vintage galore

It seems there is a real mainstream feel to the term vintage nowadays - i am sure those of us who have been collecting what was regarded as junk or old tat for years, find it amusing that we now are the proud owners of "vintage" items. Vintage caravans, vintage style clothing at Primark and vintage street parties encouraged for the recent Royal wedding.

It is great that crafts such as sewing and knitting are no longer seen as the perogative of the penniless or the granny. Sometimes i do regret that there are no longer many old junk shops to trawl through anymore - the ones where in amongst the real rubbish you might glimpse the edge of an eames recliner or a vase, that turns out to be by keith murray, stuffed with plastic flowers. You really felt you had earnt those treasures after cumulative hours of trawling fruitlessly through old copies of mills and boon and chipped teapots.

I love all the vintage community blogs and have recently subscribed to Vintage Life magazine, http://www.vintagelifemagazine.com/ as an online subscription (seems a little odd that my first "futuristic" online subscription is to a magazine promoting all things vintage). There is also a network of like minded vintage people. http://vintagenetwork.ning.com/


I was disappointed at the recent boot sale i attended as there was not much of note - something i am finding more and more as people either hike up their prices as "it's vintage you know" or they cut out the car boot altogether and sell on ebay so that sometimes all you get at a car boot appears to be what people couldn't sell on ebay.
I suppose that makes any great find even more special nowadays as it is much more infrequent. It is not about making a fortune though really as let's face it, most people might still call it old tat. Well, some of the stuff I collect they might (ask my partner as he puts up with another bambi related ornament appearing on the shelf). It is about finding what you love and also about giving something a chance to be loved again. Long live vintage.

some of my old tat is pictured above - how about you? Have you found a special vintage rummaging place? will you let us into your secret?

puppies and pics

We now have three lovely little chihuahua pups born safely 2 weeks ago. They are sleeping mostly now but i am sure that won't last and they will be into everything shortly.

I have been playing with picnik editing again and adapted some photographs i took earlier.

It's official!

We took Chi-chi our chihuahua to the vets today for a scan. Since her dalliance with a little long haired chihuahua friend, that we set up for her on Valentine's Day, she has been getting bigger and today, the vet confirmed that there were at least three little pups in there. We are now getting very excited. Chi-chi is demanding to be carried everywhere now and lets out a little sigh when you pick her up as if to say "Be careful, i am delicate you know".
I have posted a pic of her as a puppy (she is two now) so you can get an idea of what we have to look forward to.

We spent the rest of the day working on our garden - the ponds are now shaping up nicely and full of frogs and newts - i am battling to keep them as wildlife ponds whilst Nige keeps eyeing up koi carp in every garden centre we visit.

vintage style in stamford, lincolnshire

We are so bored of shopping in Peterborough - a copy and paste centre with some of the good shops sadly "unpasted" - we often wander to Cambridge for a better variety of shop and a trip to Jamie's Italian, but today it was late afternoon so we decided to go to Stamford instead.
Not having paid a visit there for a while i was surprised by two great little vintage shops, http://www.themissingcurtain.com/
and
http://www.thatindielook.com/

The missing curtain is a treasure trove of goodies - all the things i love, kitsch ornaments and retro fabrics, baskets and toys.
My daughter and i couldn't resist a star wars atat toy - measuring two foot high and larger than my dog. Then of course we had to lug it around town - not helped by the fact that i had already bought a large picture in a charity shop by then. I always seem to pick the largest things to carry - i did it in a charity shop in Knightsbridge once and was stuck carrying a large picture frame round all day, but i couldn't leave it as i had been looking for ages for the right one and that one was "it".
Anyway we shall pay the missing curtain another visit no doubt, not least because i really would like the kitsch poodles in there.
That Indie Look was another little gem - full to the brim of vintage clothing, shoes and bags. I only wish i was a few pounds lighter (the subsequent visit to Pizza Express did nothing to help there) - both my daughter and i are committed vegetarians but even we were half tempted by the fur coats but decided against it - though they might have come in handy as the weather had turned cold all of a sudden.
A nice little trip out combined with charity shopping and to be recommended.

after seeing a pic of little China the dog living in it's owners caravan on their experimental money saving experiment - i thought i would post a pic of a couple of my dogs. No wonder i dont get much done on the laptop! Our life in a caravan are blooging about their adventures living in a caravan on blogger and look like they are having a great time being at one with nature.
At the moment the dogs are hiding indoors barking whenever a firework goes off.

