques Tati's "Mr Hulot" came to mind.  Wouldn't it be great to be able to have an open air showing in the park me thinks.  Sarah's prints of bathers and beach scenes were wonderfully evocative, and I adored her vintage bathing doll with its swimming cap, very similar to her fabulous leather one!

As ever I met interesting customers and had lovely chats with people and was thrilled to sell my glass paintings of two twinkling belles made from sweet wrappers during the war, to one of the boules players who collects them.  Very serendipitous.

A couple of weeks later I had a wonderful morning for Mrs Baer's retiring fair at her house and the Church Hall in Church Road, Bradford on Avon.  I entered through the cellars and weaved my way through rooms of stunning and varied textiles, edgings, antique dresses, baskets of napkins, pretty linen pillow cases.  Through Mrs Baer's room lined with shelves of French linen and hemp sheets, some monogrammed in beautiful fonts, grain sacks and pretty French café curtains and others hanging.  Into Sue another cellar with Sue Stokes's stunning stall, with more treasures, vintage girdles, unusual textiles with the prettiest prints.  I bought an original French floral pinny, perfect for wearing at my job in the café at the Pound Arts Centre. 

I loved these very unusual fair ground decorations with their fibrant colours.

It is always a joy to see Jen Jones and her incredible selection of Welsh quilts and blankets.  I would definitely recommend a visit to her fascinating and beautifully set out Museum of Welsh quilts and shop, in Lampeter.

 

One of Joanna Heptinstall's stunning and quirky lampshades greeted us on the street outside the entrance! and there were more inside.  I love the shape and fabrics with their delicious frills.  Above the cellars was Mrs Baer's beautiful terrace edged with red rock roses.  I sat with a friend in the sun drinking coffee and looking at each others' treasures that we'd bought and admired things that the couple of ladies at the next door table had bought!  The church hall was as ever full of stunning textiles and antique clothes, and it was great to catch up with Liz van Hassault in her incredible patchwork coat.

It was an inspiring day tinged with sadness that this would be the last time that such a gathering will be happening again there under Mrs Baer's helm.  I admire her creativity, integrity and dedication to the textiles she has amassed and their history.  I salute her!

 

I love this little family of 1950s dolls which will definitely be coming to the next Brocante on 15th June, 2013 in Alice Park from 10am until 4pm.  There are some spaces left so if you are interested in taking space please contact Katherine Gilmore via this blog or at gilmorekatherine@hotmail.com or on 07951 889056

"Roll out those Hazy, Crazy, Lazy Days of Summer!"

Is the start of Summer finally here?!  I cycled back from work today in glorious sunshine, with the sounds of the birds around me, seeing a riot of colour in the hedgerows, all against a clear blue sky, .... heaven.  I was thinking of the fast approaching Brocante and the shape that it is taking this year.  We have our regulars Steve and Ivan Weekes with their eclectic and exciting array of Brocante, Chris Garratt from "Old Hat" with his quirky retro items, as well as vintage clothes and fabulous badges from various societies (they make me want to join some of them).  Caroline Penny will be bringing her beautiful vintage marquee and array of Brocante inside it, come and rummage inside its calming canvas.

Joining us for the first time this year is my lovely and talented friend Alice Dent with her fabulous jewellery made from vintage beads.  I've spent many a happy day buying with her at Kempton Antiques fair.  I shall be selling too and have some new and unusual wares, in the shape of a vintage horse from a playground of bygone years, some very nostalgic Cunard Line memorabilia from the 1950s and a Mettoy metal dolls house and quirky plastic furniture.

There seems to be a theme developing for this year's Brocantes, it being the Sea.  Think of a journey from New York to Southampton on RMS Queen Mary with the Cunard Line on 31st May 1954. 

 

All sorts of romantic images are conjured up by stylish baggage labels with the instructions "Jewelry Cases, Coats, Furst, Cameras, Small Bags should be retained in the possession of passengers." 
Entertainment would involve a quick session in the gymnasium (open for Exercise from 7 to 7pm), a showing of "The Runaway Bus" with Frankie Howard and Margaret Rutherford after lunch, relaxing in A Deck lounge to the dulcit tones of Charles Saxby at the Hammond Organ to mention a few.  American and British news broadcasts would punctuate the afternoon, before preparing and dressing in beautiful 1950s dresses for cocktails in the Mermaid Bar, Prom. Deck.  An incredible 8 course dinner offering all the latest culinary excitements of the age would be the next entertainment:  Mixed Hors d'Oeuvre, Pigeon en Cocotte, La Valliere, Saumon poche, Sauce Mousseline, Poire Belle-Helene washed down with Red and White Bordeaux.  To end the evening there would be dancing in the Rose Room to the Queen Mary Dance Orchestra.  What an incredible day, would be happy to experience that today!  My parents are off on a cruise starting from Seville and sailing round Spain and Portugal - will have to compare notes!

