At the beginning of the month I had the opportunity to explore one of my favourite getaway places, the Daylesford area in country Victoria. I once again stayed at Hepburn at Hepburn (see previous post). Would you believe it if I told you that I was there for work purposes? Probably not. Especially as I did seem find the time to visit some of my favourite stores, including Lavender and Lace Living in the town of Maldon, north of Daylesford. Dianne who owns the store is surrounded by gorgeous vintage and new linens and lace for the homemaker and romantic in us all. Check out the monogrammed linen shades on the lamp, above.
Damask tablecloths are beautifully laundered and are piled up on a table. These tablecloths are becoming increasingly hard to find, I have noticed.
More antique linens stacked into a shelf. Very dreamy!
And antique floral quilts. Perfect for a little girl's room.
Another shop I couldn't wait to visit since reading about it in the April 2011 Australian Country Style was Peonies and Picnics, in the town of Daylesford. Look at the wonderful shopfront, above.
Peonies and Picnics is a delight inside, filled with all sorts of goodies including antiques, vintage wares and carefully selected gifts and home wares. 
A central table in the middle of the store with soaps and other gifts.
Spanish oil jars are displayed on a sideboard.
A basket filled with brushes. I have such a brush at the sink for scrubbing potatoes and find it very useful.
And a polished milk churn.
The gorgeous window display must have great success in tempting people passing by in to the store. Who could resist?
Peonies and Picnics also stocks a selection of vintage French including ticking. Adjoining the store is a little cafe, a perfect little reward for a tiring day exploring!
Image via the Paper Mulberry
A friend suggested that I post some unique Christmas gift ideas, so here it is! A very small and inexpensive gift could be these gorgeous ceramic pudding dolls which date to around 1900. These miniature dolls were traditionally placed within the Christmas pudding. They are referred to as "feves" in France (Feve is french for Fava Bean, which originally represented the baby in French). Here are other gift ideas from our store that may just suit your hard to buy for friends and family...
For the linguist...tiny, tiny printer's stamps (you could send a message, or spell their name), leather bound Shakespeare volumes and a collection of printer's ampersands.
For the gardener...French herb pots, English watering cans and hand tools. 
For the entertainer...French cheeseboards (these are a very popular gift at the moment, great for serving cheese or pizzas), French ebony handled knives, French linen harvest tablecloths, and French (of course!) chopping boards and bone handled knives.
For the collector...chemist bottles, egg timer (this is so cute!), decoy duck, baby shoe lasts, boxed dominoes and sea urchins.
And for the very, very hard to buy for loved one, there is always our hand-stamped gift vouchers (on authentic elephant dung paper). Perfect. 
I am very excited with the new bakery cafe that has only just opened in the last few weeks, right near Salamanca Place in Murray Street. It is called Daci & Daci, the names of the passionate duo who are currently baking their hearts out to deliver artisan breads and patisserie items to meet Hobart's demands.
I called in this afternoon and bought some fig and walnut bread, green olive bread and their grainy bread, too! I didn't know which to try first...
And the bread is all displayed on a 19th century French iron baker's stand. The bread has been selling out quickly, as you can see. You may recognise the baker's stand from our store. We were pretty sad to see it leave, we all loved it so much. But now I get to visit it in its new home. And the best part is it is now being used for its original purpose - to display bread!
The antique Gothic style counter has inset marble for the French style sweet pastries. I bought a traditional French escargot pastry to bring back memories of Paris.
You can sit out on the deck on a nice day on these vintage French cafe chairs at original French bistro tables.
It is because of passionate people such as Daci & Daci that makes me love living in Hobart. I am pretty sure I will become a frequent visitor of Daci & Daci...did I mention that they make a great coffee?
On a recent trip to Sydney, and with only a few days to spend, I couldn't resist a hunt in a few antiques stores.
This French limed oak stool is the most gorgeous piece in our store at the moment. It has been reupholstered in antique Belgium linen. I think I am drawn to furniture with cross frames such as this. Oh, and limed wood it seems. But then again, who isn't?
These baby shoe lasts are also new into the store. I pictured them here with an adults sized last so that you may get an idea of just how small they are. I cannot see these lasting long in the shop!
I love the patina on each and every piece of this antique printer's alphabet. The set includes some punctuation and also numbers. One would not need be too creative to make Christmas greeting cards with a set such as this. The unusual font would suit the French greeting Joyeux Noël. But then again, any writing in French looks good, I think.
This Indian folding table is the epitome of Eastern chic. I recently took home an inlaid Indian folding table for my lounge room and I can't stop admiring it. I have placed a piece of coral on it with an Eastern lamp and it looks great.
The detail in the tray top is amazing, it appears to be silver inlaid into copper and all hand engraved.
Our stocks of cushions made from handwoven grain sack linen has been replenished and are in the garden room at the moment. 
And here is our version of Zoe Hoare's Hamptons style cushions (see previous post). These have been made from French harvest linen, used during wine harvests to cover the outside tables. Cushions with history, now that is what I like!
I also love the detail in this panel, above, with the embroidered chickens. 
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