From B to B

Hi all

Things have been a little quiet on the blog for a while and I've temporarily shut down my English Rose Vintage Etsy shop - but there's a good reason for this - I've got a new job in Bath and we're moving house! Bath is such a beautiful city - we really can't wait to get over there. It also has great associations for us as we took our honeymoon there back in 2000. So life has consisted of packing boxes and bubble wrap for the last few weeks and there's been lots of driving back and forth between Basingstoke and Bath.

We're going to have much more space than we do now and I have lots of plans. I've even been making scaled drawings of the rooms on squared paper and moving around little paper versions of our furniture. Does anyone else do this - my husband thinks I'm hilarious! I find myself lying awake at night, not worrying about the new job or the move, but planning cushion covers, colour schemes and furniture restorations.

Just a few miles from our new home is the fantastic Glove Factory Cafe in Holt. I can see this becoming a firm favourite.

The food is amazing and I love the colourful origami bird mobiles. Next time we go I will even think to take some pictures of the food - I'm afraid I was so hungry and it was so delicious I'd eaten it before it occurred to me. The old factory buildings in Holt are fabulous too.

I'm planning a relaunch of the shop once we are a bit more settled and I can find everything again. I have plans for a new banner and logo - which will depend a lot on learning a new skill - more on that later! I must get off now and do some more tidying and packing. 

Aren't these little fellows adorable?

I saw them under the sink in the cafe loos

they look so sad and forlorn

I may have to go back and rescue some ...

Bye bye peeps,

Take care

Victorian Calligraphy

Hi again!

I thought I would quickly share with you this Victorian (1878) legal document that I've just listed in the English Rose Vintage shop.

It's quite a beauty! Three very large pages (about 26 x 21 inches) of lovely calligraphy on vellum including signatures and various seals and stamps.

The pages are still joined at the bottom by fabric ties, held in place on the front with red wax seals. It would be relatively simple to separate the sheets so that they could be framed separately. There seems to be plenty of information online about taking creases out of vellum, although I've never tried this myself. I'd be interested to know if anyone has done this.

The document relates to a Mortgage of property in Marylebone (then in Middlesex) on behalf of Mr Frederick Mark and Messrs Constable Curtis and Frederick S Clarkson. It is for £1,500, which would have been a very considerable sum in the Victorian era. I had a lot of fun trying to find these characters online and managed to trace some information regarding the Constable Curtis family as that is such a distinctive name. There is a record of a Constable Curtis who died on 30th March 1909 at The Hall, Great Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. He was a retired Captain of the 12th Royal Lancers and left the huge sum of c. £59,000 in his estate. I think this is the same person, as the Mortgage was witnessed by Edward Constable Curtis (Gentleman), Constable's eldest son.

A fascinating piece of history that I think would look wonderful mounted into antique frames. There are also endless possibilities for scanning the document and using this gorgeous calligraphy in crafting projects such as decoupage.

I'm planning another treasure hunt tomorrow morning so there will be no lie-in for me this Sunday! 

Whatever you're up to this weekend, have a happy time,

M 

Very Juicy

Howdy peeps!

I'm going to be listing some new treasures in the shop over the coming weeks so here's a sneaky look at something new in the English Rose Vintage shop today. It's 8.00am and I've done something useful already today - woo hoo!

This little ceramic citrus juicer has tiny little bunches of purple flowers on the inside and 'A Present from Evesham' in gold lettering on the outside. 

It's quite a delicate little juicer, at just over 3" across, and is perfect for gently squeezing lemon on a fillet of fish or squeezing a little lemon in your tea.

I'm hoping to get out to do some more treasure hunting this weekend - hope this gorgeous weather keeps up a little longer!

Take care

M

Love Sardinia

Howdy peeps!

We've just returned from two weeks on the sunny Mediterranean island of Sardinia exploring the archaeological sites, lazing on the beautiful beaches, eating the local delicacies and supping cocktails in floor length summer dresses (me, not my husband).

Such a stunning island and so much to see and do - I would highly recommend it! 