I wonder whether Betty Brixham would have experienced such a crossing!  She is the star of the show produced by the fabulous Sarah Corbett who I met with her beautiful stripey changing tent at Frome Artisan market and the Bath in Fashion V&A fair in April.

The Swimmer

Set in the golden age of bathing, cross channel swimming champion Betty Brixham lifts the canvas of her bathing hut to reveal the swimmer as hero, eccentric and romantic.

Aided by goose fat, buoyancy aids, and commemorative bunting, all produced from the depths of the mobile modesty hut, Betty tells her tall tale of the cross channel swim and other swimming exploits.

“With grace and vigor I stepped from my bathing hut on to the promenade. Dressed in my finest bathing suit and matching cap, I climbed the steps of the Admiralty Pier. The sun was not shining, the sea was not calm. Taking a deep breath, I fixed my eye upon the prospect of France …”

Inspired by early cross channel swimming exploits and mythologies of the sea.

Whether our lives progress swimmingly or the tide turns on our fortunes, this story provides a metaphorical undercurrent to our heroin and her epic ambition to swim to France. Meet Betty, an athlete of the imagination, and her gloriously absurd tribute to the golden age of bathing.

'The Swimmer' is in development as a solo story telling: this is a scratch performance.

Here is a taster of what is involved from Sarah:-

The Swimmer

Set in the golden age of bathing, cross channel swimming champion Betty Brixham lifts the canvas of her bathing hut to reveal the swimmer as hero, eccentric and romantic.

Aided by goose fat, buoyancy aids, and commemorative bunting, all produced from the depths of the mobile modesty hut, Betty tells her tall tale of the cross channel swim and other swimming exploits.

“With grace and vigor I stepped from my bathing hut on to the promenade. Dressed in my finest bathing suit and matching cap, I climbed the steps of the Admiralty Pier. The sun was not shining, the sea was not calm. Taking a deep breath, I fixed my eye upon the prospect of France …”

Inspired by early cross channel swimming exploits and mythologies of the sea.

Whether our lives progress swimmingly or the tide turns on our fortunes, this story provides a metaphorical undercurrent to our heroin and her epic ambition to swim to France. Meet Betty, an athlete of the imagination, and her gloriously absurd tribute to the golden age of bathing.

'The Swimmer' is in development as a solo story telling: this is a scratch performance.

 

 

Sarah will be selling her imaginative prints of swimmers and other items.  I love her handmade shoes too (decorative items and not to be worn!)

 

 On a different note, I loved this lady and her hat at the Bath in Fashion V&A fair on 21st April!  Who was she watching?!

Also I love this knitted bunch of flowers I found in Frome last month.  What an incredible amount of work must have been put in to it.  I have a long way to go with my knitting, but perhaps I'll have a go once I've finished my husband's vintage jumper!

 

 

So come along to the first Brocante on 11th May, bring your friends and come and find a treasure to go home with!

 



 

Spring is in the Air

I love that spring is in the air: the daffodils appearing, my youngest daughter busily digging her garden, as well as ours bless her!  The thought of seaside foraging trips, picnics on balmy summer days, baskets filled with vintage melamine, sandwiches and cake, and of course nights spent under the stars in our beautiful bell tent, seem not so far away now.

I was hugely inspired by the Vintage Bazaar at Devizes Corn Exchange on Saturday 2nd March.  Well done Liz and Claire!  As ever they had brought together a wonderful and eclectic mix of sellers. Everywhere I looked there were beautiful bundles of vintage fabric, vintage aprons and hats, quirky French knitting boxes, retro cupboards in bright, cheerful colours.  I was tempted by many things and came home with some pretty embroidery threads for my new sewing project, a stunning French vintage Easter card, two fabulous glass pictures of bo-peep women, as well as some vintage cards.  Having sat by my cosy fire in a rare relaxing moment and tucked into a copy of "Pretty Nostalgic" magazine, it made me aware of how beautiful items can be recycled and used in different ways so that they can be seen and appreciated.  I was reading about a couple who decorated their home using secondhand and found items and reinvented them in an incredibly imaginative way.  For example using vintage suitcases as wall cupboards and finding retro kitchen units on the street.  Not to mention the quirky flying glasses hanging from a peg.

I loved Delightfully Vintage and all her treasures.  I could fill my house with her quirky vintage items, and make cakes from 1950s baking books, with new ideas for decoration.  Not to mention vintage materials with fabulous patterns to make cushions etc.  I hope Lynsey will be joining us for the Brocantes.

