I just found this wonderful vintage, bone china tea set which looks great teamed with some 1960s green Poole pottery that I had hanging around at home – can’t wait to fill with them up with candles! They conjure up images of country cottage gardens, bunting, cream teas and steaming hot cups of Earl Grey tea don’t you think? Nobody does tea like the English, it’s a shame that the number of sunny days is now on the decline….
lovely Lucy....
………and my pal, lovely Lucy, is coming to stay in a couple of weeks. Having lost touch after years spent in each others pockets, clubbing (and other stuff which I won’t go into) we were sat on the same table at my friend Nikki’s wedding in July and you would never have known that we hadn’t seen each other for 20 years! Both still exactly the same, we chattered away for hours and have been catching up via email ever since. She’ll be driving down the M4 next Friday and I can’t wait…I love it when things like that happen!
Six days to go until the Craft Hub Falling Leaves Fair and I have finally got my stock back up after a busy 2 days at The Exeter Cathedral Fair in July. Hours spent scouring charity shops and hunched over my laptop on ebay have paid off and I’ve been having lots of fun filling everything up with gorgeous autumnal scents!
We had the in-laws down at the weekend and a lazy time was had by all as we lounged around in the sun, walked along Meadfoot beach and had drinks on the terrace of The Osborne Hotel whilst gazing at the beautiful view. The view wasn’t quite so good the following day as we lunched outside Pizza Express in Torquay, but we were lucky enough to have good company, tasty food and scorching sunshine (not to mention a chilled glass of wine…..) so we weren’t complaining!
Grandad Roy at The Osborne Hotel
The Osborne Hotel, Torquay
I just met my lovely friend Tracy, who runs My Sister Mabel, for a coffee & a natter in Shaldon. Having off-loaded about cat fleas, my teenage daughter and her nutty friend & the cost of living we then moved on to candles, Christmas fairs, her autumn/winter range, new bag design and boring cat……….high on caffeine, I have forgotten my 5.30am wake up call and my day seems so much brighter now!
Got this gorgeous 1920s tea set from the Antiques Centre on the quay at Topsham. It has been perfectly preserved and I’m guessing, locked away in a cabinet for 90 odd years! Check out that handle, they don’t make ’em like this any more! And so much more fun with a candle in…….
finally today, under mounting pressure, I have created a facebook business page. I know little, well…nothing, about all this facebook stuff so you’ll have to bear with me (bear with, bear with…) as I get sorted! My friend Kat tells me that I need to get down with modern technology if I want to sell more candles & furniture and facebook is the way ahead… (hello Kat, are you awake yet?)
funny sofa from Holly's vintage sale made from old hospital bed
Christmas candles...
Just outside Exeter there is a gorgeous 18th century house, previously owned by the Acland family. It is now part of The National Trust. We took the kids there for a day out (as it was free entry on Sunday) and were surprised to find a little thatched hut in the garden which had been used to house their pet bear! The floor is made from deer knuckle bones – nice touch! And they still have one of the last surviving ice houses as well as a huge laundry, preserved just as it would have been with the coppers still in tact and the huge drying racks… amazing! We had a typically English picnic in the rain, stocked up on cider (produced on site) stuffed our faces with ice cream and headed home.
I’ve had a busy week on the furniture front and finally finished four of my favourite 1960s kitchen chairs for a customer in Lincolnshire which, along with a table, were collected by a fantastic courier I’ve found called Terry (collectitdeliverit@fsmail.net) and driven up there. She will be receiving them tonight… hope she likes them!?? Then a lovely lady called Holly, who runs her own recruitment agency in Exeter (www.parentandchildnannies.co.uk) came over yesterday morning and bought the dining table with olive green legs. Consequently I am now down a desk in my studio but I’m glad it’s gone to a good home and they seemed happy to have found something that had been “up-cycled” that suited their requirements rather than having to buy new. Another success for the recycling ethos at peagreen!
I have been stocking up on my new range of Christmas candles and have discovered some great scents like Amaretto Nog, Spiced Nutmeg, Cinnamon Cake and Mulberry… the house has been smelling prematurely festive! Interior designer Holly Keeling has asked me to take some candles to her Christmas vintage fair, which will be held on December the 7th and 8th (www.hollykeeling.co.uk). She gets hold of some really unusual vintage furniture and I came back with a little sofa for my kitchen from her last sale, made out of an old hospital bed. Well worth a visit if you are local……..
You spend weeks waiting for summer to start, then you realise it’s finished!
YAY – kids go back today and smugly I sit at my laptop, coffee in hand, with the lunches made and the washing machine spinning. I have already packed one off on the early bus to Teignmouth (7.41am – aarghh) in an extremely tight, short skirt and how grown up I was as I skilfully managed to avoid having an argument with her about the insulated bag for her packed lunch, which has turned over the past 6 weeks into an object of embarrassment. Instead everything had to be squeezed into a plastic box (cool I’m told) and wedged into her new “handbag” (£24.99 from River Island – all her own money) into which nothing fits! Off she ran with her newly pierced ears sparkling in the sun and her straightened hair whipping around her face, oh to be 13….. My 10 year old on the other hand, much easier, a quick flower clip in the hair and that’s it, she’s ready. And I am the easiest of all, as I reach for the kettle I make an executive decision to stay in my PJ’s all day, maybe I’ll even pop back to bed………….
Whilst stuffing my face with pizza and slurping red wine last night, and while I should have been concentrating on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 which I was watching with my family, I noticed this glorious sunset and we all ran outside to capture its fleeting beauty………
storm clouds gather.....
YUK – this wet weather is so depressing! Having struggled to get through a miserable week camping in The Lizard with my partner, kids and next door neighbours, I return to rain, more rain, a little bit of sun & then more rain… great! It is beautiful down there though, and we got to visit some spectacular places around the Helford river and spend lots of valuable hours at “Roskillys” ice cream farm – every cloud….
Helford Creek
My birthday celebrations went without a hitch, the sun shone (amazing) and I got to relax on my deck with a few close friends, drinking, eating & chatting. It was very civilised in fact. No dancing around the kitchen to “Faithless” at full pelt, armed with a microphone (broom) and spilling red wine all over the floor. I suddenly realised that maybe I had “grown up” this sobering thought lasted a mere couple of weeks until I went to see ” the inbetweeners movie ” where I sat chuckling away like a 17-year-old, longing to go back to those days when you could blame your outrageous behaviour on the fact that you were a teenager and get away with just about anything! I do think that village life would be so much more fun with a few more Jays, Simons, Neils and Wills – come on, I know you’re out there….
Marazion
On the work front there isn’t much going on apart from restocking all my crates ready for the Autumn fair on October 9th in Topsham. I have just had an email about a Christmas Craft Market, due to take place in Shaldon on the 1st and 8th of December which sounds like a fantastic idea (details to follow) and The Craft Hub Christmas Fair will be on December 11th, also in Topsham. Devon Life are doing an article on The Craft Hub and I was asked to provide some “peagreen” information, which is exciting but I’m not sure which issue – November I imagine…? Anyway, I’m off to make some candles and wait patiently for some sunshine. The weather looks better tomorrow………
One day of sunshine at the St. Ives park and ride
boats at Cadgwith Cove