Sunday 29 August 2010

Cotswold Vintage Fair

Had a lovely 'girls' day yesterday at the Cotswold Vintage Fair in Toddington, me, my Mum and sister took a little road trip over the border into Gloucestershire to see what goodies we could pick up.  I was able to leave the kidlets at home too for some uninterruptable 'me' time, which after this week I really needed!

So this is a new fair with only a few sellers I had heard of before so it was nice to see different people's take on vintage and handmade.  The venue was Toddington village hall, which was easy to get to and a lovely airy space, the rural smell was a bit pungent though!  Everyone's stalls were beautifully laid out I really enjoyed just looking, as always there was so much to see and take in, but I think the sellers had their layouts right, just the right amount of wares visible, with a small amount of rummaging needed for fabric etc.


There was a lovely spread of tea & cakes, the cappuccino cake was delectable!
There were lots of china and country style pieces, lots of pinkness, which I have to confess I'm not in to, I really liked the vintage kitchen utensils though, this was something a bit diferent.  There wasn't enough fabric/vintage sewing supplies that I'm looking for at the moment for my liking but I did pick up some bits for the girls, two French dresses and a felt bunny to be used for the tooth fairy, which actually came in handy, for when I returned home, the eldest had lost another tooth!  I was pleased to see that the pouch on the rabbit is quite modest, just right for a £1 coin, not like some children that I have heard of that are getting £2 or £5 per tooth!!  Try and explain how that happens to your 6 year old!  I tried saying that we must get a different fairy in our street!

My favourite stalls were by Lucy Bloom and Textile Treasure seeker, beautifully laid out and with fabrics, notions and vintage pieces to my taste.

So not wanting to go home just yet, we continued our road trip by going into nearby Winchcombe, which turned out to be a lovely village with lovely village shops, not like Stow-on-the-Wold or Bourton-on-the-Water which are just over-run with tourists with no real shops.

So if you're in a Cotswold village, what do you do for lunch?  A tea-room that's right!
We chose 'Lady Jane Grey's' which was very nice, good service, I had a wonderful old-fashioned warm scone and tea.


Then as we meandered back up the street we spied a local Sue Ryder charity shop!  I love visiting other towns charity shops, the type of items always differs slightly.  Think I got more here than in Toddington!  Nothing vintage just things for the girls and yet another picture frame for my new 'picture display'on our stairs.


Then around the corner on North Street we stumbled upon  '50-0-50', which was like a junk shop and I fell in love with lots of vintage dresses on racks at the back!  The colours, the styles, I wish I could pull off wearing things like this!










We had a walk to see if we could see Sudeley Castle, but it's a long walk from the town and you couldn't even get a glimpse of the building without paying to get in, which we didn't want to do as see didn't have long left on the free parking in town.  Looks like a good place for a future visit though, the kids would enjoy the adventure fort.



So last stop on the way home, Broadway and up to Broadway tower and it was worth it, wow the view!  The sun was shining over the horizon and the sky seemed to be all over, it was like standing on the top of the world.

Going somewhere new was a real tonic and I shall have to try and do it again!  Where next in the Cotswolds?!

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