This pretty French wire mirror reminds me of a French wedding mirror I found in an antique shop in Lily Road, London, and so evocative of Brocantes in pretty French villages.

My favourite item was this stunning circa C19 velvet corset with exquisite lace edging, from the Rue Faubourg St Honore in Paris. 

I found the prettiest Easter card from Sarah Dinsmore who was selling vintage and antique textiles and haberdashery.  I'm always so heartened by the sheer amount of detail and unusual colours used in vintage cards, and the amount of care that must have been put into them.  Definitely gives me food for thought to create my own and to try and inspire my children to.  I also bought some pretty embroidery threads to make some more embroidered cushions.  My good friend Issy inspired me to make embroidered pictures on material, by tracing a picture onto material and embroidering the outline.  I was quite pleased by one I made for my father of a fashionable couple in Paris, which I was as a mosaic in the Carnovali Museum in Paris.

Just to mention that this year's Brocantes in Alice Park, Bath will be on the 11th May, 15th June and 13th July 2013.  If there are any Brocantes dealers who would like to come and join this ever evolving and French style vintage and antique market surrounding the fabulous Alice Park Cafe, please contact me for more details. 

Musings on the New Year

Having just read Trixie of the "Vintage Bothy's" blog and been inspired by her thoughts of putting away the Christmas bling to make room for colourful new finds, I feel ready to approach my 'to do' list and to prepare for this year's Brocantes.  Although looking out of my window at the snowy vista and the thought of my pigs hibernating, I can't imagine the sun drenched scenes at most of the Brocantes last year!

Before I put Christmas to bed I wanted to mention my trip with Ottie, my 9 year old, to the Geffrye museum in Hackney, housed in stunning 18th century almshouses.  I have been wanting to visit this gem of a museum for many years.  The thought of an exhibition of Christmas through the ages was enough to get us on the light railway in a hurry!  This fabulous museum of the home with it's reconstructed rooms from the 1600s (with its oak furniture and panelling, to the elegant Georgian era and progessive Victoria, via the quirky 1950s was as wonderful as I imagined.  With its fabulous examples of furniture, textiles, prints and most helpfully cross sections of houses, it gives an incredible picture of the changing styles and tastes of the urban middle classes and also told us an enormous amount about how people lived in their homes and furnished and decorated them, as well as what they ate and drink.  The childrens' information was fantastic and gave all sorts of snippets of information about what people ate and their Christmas traditions.  We particularly enjoyed the cake in the shape of a crown.

and the beautiful mural with its rococco inspired fountains and figures.

 

Before Christmas I spoke with Jeremy Seal, a journalist who has written an article about the French influence in Bath for the Guardian online.  He asked me about the Brocantes in Alice Park and how they contribute to this.  I feel excited and happy to be a part of this developing influence.

To add to the French feel established at the Brocantes I have approached the Biddestone boules festival to see if they and indeed one of the Brocanteurs who is also involved with boules festivals would come and play in Alice Park.

The dates for the Brocantes at Alice Park this year are as follows:-

11th May
15th June
13th July

If anyone is interested in taking space please contact me via this blog or on 07951 889056.

The Final Brocante of 2012

I think we have been so lucky this far to have had no rain at previous Brocantes, alas it wasn't to be this month!  Thank goodness for gazebos and for all those people who braved the rain and came to see the fabulous array of antiques, stunning textiles, vintage clothes, gardenalia and for the first time hats.  Despite the gloomy day everyone had once again turned the area surrounding the cafe into a stunning market and veritable feast of variety, definitely mirroring those of our French neighbours!

As we stood and chatted to our customers, enjoyed sipping coffee and very warming bacon rolls etc it was great to see regular customers coming back and to see new ones too. 

This time we had four new dealers, as well as the stalwarts.  Beccy Sheton Agar came with her beautiful vintage fabrics and dresses.  I loved these stunning curtain holders and I also spotted a sherbert pink vintage dress that I thought could have been perfect for my daughter's school party.  Alas it was not to be, if only I could have squeezed into it!

These rather stylish "Little Bo Peep" menu card and name holders caught my eye on the Heritage Living stall and could be another way of table decorating.

I would love this vintage flour tub as a coffee table.  As ever Charlotte and Adam Calkin bought their fabulous and quirky wares.

I decoupaged this Georgian trunk with 1920s/30s French magazines.  It seemed that you could have ordered anything from the "Louvre Magasin" in Paris; clothes, sheets, pots and pans, threads, furniture.  A fine trousseau!

Always inspired by something new I particularly enjoyed how Katie Boys from Refound Reloved has covered the interior of this pretty suitcase with vintage fabric.

