Friday 8 June 2007

A Vintage Gardeners Paradise

Garden lovers from all around gathered at this beautiful Country Estate today to visit a Garden Fair. Its a gorgeous place and is actually only up the road, a road runs through it and I regularly drive past and have even cycled all around the estate and walked through the forest.

For this gorgeous place is literally a stones through away.....if only I lived here:(
As we set off for the fair .... in our car.... well I might want to bring something big home with me:) .....my hubby started to metamorphose in to a moaning minnie.
It was quite clear from the top of our road that the que was in fact for the fair. Yes we could have walked there quicker, yes there are some impatient drivers and yes that man nearly caused an accident just there right in front of us..... grrrrrrr.
We eventually got in and parked and were greeted by the sound of these lovely men playing old time music in there striped jackets and bowlers.

There were some great displays, a mixture of garden plants, decorative items for the garden , crafts and a great food tent with many organic businesses plying there trade. I bought these luscious bunch of fresh garlic from the south of FranceLook at this fella, he would be great at the bottom of my garden.
There seemed to be a lot more vintage and antique garden tools and decorative items this year.I love these rusty old chairs, and there were some great tools around too.This is what I bought home with me. Firstly a large vintage french wired basket - really sturdy ( I loved this seller - he was from France and had loads of antique beauties for the house and garden.) I am going to make a slipcover for this and use it as a big bin in my work room.
I also bought another lovely basket which will house flowers, a lovely pie for lunch, a jar of organic pesto, and in this blue bag full of goodies. Yes there was a stall selling all manner of french haberdashery, I was in heaven and could not believe my luck, she had fabrics, ribbons, lace, millinery YES lots of it, and even vintage cotton reels, fabric boxes and vintage seed packets.
But aware that moaning minnie was close by I left the seed packets .... they would have been great for collage.....


The colour of these vintage velvet hat millinery is gorrrrrrrrgeoussssssss!
And look at this silk ribbon with the fluffy trim.

Parked in all its glory - an old Chevrolet, what a beauty!
and on this final note .....
HAPPY GARDENING FOLKS!

26 comments:

annasattic.co.uk said...

hi ginny,what a wonderful place to have near you,where is it!
everything you bought is really lovely,and that big basket is brilliant for making a lining for it,show us when you cover it,love the lampshade covers you made,best wishes ann.

Betty said...

That would have been so fun. I would have convinced the moaning ninnie that there were seeds in the packets. Love all of your wonderful finds!

OhSoVintage said...

I wish I'd known about this! Where was it? Anywhere near Hampshire? I love gardenalia and would definitely have been drawn to the Frenchman's stall to buy some old tools - I like your baskets. The haberdashery is so prety too. What is it about men and queueing in cars? - they all HATE it!

Yummers! said...

Oh, the Garden Fair looks like such fun!! I studied the photos and can find all kinds of things I'd like to buy. It's soooooo different from the so-called "fairs" we have here (Wisconsin). I'd love some of that lovely ribbon! I'm anxious to read more of your blog.
joni
jonipossin.blogspot.com

Clare and Mike said...

Hi Ginny,

How wonderful to have such a great fair on your doorstep and in such lovely surroundings. You bought some lovely things.

That Chevvy is a beauty!

I like your cartoon at the end - very funny!!

Have a lovely weekend,

Clare x

MODERN COUNTRY said...

OH!!! What a lovely place to be! If i lived nearby i would have been the first who showed up!! :)
I just LOVE antiques, flowers, everything with gardens and i do visit fairs regularly. It gives me so much more than regular shopping. Every time i see lovely and unique stuff and i always bye more than i should, hehe..And i see that you also made some lovely buys, great!
I am so glad that you share your trips with us, and your photos!
I wish you also a great weekend :)
(tomorrow i am going to the local flea market!)Love from Aina ;)

Lallee said...

I would love to have been with you at that sale. Such wonderful treasures, and oh my what a view while you're shopping!

Ele at abitofpinkheaven said...

That would have been a dream to go there.Your big basket is awesome. What a great day!
Ele

Cape Cod Washashore said...

Ohhh! I want that rather scary looking little man-pixie! heehee Perhaps he'd scare away our coyotes! You've gotten yourself quite a wonderful stash of lovelies! I'll bet that garlic is divine!

Niki Fretwell said...

Woweee Ginny! To have all this almost on your doorstep - what luck! I love everything that you bought....can NEVER resist anything French!! The millinery and haberdashery is divine!
Glad that you had such a fun time - despite the stressful journey!
Niki x

Vintage to Victorian said...

Hi Ginny
Fabulous finds - wish I'd been there - I could have competed with you in the shopping stakes!
Sue x

Kari said...

Thanks for the comment on my album. Your inside pages are gorgeous. Love the old fashioned flowers. Let me know what you end up doing with it:):) Love this gardening post. GORGEOUS photos. What fun!!!!
Cheers
Kari

Ragged Roses said...

Oh I wish I'd have gone too! I think I would have bought exactly the same as you and would have smuggled home the seed packets (despite moaning minnie!) French stall sounds wonderful!!!
Kim x

Yummers! said...

Hi Ginny,

I really like the idea of "Swaps"!!
How do I get involved in one? Do you know of any that are about to begin and need another person?

Joni (Wisconsin)

Natasha Burns said...

Ginny it looks amazing!!!!!
Thanks for joining in the matchbox swap, yes of course you are welcome to join from the UK!!! The standard matchboxes in Australia are about 5cm x 3.5 x 1.5cm so something similar to that would be great and would keep the postage price down for you.
CHeers,
Natasha : )

Anonymous said...

Hi ginny! What a great bunch of goodies! I need to go to Europe soon ;-)
jen
www.jenduncan.typepad.com

Joanna said...

I had thought about emailing you and telling you about my tickets for the show, but thought oh no you won't want to go. I would of loved to of met you. I'm rambling - I had a stand at the show. It looks like you had a lovely day, I will go back and read your post and see all the things I missed becuase I was stuck inside a hot tent.

Joanna said...

We got some of that garlic too and a little rabbit followed us home from the French people!

Anonymous said...

Hi Ginny, What a great day out! It looks like a lot of fun and you certainly came up with some great finds - the haberdashery items are lovely. I look forward to seeing what you create with them.

Marie x

PurpleFlowerFairy said...

thank you for your supportive comment... =) i wasn't trying to be offensive, i was simply stating the facts. i don't care if they were purple with yellow stripes and polka dotted, what they did was wrong and i was just describing what happened. i would have been just as upset had they been any other race or green or orange for that matter. thanks again, debbie

Ginny Gibson said...

That's alright Debbie, I just felt it was way out of line and needed to be addressed, before you woke up this morning and saw it.

The whole thing was bad enough without that.

I hope your son has recovered from his ordeal ...

Anonymous said...

I love that Ford truck! I want one to go junkin' in but painted pink or red. Love your blog.
Michelle A.

karlascottage.typepad.com said...

Do you have any idea how amazing that day seems to me, here in Kansas so far away? That looks like a vacation trip of a lifetime, such a wonderful place to visit!!!!!

FrenchGardenHouse said...

oh, Ginny! What great fun. Wish I was there. I love the garden fairs. Especially if they have French sellers, with antiques for the garden and/or french haberdashery! The flowers and that ribbon with the fluffies, divine!

Thanks for sharing the day and the "loot"!
wishing you a lovely week....
Lidy

Boxwood Cottage said...

What a beautiful mannor, yard and sale! Great finds you've got there too Ginny! Carol xox

ShabbyInTheCity said...

Ooo where was I when this event took place!? Oh. Here. Too bad, but I'm so glad you got to go!