Country Living Spring Fair

As it was Mother's Day recently I decided to treat my mum to a day out to the Country Living Spring Fair at The Business Design Centre in Islington (about 2 minutes walk from Albert's front door!)

Having been to the Christmas fair last year I was very excited to see what the Spring one would be like, if there would be different sellers and hopefully lots of pretty pastel spring goodies to buy!

The Design Centre does not disappoint, it is a beautiful building with a gorgeous roof, decorated oh so prettily by the Country Living team.

Starting out on the lower level we found some beautiful shabby chic/vintage stalls selling the most gorgeous things. Mum has been inspired to paint some old wooden furniture indoors after a visit to the Caroline Zoob stall (which was one of my favourites, but too expensive to buy from!)

Although there are a lot of stalls there are quite a few which are not really to my taste, so I focused on the  pretty handmade vintage ones and snapped some photos too. I loved the stalls packed with little details, rather than the bare modern displays of some. This one below was really lovely.

The staircase was planted with real spring flowers - daffodils and pansies which looked so pretty! 

Note to self, buy more flowers!

This is looking down from the main level onto the lower level. It was very busy down there so we moved upstairs to have a mooch about.

I really loved these, cupcake bath bombs which looked so realistic that everyone was going over to have a closer look! They smelled amazing too, but for me sadly, things which are too pretty wont get used and will just collect dust on the side of the bath!

Look how cute!

I loved the styling on this stall. All vintage kitchen units and utility china. I want my kitchen to look as nice as this one day! Mum and I oohed and ahhed over the yellow Woods Ware china but decided to leave it behind as we have some cups and saucers already.

Its a lovely day out, and as you can see there are sooo many things to look at! This is taken on the upper level looking down onto the main level. Sooo many booths!

So we had a fab day, the weather was amazing and we found some lovely goodies too!

On the way back to the train station we walked through Camden Passage (which I love, and drag Albert down every weekend!) and I spotted this great display of Woods Ware china in one of the vintage fashion shops. I had to take a quick snap!

I also love walking past this place, its sooo quaint and pretty and has that lovely vintage look to it. I must pop in for a milkshake one sunny weekend.

So, what did I buy, well I bought china!

I spotted the Grindley peach teapot up high on a display and made the man take it down for me to have a look at! Its perfect condition and oh so sweet for a pot of tea for one!

I also bought (from this lovely stall: Simply Vintage Designs) two green jugs - the large one is very pale green with a lovely gilded floral pattern and the little one is actually a candle!

My mum did indeed find some Woods Ware goodies, but from the same stall as me and for a much cheaper price than we had seen earlier. She also bought a sugar bowl candle which is very pretty.

Here is my little teapot - I am in love ♥

I love collecting things for my future home and I have a very clear image of what I like and what I'll buy. I am hugely inspired by all the blogs I read, in particular though the Kitschen Pink blog and her stunning kitchen and I love trawling through Vintage Heaven and Curlew Country for amazing inspiration. Their vintage homes are so welcoming and homely!

Now shall I burn the candle in the jug or save it for a later date?

What would you do?

Lastly I wanted to show my new bag that I bought from eBay, the pink colour is perfect for Spring and big enough to lug all my crap around with me!

What do you think of my goodies?

x

A Very Exciting Meet Up!

I had such a lovely time this Sunday meeting up with three lovely bloggers in London we went for Afternoon Tea at Soho's Secret Tearoom. Funnily enough I didn't feel nervous at all leading up to the meeting time. I was just excited and looking forward to visiting the tearoom!

I'm in the pink top and I met with Gemma P from Gem's Country Life Dream, Juli from Pretty Little Jewels and Gemma D from Musings of a Gem.

All of the girls were lovely and we got on so well, we are all similar ages and have similar taste, and three of us also share the same name!

The Tearoom was lovely - very 'secret' as you have to go through the pub and up a secret stairway to get to the Tearoom, but it was very sweet and felt authentically old fashioned too.

Juli and Gemma D :)

My afternoon tea - yes all of this was for me!

It was sooo lovely.

I had to take my cupcake home as I couldn't possibly finish it all. 

(sadly it got smushed on the bus ride home!)

Me and Gemma P :)

Juli and Me :)

After lunch we found this little park to take some photos....