 

 

Rachel Cottenham from 'Pleasant Pastimes' and Patricia Pentecost from 'Just Seven Hats' came from Devon with their interesting and varied selection of vintage clothing and accessories, including hats made from vintage material.  I was grateful for their enthusiasm despite the rain (and everyone else too!) and am so pleased that they would like to return next year.

 

 

Gill from Magpie also came for the first time.

 

 

I feel very grateful to my long suffering husband and children, who have helped pack, price and set up my stall and to have been interested and provide encouragement!  Also to Tony Hickman for his help and advice about forthcoming Brocantes and how to progress in this age of many fairs.  I do feel we have something quite unique that people are drawn to and to come back again more importantly. 

 

That's it for this year folks!  Look forward to seeing everyone next year, where there will be new, varied and exciting wares.







June's Inspirations

Not quite sure where to start having had an incredible week of inspiration with a rare visit to London, the Vintage Sunday fair and a Bollywood fundraising evening at my daughters' school!  I feel that my soul has been given a really amazing boost musically, artistically and emotionally. 

It started with a Jewellery/hat sale where my very old school friend Polly Whately was selling her beautiful hats.  She is very creative and just manages to fuse a very classic style with a large dose of quirky and fun.

Then it was on to see her mother Belinda Belville's dresses in the Balldresses exhibition at the V&A, as well as the fashion collection which I loved.  The permanent fashion collection also provided inspiration for me. 

This was a fabulous lead up to the Vintage Sunday fair in Bath's Royal Crescent on 24th June where the fabulous fashion shows put on by Vintage to Vogue of Bath were incredibly exciting together with 1920s music coming from Nick "Wind up Merchant's" vintage pram as he wandered inside and outside the marquee!

This was my space from which I could watch the entertainments going on including the fabulous dancing, beautiful and the unusual vintage clothes being bought from Claire Nolan opposite me (I am thrilled with my Frank Usher dress and can't wait to wear it this weekend!)

This lady's dress and whole attire attracted my eye and very kindly let me photograph her.  She and her friend I saw enjoying a cup of tea in a stunning powder blue herald triumph before coming in to have their hair styled by Pop up Parlour. 

Another moustached gentleman and his elegant wife in a beautifully fitted tweed suit came and swapped flyers with me.  I feel sure that I must go to the British Beard and Moustache Championships in Brighton Dome on Saturday 15th September!

There was dancing from Hoppin Mad, delicious tea and cakes from Mrs Stokes and so much entertainment.  Everyone seemed to be happy to join in, from Claire's 3 year old daughter dancing on the stage to all those "game on" people who joined in the dance classes.

Loved seeing Ruth from Delectable Collectables and others I've met doing fairs.  Well done, Imran, John and Polly, think you did a great job and created a wonderful day.  If only we'd had croquet on the lawn later.

The other completely extraordinarily inspirational evening was the week before when I heard the British Paraorchestra performing at Bloomsbury Church.  This group of disabled musicians brought together by British conductor Charles Hazlewood are incredibly talented and those who are physically unable to hold instruments are able to communicate their music by the use of technological equipment.  As well as the incredible quality, diversity and different musical influences during the evening, there was definitely a feeling of something extra being experienced beyond the music.  Chatting to Tim Jones, who sang devotional Indian songs with a blind guitarist Adrian Lee, afterwards, we agreed that had there been more time it would have been interesting to involve the audience in some kind of vocal improvising.  The evening was a fundraising event to raise the money to provide Charlotte White, a 23 year old girl who suffered a head injury wich caused her to lose all movement in her body, to be able to use music technology to provide an outlet where she can be creative and regain control of her life.  Having been a music therapist for a time in my life, I can truly say that music can absolutely give people such opportunities.  See Charlotte's blog www.societydisablesus.blogspot.com for more information and I would urge anyone to donate to this hugely worthwhile cause.  For details of Paraorchestra's gigs see http://paraorchestra.com

Finally and really importantly the final Brocante of 2012 is approaching, and rather aptly on Bastille Day, 14th JULY, so come along and browse the exciting selection of antiques/vintage clothes and gardenalia.   Relax and sample the delights of the Alice Park Cafe too.  I tried to get Chris Garratt to bring his Petanque players to provide more of a French feel, as well as the Biddestone boules players.  Alas it seems that they are in demand elsewhere, but next year hope they will be a fixture.

Beccy Shelton-Agar will be joining us for this Brocante with her fabulously quirky textiles, clothes and Brocante finds.  As will be 'Pleasant Pastimes' and 'Just Seven Hats' with their quality vintage clothing and accessories. 'Magpie' will for the first time be joining us with their vintage clothing, jewellery and accessories.  Together with regulars selling decorative and antique furniture, retro collectables and gardenalia there should be something for everyone!