Autumn Fair

 Finally back down to earth at Cow & ghost Towers after a very productive and enjoyable weekend trading at The National Botanic Garden of Wales. Despite a doom laden forecast the sun shone, and a good time was had by all.

Busy preparing the week before, and busy sorting and re stocking the week after, so only now sitting down to share the photos.

The fair is spread over many sites in the garden. We were pitched in the marquee, which we particularly enjoyed.

Great company with a fantastic team of traders.

Each site had a great atmosphere.

Can't recommend highly enough. Wish we'd had more opportunity to wander. Lovely things everywhere

The gardens looked fantastic. Wonderful autumn colours made a great backdrop. Would highly recommend a visit this month.

A recent feature to the established fair is the outdoor vintage market. We love this set up. Really has the feel of a market square. Items displayed outside looked amazing.

Particularly successful event for our Welsh Blankets and cushions. Lots sold, but having great fun sourcing more stock. Watch this space....

Looking forward to returning in January. Meanwhile getting ready for two more events this year. Crickhowell in November and Swansea waterfront Museum in December.

A quiet month

Most strange and unusual... A quiet month at Cow & Ghost Towers. This September is the first month in over three years when we haven't had a fair.

Feels odd!! Miss the fun and atmosphere they bring.

We have, however been busy. Lots of trips out, so lots of lovely new stock. Nice china, and what we think is our best selection of Welsh Tapestry Blankets to date. We have added a new Facebook page, dedicated to promoting just the blankets and related items.

https://www.facebook.com/welshblanketscowandghostvintage/?ref=page_internal

We've also started to stock our cushions at a wonderful vintage shop in Abergvenny. Run by a good friend, the shop - 'So Artrageous' is a haven for vintage and craft goodies. We've bought a few treats for ourselves.

https://www.facebook.com/soartrageous/?ref=page_internal

Enjoying our quiet month, and looking forward to a busy October. It all starts with the wonderful two day fair at the National Botanic Garden. 

We're in the marquee this time. Call in and say hello.

The Village Show.

Brilliant day yesterday at our local Village Show in Talybont On Usk. 

A Village Show as they used to be when we were growing up. Lovely atmosphere. Children playing contentedly, games, races, pony rides, teas, cakes and this year us :-)

We spent most of the week glued to the weather forecast. In danger of becoming obsessed.... Luckily the the sun came out and all was well. 

This was our first foray into an outdoor pitch.... Great fun with  borrowed gazebo....

Pleased with how it all looked in the end. Also our first time of just having the blankets, cushions  and related items

Even the car - Luke the Juke played his part....

Thoroughly enjoyable day. Already looking forward to next year.

Summer road trip

Cow & Ghost are leaving today for our summer jaunt. Quite a road trip this time. Not in this lovely camper van, but we liked the photo. Plans to visit towns, stately homes, coast, countryside and more.

We usually take lots of photographs, as we find lots of interesting things along the way. This time we thought we'd chose the nicest photo from each day and add it to a blog post, so here we are.

It may be a building, an object, a view.... Who knows. We see so many lovely images on the internet, we look forward to adding some of our own

Day 1 - 8.8.16
We discovered this wonderful cupboard in the Gardener's Bothy at the National Trust's 'Attingham Park'. Lovely little building located in the smaller walled garden. Lots of vintage items on display to handle including old gardening books. Original 1950's armchairs to relax in too.

Day 2 - 9.8.16

One of many photographs taken in the lovely Orangery at Lyme Park. House used for filming of Pride & Prejudice, but no sign of Colin Firth in the lake.

Day 3 - 10.8.16

Beautiful summer house in the garden of Fountains Hall at Fountains Abbey. Love loom furniture too.

Day 4 - 11.8.16

No sign of Dracula today, but can easily imagine him in atmospheric Whitby Abbey.

Day 5 - 12.8.16

Robin Hood's Bay. A gem of a place. Something to see around every corner. Highly recommended for a holiday. Like stepping back in time.

Day 6 - 13.8.16

Mr Straw's house in Worksop. An Edwardian semi untouched since 1923. An amazing time capsule preserved by the National Trust. Brought back so many memories of how houses were when I was a child. One pot on a magnificent stack of six had been changed. Pleased to spot it being used in the garden, 

Day 7 - 14.8.16

Visited Belton House. Delighted to find the sundial used in the spooky 1980's BBC children's television series 'Moondial'.

Day 8 - 15.8.16

What a lovely city Lincoln is. We can highly recommend the shops and cafes in the Cathedral Quarter.

Day 9 - 16.8.16

Cliveden today. Lots of talking about Nancy Astor and for different reasons Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice Davies. Mainly chatting about Joyce Grenfell, and imagining what the place was like when she visited years ago.

Day 10 - 17.8.16

The last day of our trip, but what a great way to end. Some 1930's bathroom glamour at Packwood House. Highly recommend this National Trust property in Worcestershire. Gardens are beautiful, and we'd move into the house today.

Summer Fair

As usual a great day at the summer vintage fair in Crickhowell.

Great to see so many old friends.

The sun even shone :-)

Developing our selection of Welsh blanket related items. Lots of new cushions, and plan to make more by the end of the summer. Also introduced our newest range, Photograph greetings cards. Printed just last week. really pleased with how they've turned out.

Already looking forward to returning in November :-)

Summer

Summer is here. Hopefully a few more sunny days soon.

Quite a quiet time at Cow & Ghost. A very enjoyable day at Hay Does Vintage in Hay On Wye. Great feedback on the Tapestry Blanket cushions.

As ever busy hunting for unusual and interesting stock. Our next event is the Vintage and Antiques Fair in Crickhowell on August the 6th. Always a good day. We're also taking the textile side of the business to Talybont Village Show on the 27th which we're looking forward to.

The bone china we rent out has had a few outings. Pictured above. It always looks lovely set out. Large stock available for hire for birthdays etc Happy summer one and all.

Gallery

 We're really pleased with our latest idea at Cow & Ghost. A few months ago we started selling prints of the covers of old Ladybird books. Many personal fond memories, and they've proved very popular.

The success of these have encouraged us to create more framed images. Our latest are very individual. Original 1960's kitchen magazine pages. The images are brilliant, and the advertising jargon particularly entertaining.

 This is our particular favourite. The words are priceless... We're too well brought up to tell you what we'd do if 'George' bought us a sink, but sure you can imagine.......

 These and other goodies will be coming with us to Hay On Wye's 'Hay Does Vintage', July 3rd. Look forward to seeing you there.