Apple Blossom Time!

A Very Happy Easter to you all! As well as adding lots of lovely vintage items to the website, we thought we would share some photos of the apple orchards which surround the hamlet. The orchards belong to Bulmers the cider makers. The sight and smell is wonderful and it's a delight to stroll down the avenues of trees.

The photo above reminds me of the pretty china by Royal Albert called 'Blossom Time'.

The photo below is looking towards the upper part of the hamlet. Our house is probably hidden somewhere amongst the trees!

The weather is wonderful this Easter so have a lovely time - we'll be back with more photos soon...

New Stock Arrived at Vintage Home!

Just a quick post to let you all know that we have added some wonderful stock to the website, there's the patchwork throw above and the prettiest prints of roses, including this beauty...

...this superb 1950s portrait...

...an exquisite antique tapestry and painted stool...

...and a gaily coloured handstitched bag.

New stock will continue to arrive in the coming days, including beautiful eiderdowns and sublimely pretty quilts. Please pop along when you have time and thank you to everyone who has made a purchase since our last update. Now that we are back to normal with the business we will be adding stock on a regular basis so there will be something for everyone! The work is continuing on the house and we promise to share some photos with you all soon. In the meantime, have a lovely weekend!

A Room With A View... and more Vintage Stock

Well, things have certainly moved on with the house and we thought it was time we shared some photos with you. These are definitely the 'before' photos in case you were wondering!

There has been an awful lot of work going on and despite these scary pictures, we are hoping to move in within a few weeks (honestly!)

Although the open and airy aspect is all the rage these days, we thought we would stick with tradition and re-lay the floor in the bedroom!

We have discovered the house dates to the mid 1600s and we have been busy uncovering its amazing wealth of features. The photos above show just a small amount of the work being carried out in the house; there has also been a flurry of activity in the barn too!

Along with completely re-wiring the house and replacing the plumbing, we also decided to have the many timbers in the house sandblasted. Boy, is that messy! Basically, if you remove the roof of your house and pour in a third of Weymouth beach, that is what the aftermath is like. But the result was worth it and now the many, beautiful oak timbers are soft and mellow, having been stripped of their black paint. We also made an interesting discovery; tucked inside one of the large peg holes in a wall timber was a handwritten 'article of agreement' from 1769 detailing the renting of land between two people, one of whom presumably lived in the house at that time, so we will do some research on the names when we are settled. I love the last line which refers to the signing and reads: 'Here unto we have set our hands this 2nd day of February 1769.' So exciting to have a link to someone who lived there so long ago.


Well, it hasn't all been dust and debris, we have been out and about finding some vintage treasure for the website. Here is a selection of some recent Spring arrivals for the shop, such as the delightful daffodil tray above. There are some gorgeous rosy paintings, Springtime paintings and rosy blankets; plus a rare set of nursery scales; perfect for a very special Springtime arrival! These and more vintage items have been added in recent days and there will be more arriving in the shop in the next day or so. So if you have time, do pop along!






I am off to dream about a clean house filled with beautiful vintage treasures; see you soon, hopefully with less scary house photos next time!

Snowbells and Stone Staircases...

Well, we thought it was time we shared a few photos of our new home with you. This sea of snowdrops (or snowbells, as they are called here in Herefordshire) was just one of the wonderful suprises which welcomed us on the day we completed on our new home. They cover the top part of the garden which is a small and secluded woodland area. We are hopeful that Spring may bring bluebells - we can hardly wait to find out!

We have a lot of work to do at the house and with the builders due to start work in a day or so, Mike has made his own inroad into the renovation work; and made some interesting discoveries. We believe the house dates to the mid 1700s, it is rich with original features including a flagstone floor, a winding stone staircase, wooden floors and doors, heavily timbered walls and wattle and daub (apparently made from chestnut wood, something which was particular to Herefordshire.)


Mike has removed the 50s tiled fireplace in the dining room and revealed large old timbers in the wall which we will make a feature of. Fortunately, the previous owners who had lived there since the 1950s didn't do much in the way of modernising the house so thankfully it has retained a great deal of character - including a stone plinth set into the hall which we understand is a pig salting block! There is a tumbledown stone pigsty in the garden too.

Although it hasn't been modernised, it does lack certain comforts and requires a good deal of TLC to bring out the wonderful old features. One of the first tasks is to install a Rayburn and radiators so we can be nice and cosy! It will take us some time to fully restore the house and outbuildings, indeed it will be a labour of love. But we are looking forward to it and will keep you informed of our trials and tribulations! The hamlet in which we now live is beautiful and very friendly, we are sure we will be perfectly happy here. For the time being, we are dividing our time between Oxfordshire and Herefordshire but as soon as the necessary work is done in the next few weeks, we will move in permanently, along with Dennis our cat! It is business as usual at Vintage Home and in the coming weeks, we shall turn our attentions to updating the website on a regular basis again.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day and we'll be back soon with more photos!

New Year, New Home for Vintage Home!

