Let's go to the Hop ....

Sunday and the day started quietly with an early morning breakfast amongst the dew laden flowers in the garden.. listening to the world waking up .. some of it at least.. as all the neighbouring houses still had tightly closed curtains.. some still hanging on to sleep.
I was getting restless... the adrenalin was beginning to kick in and by 10.a.m we were piling my usual array of 'vintage tat' into the boot of the car and making a short journey to Green Park Station in Bath to take up position at the vintage market .. part of the Bath Festival Fringe events.
Sitting at the traffic lights in town .. my thoughts turned to Jayne and whether she and Clare would find their way to the unfamiliar territory of Sainsbury's car park.. adjacent to Green Park Station. No sooner thought.. than Mr Custard pointed out that the car behind us was in fact.. Jayne's ... so we arrived in convoy! Clare had cleverly nabbed three market stalls together so in unison we set up our array of vintage merchandise and sat back and waited... and waited ....

The Three Amigos

It seemed to be rather a long wait before a slow trickle of people just happened to walk past our stalls en route to their Sunday shop at Sainsburys. Some folk were not so blinkered and turned their attention towards our displays.. some even bold enough to come over and take a closer look..

My collection reflected in the vintage clothes stall's mirror

Some were even bolder still and took a step further and bought a few items !! It did somewhat amuse me that every time I left my stall to take a look at the Lindy Hop dancers that were taking place at the other end of the market, I would return to find a small cluster of people around my table..


The British seem to have such inhibitions at times and my presence behind the stall was enough to scare off a most timid folk...

Clare's beautiful hats attracted a lot of interest

The music and dance was the silver lining to an otherwise long and tiring day .. and the friendly chat with my lovely neighbours Jayne and Clare.. and Jayne's daughter and man friend helped enormously to pass the time.
I think I will put this one down to experience, as it could have been so much better had the event been publicised more effectively as most of my visitors just happened to stumble across it..

Jayne's fine display

However, the music was infectious and I found myself swaying and gyrating to the strains of 40's melodies and standing on tiptoe to try and get more of a glance at the wonderful dancers.. some dressed in their finest vintage clothing... How I wished I had dressed more appropriately and worn something to fit the mood...



I found this couple fascinating.. and they turned out to be the finest dancers.. most agile and light of foot ..twisting and turning, swaying and twirling with such ease and style.. Sadly I did not get a photo of them dancing....

Others were just as graceful and agile and were obviously seasoned pros on the dance floor...
I felt mildly envious of their dancing prowess and made some vague promise to myself to try and learn a few dance steps so I might join in one day...

Just need a little bit of practice first... no.. make that a lot !!

Happy Hols...

Large sigh... end of another week..

A clutch of G.C.S.E's behind us..

Time to relax in the garden .. or take the dog for a walk..

If we had one!

Maybe it's time to tackle the jungle ..
Or I could just spend the week languishing in the sun and catching up with some reading ..

(Tell us about your favourite read in Milly & Dottie's Jolly Good Read competition..see our blog)

There is a Vintage Market to attend first..

Click on image for more details

So whatever your weekend and half term hols , holds for you.. hope it is a lot of fun!

Lazy Hazy Crazy days of Summer..

Well the mercury certainly popped this weekend...
Sitting on our terrace.. cooking.. not only ourselves but a fishy BBQ feast.. I looked up at the blue blue skies and said .. 'This is just like the Med" ... pause .. "without the sea of course" ... pause .. "and the inflated prices".. Better than the Med.. on our doorstep !


Our lunch was also much appreciated by Mr Pickles.. Never one to miss an opportunity..


It was a perfect weekend.. with just the right mix of attractions and distractions..
Promising ourselves we would return to Hanham Court gardens, last visited in April, we couldn't have chosen a better day.. The house was dripping with this magnificent Wisteria.. not seen on our previous visit ..


I wouldn't relish the thought of pruning this!

Hanham gardens are a sublime mix of formal borders ...


With beautiful blousy Peonies ..


Sitting alongside an idyllic meadow of wild flowers ...

April 2010 Taken on our previous visit

I am not sure which I love the most.. they both blend so well and sit so comfortably together..

Fountains ...
To ferns ...


Cow Parsley ...

To caravans..


.... and a shy retiring Mr Custard..

Today promises to be another sizzler.. and I will do my best to soak some of it up.. before Metcheck's prediction of cooler, cloudier weather arrives tomorrow.. Boooooo!

I do hope you all had a jolly weekend xx

Therapy..

The garden is the perfect place to lose oneself, to bury your worries and woes, to sit and be at peace under the canopy of trees, with the melodious choir of songbirds, to stop and reflect and restore..


To talk to the frogs...

To smell the flowers ..


To say goodbye to another day ..


To welcome another dawn and a new start...

Zzzzzzzz ....

Lazy like Monday morning....

Swallows & Amazon ..

Stepping out on my way to the post office today.. I was suddenly aware of swooping squadron of swallows.. shrieking with exuberance. Ahh.. I thought.. surely summer is on the way. I like to think that these courageous birds have arrived from their epic journeys from Africa.. to a warm welcome here in old Blighty.. but this year they were met by icy winds and a rather frosty reception. Poor little feathered friends.. they are always a joy to see and I love to watch their aeronautical displays from our lofty lounge window.. they fly so close and at such speed towards our house.. gathering tiny insects as they go.. and seeming to have much fun in their pursuits.. I half expect one to fly inside our house ..but their sophisticated power steering prevents any crashes or wrong turns.
With each passing day, the lure of the garden is growing stronger.. with the plants really going in to overdrive now to make up for lost time.. and though there is colour on my garden canvas.. there is usually much more at this time of year..

I always think of May as being the 'Proms' month in the garden.. full of pomp and circumstance .. but this year the plants have been reluctant to put on their usual show.. and who can blame them.. with night frosts and chilling winds still around....


All we need is a few days of warm forgiving sun..and the garden will start shouting at the top of it's voice and each plant will jostle and vie for attention.
Something else has been doing that recently.. the pile of books beside my bed. When I was a child I had a voracious appetite for books.. cutting my literary teeth (probably quite literally) on my first beloved books.. such as the Ant and Bee Books by Angela Banner... classics in their own right and still loved by me many years on.

Next I progressed to the Famous Five books by you know who.. and couldn't wait to finish one adventure before starting on the next. But of course back then in my acres of youth.. I had all the time in the world to disappear in to a good book.. Now I flirt with the idea of reading more than the act of.. but this does not spoil my appetite for certain authors.. and one of my favourites is Maggie O' Farrell.. Her first book 'After You'd Gone' had me smitten from the first page and each subsequent novel of hers has me pestering the lasses at Waterstone's for the publishing dates.. So we are back to those 'Famous Five' days again... hungry for the next book.

It was good old Amazon that delivered her latest tome to me The Hand That First Held Mine'. This sits underneath 'Eat Pray Love' by Elizabeth Gilbert's delicious account of her travels and complicated love life..

The crowning glory on top of the pile is a dear little book called 'In Praise of Friendship' given to me by a very dear friend indeed..and not just a friend but my partner in business too..

So three guesses who that might be..??

We are now the proud owners of our own blog..... ' Milly & Dottie' ... where you will be able to follow our adventures, daily musings and general chit chat over the garden fence.. We hope you will come and join us and get to know these two whimsical characters better.

Floribundance...

My home resembles a florists...


Buckets of flowers arrived last week..


It felt like a Birthday should be celebrated..

But not a candle or cake in sight..

Just an abundance of beautiful fragrant blooms..

.. and a few cables and a camera ..

All will be revealed one day ...