Ardingly Antiques and Collectors Fair

 This week I managed to get to the Ardingly Antiques Fair to sell on my stand. It really was a case of "Third time lucky" as in previous years my attempts to get there in January were thwarted by the weather and other disasters.
Despite the miserable grey and windy weather the customers came and were enthusiastic on the first day...
Rosie and I had similar ideas about the theme of our stands despite the inclement conditions. I had 40's beach shoes, shell necklaces and a 50's beach bag decorated with painted shells, while Rosie had this beautiful oil painting from France on her stall.

 Maud, however had a different approach to selling. She allowed her customers to delve headfirst into her van of sumptuous textiles! The weather was so windy and unpleasant that neither she or Rosie actually unpacked all the stock from their vans. They had also both got seriously stuck in the thick mud even before it was daylight.

I am afraid to say that after one day of  trying to trade in these conditions, we all decided to pack up at the end of the first day. The buffeting wind was threatening to blow the marquee away, and none of us were confident about leaving the stock there overnight and risking a second day of driving rain and more wind. BIG APOLOGIES to any of our customers who braved the elements to visit the  fair on the 2nd day..... we will return to Ardingly on Tuesday March 1st and Wednesday the 2nd hoping for kinder weather!

Having a bad day? Try mine!

Back in August when I started this blog I promised "rural ramblings" - well, you almost got a rural rant at 4.30 this morning! The weathermen predicted "severe weather" and temperatures as low as minus 10. However they forgot to mention the Chance of the old handbrake freezing up.
Yes, imagine the scene in the pitch black at 4 am as we are trying to attempt to drive halfway across Southern England to the Ardingly showground in East Sussex.... there was me crouched on the floor with a hairdryer in hand trying to defrost the back wheels of the trusty Peugeot 807.
After 40 minutes with heater and hairdryer, we were on our way..... only to reach the motorway which was closed! Next thing we know we are driving in totally the wrong direction asking ourselves if somebody somewhere was trying to tell us something....
We then made the awful decision to turn back and head for home. As anyone knows who has ever been in the Antiques trade, it is a real tough one as the stall is pre-paid and after weeks of inertia due to the Christmas "holidays" (as it now seems to be known as in this country).... we really needed to be out there selling today.
So, have just finished unpacking the car and stomping around the house and think a calming trip to the local pub might be in order?

PS I meant to add that the photo was taken at 10 am this morning when we had to go through the whole sketch again as the handbrake froze again..... and we needed to go out to collect the cats from their luxury "hotel" (aka the cattery) where they were booked in for 2 nights as we usually do 2 days at the Ardingly fair!