After many years we've outgrown our lovely little cottage here in Oxfordshire and we're on the move to a wonderful old house in rural Herefordshire complete with barn, outbuildings and a big, rambling garden from which to take Vintage Home onto bigger and even better things!

There's so much to do - and we're nearly packed...but...we have so many beautiful things that Big Ron the Removal Man says there simply isn't enough room for them all in the removal van...

...so we're having a ONE-OFF SALE! at the Vintage Home online store. As you know, we don't do sales - except this one - and it's absolute madness with UP TO 40% OFF selected items across the entire store. The more you buy the more you save (and the less we'll have to pack!) But DO HURRY - Ron, bless him, is not a patient man!

Ron's very passionate about removals - best not to trifle with his emotions!

Lovely as our new home will be - our arrival there coincides with that of the builders who'll be spending at least a couple of months making it into a cosy Vintage Home! This is bound to have an impact on everyday life and business - and could mean that orders may not be sent out as quickly as usual whilst we endeavour to juggle everything! We hope you will be patient and we'll aim to have orders packed and posted as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, look for Ron in store to see what's on offer...happy shopping!

Merry Christmas Everybody!

A special thank you to everyone for your custom and lovely messages throughout the year. We hope you have a truly wonderful time this Christmas!

See you all soon! Clare & Mike.

A Vintage Winter Wonderland!

With the weather turning much colder this week, and the promise of snow, there was never a better time to cosy up indoors and gaze out upon a wintry landscape; just like the charming pussy cat above. There are plenty of good reasons to stay indoors too, because we have just updated the Vintage Home online shop with a veritable array of vintage treasures. Here is a selection of some of those lovelies which are gracing the shelves of the shop right now - there is something for everyone!

A pretty 1940s watercolour...

A stunning Victorian table adorned with handpainted flower baskets...

Eye-catching fabrics...

Exquisite roses handpainted onto satin...

A 1940s chandelier...

Step into this very special garden...

The prettiest fabric covered storage...

A beautiful lady - star of the silver screen perhaps?

There are many, many more delights in the shop and plenty more to come leading up to Christmas!

To get us all nicely into the festive spirit we our launching Christmas Prize Draw today. Three lucky people will each win a luxurious, seasonal box of scrumptious chocolates from 'Hotel Chocolat' the prestigious purveyor of very fine chocolate.

The chocolates are filled with mouthwatering tastes such as cinnamon praline and mulled wine; yum, simply divine! Visit the website to find out how to enter.

We'll be back soon with the prize draw results - in the meantime, stay warm and cosy!

Christmas Comes Early to Vintage Home!

We are thrilled to announce that the December issue of Period Living magazine is out now and includes a feauture on our cottage; we hope you enjoy it!

We have also been very busy updating the website with lots of super vintage treasures including some fabulous 1940s dress fabric...

...as well as iconic British and French textiles from the 1950s.


See you all again soon for news of our Christmas Prize Draw...

The North Wind Doth Blow...

...and we shall have snow. No, we're not predicting the weather now (we'll leave that to the Met Office, although they don't always get it right do they?!) but there has definitely been a chill in the wind this week. This coincides with our rather timely acquisition of a dozen or more of the most gorgeous, the most cuddly, the most adorable and the prettiest eiderdowns, available now at the Vintage Home online shop.

These feather-filled quilts add much to a vintage style bedroom and display beautifully all year round but this is the time of year when they really come into their own, keeping you snuggly and warm as well as looking super rolled up in an armoire or folded upon a favourite chair.

We are thrilled to have found some of the prettiest and plumpest vintage eiderdowns and thought we would share some of their loveliness with you.





The website has been updated with these wonderful quilts and lots of other too-good-to-miss vintage treasures, so pop along when you have time.

A colourful heart-shaped cushion...

...a 1940s rosy rug...

...a 1950s rosy chair...

...magnificent Barbola plaque.

As well as our super vintage goodies, we have lots of exciting news to share with you - our dainty polka dot and rosebud mouse mat is featured by Cosmopolitan magazine this month - luckily we had just replenished stocks before the November issue was on sale! This month's issue is 'well stocked' with images of semi-clad men so it was a complete surprise that anyone noticed our dainty little mouse mat!!

This is really exciting; the current Period Living magazine shows a tiny sneak preview of our forthcoming Christmas cottage feature to be shown in their December issue! It was icy cold and snowing when Gail and Mark visited us in the depths of Winter. It was a super day and we had great fun but it seems so long ago now!

We will be announcing our special Christmas prize draw at the end of this month, so please check back when you can or join the website's mailing list to receive the Vintage Home eNewsletter.

Phew, well I think that's more than enough eye candy (and that includes the hunky men in Cosmo!) and news for one blog post - see you all again soon!

PS. Almost forgot! Look out for tonight's episode of Five TV's Cowboy Builders - with a bit of luck you'll catch a glimpse of the crochet bed throw the production team bought from our shop! We don't expect to get a mention but at least we'll be able to say 'as seen on TV!'