...cabbages and roses summer brocante........

.....last weekend christina strutt 

(of cabbages and roses fame)

...opened the doors and beautiful grounds 

of her stunning home near bath....

...to host a summer brocante.....

...as you can imagine...

...there was much hype and excitement for this event...

...and the setting was nothing short of idyllic...

....the drive to the fair was an adventure in itself...

single tracked and higgledy piggledy.....

....the lanes were challenging 

and i was happy not to be at the wheel!

...once we'd managed to balance the car in a lumpy field

....we walked in the sunshine

....until the pathway opened up to the pretty venue....

....unfortunately we weren't able to go on friday (the first day)

....which was apparently absolutely heaving...

....and involved an element of ladies having elegant

'bun fights' over the c & r bargain rails of clothes....

...however...

the weather forecast for the following day was so bad

that many of the stalls packed up and returned home....

....and subscribers received emails basically

suggesting that the saturday might prove to be a bit of a wash out...

so i'm so glad we decided to 'risk it'and ignored all the warnings....

...the sun in dorset was definitely shining...

....and thankfully we were proved right!(phew!)

....it did mean that there were fewer stall holders....

....and pretty much all of the sale c&r clothes had been knobbled....

....but one of my main 'raisons d'être' for going at all

was to meet a special person....

...for quite some time i have been in contact with a fellow

old toy lover....

michele at cowboys and custard is like a kindred spirit....

....we definitely love the same things....

(see what i mean????!!!)

....and through emails and exchanged gifts...

....have forged a friendship...

...it was so wonderful for us to meet at last....

....and her stall was like 7th heaven to me....

....who to adopt?????

...i have been admiring this bunny on IG from afar...

... so when i spied him waiting for me on the shelf...

....he just fell into my arms....

true love!

...i also invested in some gorgeous fabric from

velvet ribbon

....but came away thinking i could've had so much more!!!

....these lampshades for instance....

....and a few of these beauties wouldn't have gone amiss either...

...and i'd never say no to a gil fox hat!

....gil was so lucky to be able to set up

in christina's tree house...

....she made it look SO beautiful....

...we decided we could happily live in there!

..it proved to be such a fabulous trip out...

....and certainly gave a glimpse into the ethos of 

christina's stunning new book....

.....beautiful surroundings...

....beautiful stalls...

....beautiful people.....

...and best of all for me...

...a beautiful new friendship!

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