Whilst starting to sort and pack at our storage today, I managed to take some more pictures of the many objects that we have collected together. We have not started packaging the furniture yet. I will take photos of furniture and upload them later next week. Tomorrow we are going to a small antique fair and a few trade centres that usually have some interesting antiques. Donna is in the Yorkshire area at the moment and will be travelling further north to County Durham over the next few days.
This ivy covered pub is situated on a river in the cotswolds and is appropriately named "The Swan". It is our favourite pub to return to each year as the setting is extremely picturesque. I think we take photos every time! On this visit it was a warm night so we were able to enjoy a drink and our meals outside in the courtyard, watching the comings and going of the locals.
We visited a lovely little town which had many antique shops today (antique shops outnumbered all the other shops combined). On a whole we found them to be quite expensive. However, it was fun to look around and get some inspirations for our own shop. We even managed to fit in a traditional cream tea at the local tea room. 
After our stint at the big flea market yesterday, we unwound for an hour by wandering around a nearby village street fair. Many storeowners held stalls on the footpaths with many vintage wares on offer. We bought a lovely paisley eiderdown quilt and some juggling batons. The live music added to the atmosphere. My favourite stall was an interior decorator's small caravan (top photo), decked out to show her decorating talents. I also loved the garden shop "Capability" with the scare crow out the front keeping watch. They had some vintage garden tools for sale inside the store and a lovely courtyard garden to the rear (above). 
After an early start to the day and a line up in a queue (we were near the front, thank goodness) we raced around a large flea market looking for special finds. Donna found the largest pancheon we have ever had, a Victorian brass birdcage and some Spanish oil jars. I bought a dressmaker's dummy on a tripod stand, a large silverpated bowl and some fruitpicker's ladders. I also picked up a very useful vintage basket trolley (above) to help transport all these heavy pieces. Overall we were pretty pleased with the morning. This afternoon we are collecting a French day bed and French patisserie counter that we bought earlier in the trip. I hope the marble on the counter is not too heavy! The counter is really beautiful though, so it will be worth it.
Well, I may be exaggerating with the "finally" bit - I have found some small bits and pieces for myself along the way, including a Victorian creamware foot basin for my bathroom, a French watercress straining bowl for my kitchen and an early c.1800 glass celery vase for absolutely any room of the house. But nothing major until today. And I must admit I am often just as pleased by a small 2o pound purchase as I am by a more serious one. But we came across an Irish Regency convex mirror (shown in the second photo, above) with a lovely shell motif and the original glass in a quirky trade showroom and fell in love. We certainly didn't need it but we just had to have it.
For our shop we bought some c.1900 globes on stands and Victorian apothecary bottles. And I had to smile with the unique use for discarded tweed coats and vintage flags - reupholstering armchairs, of course! I tried the tweed covered armchair out and found it to be cosy indeed.
As we unpacked our goodies at storage yesterday we couldn't help but be pleased with our buying so far... lots of mixing bowls, green plates, jelly moulds, garden trugs, flower buckets and etched glassware. All of our favourite goodies to replenish the Drill Hall Emporium.
This was the beautiful saleroom that Donna and I viewed yesterday morning. The rooms were filled with amazing antiques of all descriptions and it is where we acquired the painted French cupboard (see previous post). They had some garden antiques as well including this Regency period garden bench. Unfortunately the garden bench had some areas of damage and repair. And we already have a beautiful garden bench in our shop.
We liked these French garden chairs but they were too expensive. We will look out for some at the next trade fair we go to. The fun is in the hunt, afterall.
On our way back to the car we walked over a small footbridge and were taken by these swans and their cygnets. The swans were foraging for food in the reeds at the waters edge to feed to their young. So cute. But we had to keep moving. Today we unloaded our vans at our storage facility. We got some great images of our finds which I will hopefully post tomorrow. 
After an early 5.30am rise we headed to one of my favourite trade events, a frenzied antique fair which has a large proportion of French and European traders. I initially raced into the grandstand area and picked up a few nice bits of kitchen treen. But the real fun is too be had outside where you can find anything from French hand-thrown terracotta pots (76 to be exact, thank goodness for the granny trolley!) to a Chinese rosewood settee with a lovely vibrant embroidered silk cushion. I also secured a roll of Belgium linen, perfect for a French walnut arm chair that I bought yesterday. I think buying a set of 8 Jacques bowling balls in their original pine box was when I was really starting to push my luck with all I had to carry, but they are well worth it.
I was thrilled to visit one of our contact's trade showroom and warehouse today. He was brimming with goodies that he had just sourced on his travels to France. I pounced on a French oak bibliotheque or bookcase with lovely ornate handles and wire covered doors (pictured below) as well as a set of ten French majolica asparagus plates.
And we bought a lovely French mirror in amazingly good condition and a good size, not too big. In its reflection there is a faux bamboo chest of drawers with a lovely marble top that we also bought. We are very pleased with the day.
Tomorrow morning is an early rise for a large trade fair. The weather has been very good, blue skies and no volcano ash that we can see. It makes me think that the fair will be even bigger and better than usual. I will try and get some snaps on my way around, hauling my granny trolley and purchases. 
Here is another picture inside a very interesting showroom where Donna found her table. I think that Donna took more photos so I will add them too. We had a really great buying day between us. We both started at antique fairs on opposite sides of the country and we both bought some interesting and decorative pieces. I continued on into the Peak District and met up with some of our contacts who had put pieces aside for us including a fabulous French cherrywood farmhouse table with a extendable slide (photo below). And the best bit is, this one is for the shop! 
Well, it is day five of our buying and I cannot believe how much we have found. I returned to the shop with a courtyard garden and bought the set of six stools (yes, there were six to my delight, all c.1900 elm). Very pleased with these. And Donna picked up a set of 8 early 19th century rush seat chairs as well as 4 dressmakers dummies. I had to take a photo of this florist shop "Twig" above, very whimisical. At the beginning and end of each day, the shop owner pulls the flowers and plants in and out of the shop. But well worth it, I believe. Nearby we went into a trade showroom, photos below.
The garden and statuatory area of the showroom. We are going to meet up with Donna today and see all the goodies she has found. Very exciting. 