Teardrop Trailer hire

We are now hiring our trailers out for a great holiday. Be warned though, don't hire one if you don't want people coming up to you admiring the trailer or just being curious about what is inside as the Diddyvan always seems to attract admirers.
Think about holidaying in style in a cute gleaming teardrop and the freedom of the open road. We supply almost everything you need though you will have to bring your own guitar if you want to serenade that someone special. See the website for further details (of the trailer hire, not the someone special, i am afraid we don't provide that, but if you hire it and travel alone then...who knows what may happen?).

Not in a tent but camping all the same....

For backpacking and family camping a tent serves it's purpose, but there are some times when it might be an attractive proposition not to have to pitch and dismantle a tent. This may be if you are travelling from campsite to campsite or if there are two of you then it may be more practical to have a bed ready to hand (and don't think you have stumbled onto the "love in a tent" blog by mistake, i am keeping it clean here).
A perfect solution might be a teardrop trailer. Teardrop trailers are like mini caravans and are sturdy but usually light enough to be pulled by a car with a smaller engine. They have been around since the early 1940's and come in many shapes and materials. For a retro and classic vintage feel there is not much that compares to a Diddyvan. These little cuties are made to order in the UK, Coventry to be exact.
So what is it like in a Diddyvan?http://www.diddyvans.co.uk We took the show van out for a spin to Norfolk and took some pictures with a model who looks the part, staying at Breck Farm campsite in Weybourne. http://www.breckfarm.co.uk/ The campsite suited the individuality of the Diddyvan, there are no set pitches as such as the site is part of a farm and it is a case of pitch where you want in the fields available. The biggest attraction for most people is the ability to have a campfire and they even have logs that you can buy so you don't have to spend your time foraging or space on bringing logs with you. All too few campsites now allow fires and it is great to be able to sit out when the nights are that bit chilly or even when they aren't as it seems to fulfil a primeval need for the men in the party.
As usual the Diddyvan and the accompanying volkswagen camper van drew an audience - this sort of camping is not for you if you don't like to draw an admiring crowd, asking what it is and letting them look inside where they will invariably exclaim; - "OO there is more room in there than i thought" as they see the 4 foot wide and 6 foot long polka dot covered mattress through the porthole windows.
The hatch at the back lifts up to reveal space for cooking and storage for the leisure battery that runs the lights and cigarette lighter (handy to charge that mobile). Inside the Diddyvan deluxe model are cupboards and shelves to store bits and bobs to keep things in order - we always say that "a tidy camp is a happy camp" (that annoys the children) but part of the beauty of having a place to store things and a Diddyvan is that camping is simple. This was demonstrated as we saw a couple opposite in the final stages of striking camp in their tent - she was heavily pregnant and we weren't sure what they had come camping with (possibly lots of coal or some strange craving items for her) as their car was full to the brim with camping gear - they looked enviously across, as our answer to camping was to open a door and hop in.

After an evening spent chilling around the fire, the peace only interrupted by various people from the campsite who hadnt had the courage to come and ask about the Diddyvan whilst sober but after a few pints of Dutch courage came and satisfied their curiosity, we retired to a comfy double bed. In the morning we popped to Cromer for a photoshoot on the cliffs - again causing a bit of a stir and making many new acquaintances, and then took the dogs for a walk on the beach at Wells-Next- The- Sea. The car park isn't really supposed to be for caravans but they made an exception for the Diddyvan as i dont think they knew how to classify it - we returned to find more admirers - and apologise to the parents whose little girls were saying - "why can't I have a Diddyvan mummy?". Wells is a great little seaside town, and the beach to the left of the car park backs onto Holkham beach - even when car parking is difficult you can usually find a less crowded piece of beach, but make sure you take account of the tides. Wells has some lovely beach huts which probably cost more than the national debt, though i think you can hire some too. The harbour website has a live webcam. http://www.wellsharbour.co.uk/ and in the summer a little train takes people from the town to the beach where you can find toilets, a cafe with basic but good picnic fare and cakes, a boating lake and mini golf. Pinewoods holiday camp is a great place for camping as although it is a large site with static holiday homes as well as a campsite, it's position next to the beach is very handy indeed.

After the obligatory chips we hitched up the Diddyvan and drove back home along the coast road, the Diddyvan has a chassis made especially for it by Al-ko so towing even along those winding narrow roads is a breeze though watch out for stunned drivers who wonder what that shining aluminium trailer is and take their eyes off the road. For more information look at the website :http://www.diddyvans.co.uk