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.

Update for June.

An update from Cow & Ghost Towers.

We've been quiet for a week or two.

Busy with quite a few things.....

A jaunt to London.

Some time in the garden.
Particularly pleased with this project.
Very battered chest of drawers was heading for the skip!!
Got there in the nick of time and gave it a new lease of life.

We've also been out and about stock hunting. Very pleased with the tins we've managed to source. We'd sold nearly all we had. We love the new ones, and they are always popular.

Looking forward to our next event. Hay Does Vintage is superb. Look forward to seeing you there.

Lavender & Old Blankets

Sunny days, and seeing everything in the garden come to life reminded us of the lavender we dried last year at Cow & Ghost Towers. It's always been a favourite plant with both of us, and the smell brings back many happy childhood memories.

Does anyone remember the black and white film 'Arsenic & Old Lace'. This is the updated Cow & Ghost 'take' on it.... 'Lavender & Old Blankets'.

As many know, we love a Welsh blanket. Sadly over the years many become damaged beyond use. We enjoy recycling them and giving them a new lease of life as cushions. There are often offcuts, and we can't bear to throw away even a tiny piece. We now have a box of 'bits'....

Had the idea of making them into lavender bags. Great for use in drawers, and on pillows as lavender is a great aid to good sleep. Didn't take long to find a few small pieces in the store box. 

Some folding and sewing

Hey Presto. A collection of lavender bags ideal for storage,

and pretty enough to display.

We'll be bringing a selection along to our next fair in Newport, Pembrokeshire. Hope to see you there.

May....

A quiet weekend after a busy few weeks at Cow & Ghost.

Fantastic weekend May 7th and 8th. Two fairs. Great day on Saturday in St Peter's Hall, Carmarthen. Good to see old friends, and also met some great people. Sadly it is the last of these events, but they are making way for a new summer event by the same organiser. Something to look forward to.

On Sunday we returned to the Waterfront Museum in Swansea. This event has achieved the difficult task of blending vintage with handmade. The two overlap and compliment each other perfectly.

We chose a larger pitch than usual and created a stand alone display of our Welsh blanket items. Very pleased with how it looked. This side of the business has been steadily expanding over the last year.

The popularity is so great we plan to attend events over the summer with just the blankets, cushions and related items. Cow and Ghost events will continue as usual.

On the subject of blankets, we can't resist showing these two beautiful examples. We have sold both this week, but wanted to share, as they both have real WOW factor.

Cow & Ghost's next event will be a new one for us. Looking forward to pitching in Newport, Pembrokeshire. Beautiful part of the world. Great place to spend the next Bank Holiday weekend.