Hard Slog, Hollyhocks and Vintage Stock

We have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather this week and attending to some essential exterior maintenance on the house. We are busy painting windows and carrying out repairs so that we will be waterproof and who knows, possibly even draught-free come the winter months (and come they will!)

The house is unusual because its appearance is different on all four sides. The front of the house has 100 year old render and every window in the house is at least 100 years old too. We were thrilled to receive visits from an elderly couple recently. The gentleman lived in our house in the 1930s when he was a very young man, and his family continued to live here until the early 1950s. They gave us photos of their family and friends taken outside the house and these show the very same windows and exterior finish which exists today, including the stone walls which surround the house and garden. The couple are in their late 90s and have wonderful memories of the village and the house. Indeed, they first met at the end of our drive and within weeks were engaged to be married. The gentleman recounted a very poignant tale of that unforgettable day in 1939 when he was descending the stone staircase and heard the wireless announce that Britain was at war with Germany. We heard how the villagers would walk up the hill with their yokes to fetch water, and how cider was made in our little barn. The wooden porch at the front of the house served as the village Post Office in the early part of the 20th century and one of the photos they brought us was taken in the 1920s and shows the Post Office sign above the door. We are really looking forward to their next visit and hearing more of their stories.

We have also been meeting with other villagers who spent many years restoring their own houses. Their own stories and words of encouragement have proved essential to spur us on when we are flagging in energy, time and funds!

One legacy we have from the people who lived in the house before us is the amazing planting in the garden. The house was empty for a while before we bought it but the wonderful variety of plants are making themselves known, popping up amongst the weeds and grass to give us a wonderful display. One example are these hollyhocks in front of the house, aren't they a beautiful colour?


We have many varieties of roses and shrubs, and an everlasting sweet pea which is abundant. A dessert gooseberry bush has kept us in puddings for weeks and we have a very tasty loganberries! Our grapevines are doing well too. They grow mainly on a south facing slope so we are toying with the idea of looking into wine production!!

So, despite the rubble, dust, debris, draughts and humungous spiders, with every passing week we are making a difference to our new home and are very happy to be living here. So, on that note, just to say we have added a few items to the website and have lots more stock coming soon, please pop by when you have the time and if you are passing through this beautiful part of the country do stop by to say hello and if you happen to have a paintbrush on you, well, you will be made very, very welcome indeed!

Vintage Finds and News from Vintage Home!

Just to let you know we have added new stock to the website today. Also, we have been busy arranging to send some of our gorgeous vintage stock to Kirstie Allsopp for the filming of her new Channel 4 series; yes, it certainly is all go here! We've also managed to find time to complete the renovation of our dining room; that's two rooms finished and looking all the better for being dressed in vintage textiles, furniture and paintings. We still have the rest of the house (both inside and out!) and the garden to transform; phew! We should be done in about three years or so...

We hope you like the new stock, the Barbola mirror above is a nice large wall size and the pretty country kitchen wall shelves below are simply gorgeous, perfect for displaying your favourite china.

This quirky yet pretty barkcloth is a rare find...

These fresh and exceptionally pretty rose tree curtains are truly scrumptious!

They complement this richly painted bookcase.

There are more textiles, spotty china and pretty vanity accessories too, so pop along when you have the time.

We will be back again soon with news and photos!

News and New Arrivals at the Vintage Home Shop!

Here is a selection of the most recent arrivals to grace the Vintage Home Online Shop. Above is a wonderful 1930s oil painting of two young children; it is totally charming! Below is a 1919 print of a beautiful young lady. The artist W J Howie was renowned for painting pretty ladies and his work was also reproduced on postcards.

We are also thrilled to bring you this pair of extremely rare Victorian religious prints. These are the work of Catherine Klein, one of the world's most celebrated floral artists. Her work was widely reproduced on postcards and in Victorian gift books, and occasionally, original prints such as these can be found. If you visit our News Page you can read all about a particularly special Klein...

As well as prints and paintings there are some pretty yet practical items for the home such as this impressive china jug - it's a real beauty with its gorgeous rosy blooms...

...and this Barbola mirror is framed with exquisite roses.

We're not only tempting you with these and many more antique and vintage treasures, we have also introduced a maximum £10 p&p charge within the UK During June; order as many items as you like and you only pay £10 to have them delivered to your door! Plus, from today, anyone who joins our mailing list will receive 10% off their first order. With lots of vintage stock to be added in the coming weeks there will be plenty of choice for everyone - we do hope you can pop in for a browse...

Where is Harrison Ford when you need him?

If you've seen the film 'Witness' then you'll know what I mean by the title of this post! Firstly, no, that isn't our house after the recent wind and rainstorms, it's The Cider Barn which has been neglected for decades and is Mike's project for the warmer - and drier - days throughout Summer. (Note the positive use of the words warmer and drier, we WILL have a good Summer this year, won't we..?)

Of course, if we had all the 'menfolk' from the village helping us to 'raise the barn' then it would be re-built in no time; maybe I should start making sandwiches and lemonade and set up the trestle tables... We had considered taking the barn down and putting something else up in its place but then we had a visit from a charming couple in their late 90s. The husband lived in our house in the 1930s and told us so many interesting stories, including how this was called the Cider Barn and in its heyday, gallons of cider were produced in this small barn.

We knew then that we had to rescue it. Mike has stripped the pan tiles from the roof and will be relaying them once he has replaced most of the smaller wood batons - fortunately the oak timbers are good and solid. There will be some re-building of the timber clad side and front, and a new window. Then there's the floor to dig out and re-lay. We found some painted cobbles in the soil but we will need to lay a more practical floor as we intend to use the barn when it's finished.

Oh look, here comes someone to lend a hand...

Perhaps not, don't think he's going to be helping today, especially when there's so much for a cat to explore...

Back again soon with news of the website...

From Dreary to Dreamy...A Bedroom Transformation

So many of you have asked to see photos of our new home so I thought I would share these with you. Our house is full of feature and needed lots of work to bring out the best of those features.
Here is the master bedroom, once very different as you can see by the 'before' pictures, but now it is light and airy with its timbers stripped of black paint, the fresh, white walls and a soft painted floor. I have mixed in some of the before photos so you can see just what a challenge we had!





We have carried out more detective work and now understand the house to be almost 400 years old. Such wonderful history lies within it - but also a great deal of work! There's still plenty to do so between the house and the website, we are never short of something to do! We have some surprises planned for you regarding the Vintage Home Website and will be announcing these soon, in the meantime, we hope you enjoy the photos.

If you go down to the woods today...

Although we are keeping busy with the website and the major task of renovating the house, we are also enjoying our amazing garden.

We are lucky enough to have a huge garden which has a secluded woodland area and as you can see, our cat Dennis loves exploring it.

The garden is full of woodland plants including masses of aquilega in every shade of pink...

...and purple.



It's a very relaxing place, nice and shady on a hot day.

If you enlarge the photo above you can see the cow parsley which is as high as my shoulder in places!

Oh, hang on, who's this? Why it's Dennis again, our very own intrepid explorer!

Oh dear, I think we've blown his cover!

I wonder what he has heard, maybe the chirp of a bird - or perhaps the shaking of the crunchies!

We won't be doing much to the garden this year but we will be taking time to appreciate it, especially when the days are sunny and warm. I am currently uncovering old grapevines which we thought were long dead but they are starting to flourish. Who knows, maybe we'll be making some 'Vintage Home' wine in the future! I also discovered a gooseberry bush which is doing really well and we have several damson trees; it's been suggested we make some damson gin later in the year!

See you all soon with more photos and news of the website..

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!