I've also been a busy bee updating the About page on my English Rose Vintage Etsy shop and would love to know what you think about it. You can take a look at the new page here. Feedback is most welcome!

Take care,
M

Heaven Scent

One of my favourite luxuries is perfume and I have quite a few scents that I use according to my mood. I am a big fan of Jo Malone colognes - they are divided into Citrus, Fruity, Light Floral, Floral, Spicy and Woody fragrances and the idea is to mix and match them to create your own favourite combination. I still have some of my first bottle of Orange Blossom Cologne I bought 10 years ago - now that's pretty good value! I love the way that a scent can capture a moment and preserve that memory. I bought the Orange Blossom cologne - a heady floral fragrance - at the beginning of a trip across America with my husband and first wore it on Cape Cod. I can remember my husband commenting that morning that Cape Cod smelled beautiful! I hated to point out that I'd just been spraying Orange Blossom all over myself but now, every time I use it, we're taken back to that very happy time.

I've since added Wild Fig and Cassis (warm, sensual and good for 'grounding' a floral scent), English Pear and Freesia (sweet, summery and warm), and Lime, Basil and Mandarin (spicy, fruity, unisex scent that always gets comments when I wear it) to my collection and the Blackberry and Bay is on my wish list.

I'm hooked on combining scents now and I've found that another firm favourite of mine, Mitsouko by Guerlain, smells divine when mixed with Wild Fig and Cassis. Probably not what Jacques Guerlain had in mind when he created it!

Although some perfume bottles are gorgeous in themselves, I do like to decant perfumes into little cut glass or unusual bottles when I can. This tiny green bottle has a small glass stopper that can be used to dab a drop of pure perfume behind the ear or onto the decolletage. Very decadent.

At the moment my little green bottle holds the smallest drop of L'Air du Desert Marocain by Tauer. A very intriguing perfume that I recently bought a sample of. It's probably not for everyone - not at all floral or feminine but dry, woody and spicy, with some initial top notes of piney resin (or toilet cleaner according to my husband). Not that we don't both like it - there's something a bit addictive about it and Tauer has captured that dry, desert air combined with the rich spicy smell you get from Moroccan Thuja wood - heavenly! It also seems to go rather well with a drop of the Orange Blossom. I will definitely be trying some more of Tauer perfumes in future.

 

What's your favourite perfume and do you combine?

 

 

Coming soon!

Hello my dears. I've been busy researching some of the treasures I brought home on Sunday from my Boot Fair trip and I thought you might enjoy a little taster of my discoveries before they are all listed in the Etsy shop.

 

 

The beautiful blue earrings with silver screw-backs, the vintage papier mache box with pretty floral lid and the 1950s leather gloves are already in the store and the rest should hopefully follow soon. I'm currently researching the very large Victorian mortgage document - and jolly interesting stuff it is too! 

Springish!

Hello there my darlings! Hope you all had an enjoyable Easter. I had a wee break from work, which I spent at home with my sweet man. We kept to our new 'tradition' and treated ourselves to some delicious chocolate from our favourite chocolate shop in Henley. Of course, we just had to indulge in a cup of steaming hot Madagascan chocolate while we were there too! Absolutely yummy, and all the better for being served in dainty vintage cups. I also spent a little time making some truffles to take to my work chums before we went on our hols.

 

I made up a simple ganache of cream and chocolate and piped little blobs onto a tray when it was beginning to set. A short stay in the fridge and they were ready to roll into balls and cover in toasted coconut, toasted nuts or cocoa powder mixed with icing sugar.

 

 

Needless to say, they didn't hang around long!

 

I also dusted off my broom and gave the house a thorough going over - and then stood back to admire my handiwork.

 

 

We added some Spring flowers and almost convinced ourselves that Spring had actually arrived!

 

Great news! Today I went to my first boot sale of the year! Hurrah! The sun actually shone and, although it was a little breezy, I had lots of fun browsing the various stalls and unearthed some wonderful treasures for my Etsy shop. Some are in there already so why not pop over and take a look?

 

Have a lovely week!