Gemma P and Gemma D :)

It was such a lovely day too, we were very lucky with the weather.

Gemma D and Me :)

Juli and Gemma P :)

All of us in the park.

I had such a lovely day and we are definitely going to all meet up again, I am so pleased that we organised this as we had so much in common and got on so well.

Thanks Ladies for a great meet up!

P.S: you will probably read a post very similar to this on each of the other blogs I linked to very soon! 

So do go and have a look!

xx

Norfolk Part Two

During our weekend in Norfolk we visited Sheringham Station which is a replica of the old station that used steam trains, and which has been kept looking absolutely lovely and old fashioned, as you can see.

During the summer old fashioned trains run through here which take you off to other lovely old fashioned stations!

It has the same feel I imagine it would have originally had, and uses some great old props and posters to give it that vintage feel. I loved the suitcases piled up and the tin signs too!

The detailing is wonderful and the old fashioned advertising is so interesting to read!

Although it was a quiet afternoon and no trains were running I just loved having a look around, taking in all the features and admiring the details.

The station was probably one of the highlights for me, along with the beach. Everything feels so relaxed and laid back in Norfolk, that its nice to just sit for a while and admire your scenery!

After a walk around the station we headed to Holt and to have lunch at Byfords, in Holt, which had been recommended to us by the owner of the cottage. It was such a pretty building and the food was great - service; not so great!

While in Norfolk I made a few little purchases such as these postcards, I'm still mad for the Keep Calm stuff, and I've pinned these up in my room, they put me in a good mood - especially the 'be optomistic' one!

In one of the little charity shops I found two Johnsons Bros greydawn bowls for a pound each, and a retro sugar shaker for £1.50. I didn't find anything else in the charity shops which was a bit of a disappointment as its been slim pickings in the ones back at home lately!

Albert and I are going to Paris in May for our 6 year anniversary and we have been decorating the bedroom this week and bought some prints to put up. We found ourselves really drawn to these beautiful sheets of wrapping paper, this one shows an old map of Paris. So we bought it, and plan to frame it and put it up in the bedroom along with colourful retro prints of London and New York (where we have also been together). 

This sheet of wrapping is really colourful and has some really interesting Paris typography. Just need a trip to Ikea to buy frames now and get hanging the artwork!

Lastly, we bought this print of Sheringham as I LOVE old fashioned railway posters. I bought one last time I was in Norfolk and really wanted a Sheringham one too, to add to our wall.

Our colour theme is reds and turquoise so this should fit in just right! I can't wait to get them all up on the wall now and show you! We also have our vintage bevelled mirrors to hang too, and possibly some furniture to paint - fun stuff!

Back soon!

xg

A Long Weekend In Norfolk

I wanted to blog about my little trip with Albert up to Norfolk the other weekend. I booked the Friday, Monday and Tuesday off work so we had an amazing long weekend and the weather was pretty good too! We stayed in the gorgeous Coopers Retreat in Sheringham, where we have been lucky enough to stay before. Its a lovely house in a great location and its very pretty too!

The house has a lovely beachy feel and the front is so welcoming, from the little signs to the pretty turquoise bench, its all just perfect for a little stay.

I loved the kitchen, its so colourful and very well equipped too. We cooked for ourselves indoors a few nights and went out for dinner a few nights which was a nice mix. Plus the obligatory fish and chips at the beach - well, you have to!

Personally I enjoyed looking at all the stuff on the shelves - love a bit of shelf display!!

One particularly chilly evening we sat up on a cosy sofa with a cup of tea and snuggled up to watch some films...

Then I dug into the extensive stash of Mollie Makes, left for me to read by the lovely owner. Yes, they are lovely, but reading through them all completely decided it for me: they are just toooo expensive!

So we spent some time indoors just relaxing, watching films, cooking and enjoying time together. We also went to the beaches, despite the chill in the air!

Sheringham beach - by far the nicest beach in the area, would be lovely on a sunny summers day :)

On route to Wells-next-the-Sea

Wells harbour where we indulged in our fish and chips!

Watching the birds and admiring the boats...

The lovely pier at Cromer, which, sadly was rather disappointing! I do not recommend a visit to Cromer!

More to follow tomorrow

xxx