Monday 29 December 2014

2014 yearly round up





2014 has been a busy year in all aspects! Vintique Tree had its first birthday in June, it feels like a dream to me still, but through serious hard work and the support of my family the business is going from strength to strength. Another first business wise was the launch of the new website, I would never had believed a website could take so much time to organise and set up but there is so much satisfaction in seeing the final site up and running and I could never have done it without the support of a very helpful friend of the misters!

The Vintique Tree shop at Whitemoors Antiques Centre near Market Bosworth has also been going great, being there over a year now I am starting to know what my customers like and many of them have become friends!



This year has been filled with new experiences with one of the most enjoyable being an 10 month upholstery course. Along with being fun and at times frustrating! the new skills I have learnt will hopefully help me grow my business. Now I don't have to walk away from all the beautiful but worn chairs I see at the fairs!




Continuing with the year of firsts, it was also our first wedding anniversary in June, I can't believe that we are no longer newly weds. We celebrated in our favourite country, Mallorca. The wedding feels like it was last month not over a year ago now!



Finally the most scary and exciting part of 2014 is that we sold our house! Since the summer we have been slowly packing our lives into boxes, we are moving further into the countryside.

Our current village is semi rural and is famed locally for its long tradition in horse and hounds. I must admit I will miss the sight of the sea of hundreds of beagles running down the street, but the sense of space at the new place is just lovely.

The mister is super excited about having a bigger garden where he can attempt to grow all sorts of veggies and fruits come the spring and for me the redecoration and hunt for the the perfect pieces for our new home is something to look forward to in the new year!

The only one who I am worried about for the big move is George, our British blue short hair cat. He does get nervy from time to time, especially when change occurs! Although I have been pleased with his behaviour so far, the boxes haven't phased him, he as seen it more of a game than anything. I really can't wait to see his reaction in a new environment, but I am sure once he works out he can sunbathe in the spring sunshine in the conservatory he will be grinning like the Cheshire cat!

Anyway I hope you all have had a great 2014 and thanks to all my lovely customers who have helped make my dream a reality, here is to a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2015!

Seasons Greetings Everyone!



Thursday 18 December 2014

Battle of Bosworth - the unusual site for a English Christmas fair

At the start of December Vintique Tree had a stand at the Christmas fair which was held at the unusual location of the Battle of Bosworth visitor centre in the picturesque Leicestershire countryside. This location is beautiful in the summer but with twinkling lights and a band singing carols it did feel rather festive!

On offer for shoppers was a  drop of  free mulled wine and a mince pie.  It was a  jolly and festive evening where crafters and sellers came together to sell all of their Christmas stock. With most stalls very reasonably priced you really could pick up something quirky and different for gifts and stocking fillers. All in all it was a successful night and I will definitely be going back for the spring fair!




Wednesday 17 December 2014

Autumn Antique treasure hunt

I took Vintique Tree on the road and stood at Newark international antiques fair in October, I haven't had chance to blog, life has been busy!

The weather can be a friend and a mighty foe at these events, but luckily it was kind apart from one or two short but sharp showers. Newark is one of the biggest antiques fairs in Europe and is considered "one of the 1000 things you should do before you die".  Although I was selling I still had to have a browse round and thought you might enjoy some of the things I saw (photos on iphone so some are a little blurry sorry!)...



















Monday 11 August 2014

A summers day at the antiques market

The Vintique Tree stocks were getting low, so, a urgent sourcing mission was needed! Any excuse is good enough to head to an antiques fair so today we took a trip over to the decorative antiques and home show in Lincolnshire, check out our day in photo form! Sorry about the quality they were on my phone!















Some of the goodies I found today...


Tuesday 29 July 2014

Spanish adventures

It seems like my blog is a travel diary recently but  anyway, I thought I would break my holiday posts down into two because I have so many pictures! Another adventure on the wonderful island of Mallorca is a trip up, down, and around the mountains, Tramuntanas (I don't know if that the correct spelling! sorry!)

Here the air is fresh and clean and a welcome relief to the heat of the beaches. Our first stop was the tranquil monastery Lluc. Tucked away high in the mountains we managed to get there super early before the coaches arrived and had the place pretty much to ourselves, the views were stunning when we climbed to the peak of sanctuary a path through the olive trees which was created by Gaudi.







From here we travelled over the mountain and down a scary twisty road  and then on foot through a tunnel of rock to discover a to a little beach which in the summer is perfect for swimming and in the winter is the opening of the river into the sea. We spent a few hours here and did a bit of snorkelling.





Then it was on to one of my favourite places in Mallorca, Soller. A haven from the trashy tourist destinations in Mallorca this little town is full of bustling cafes and independent shops with a truly beautiful town square, which is the ideal place for a people watch and a big ice cream!! I want to live here!




Friday 25 July 2014

A Spanish Market

We have been going to Mallorca for years and similar to our mini moon last year ( http://vintique-tree.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/mediterranean-moments.html ) we wanted to do something that takes us away from the crazy tourist areas and into the local culture. So armed with our map we set out into Mallorca's most central town Sineu. A farmers market come brocante has been happening here every Wednesday for hundreds of years and although there are stalls for the tourists to enjoy it still has the essence of its orgins with a animal quarter and local home grown produce. Worth a trip this summer!




I wanted to bring one of these handmade sinks home! So nice!





Bees making honey while you wait!