January Sales at Sheffield Vintage Fair

It was the first vintage fair of the year, for us anyway, and while we were raring to get back into it for 2013, we weren't too impressed by the many tonnes of snow that was dumped over the north of England the night before. We were greeted by a very snowy view on the morning of the fair and we were worried that we would have trouble getting there, and that even if we did, no one would turn up. Fortunately, the hardy folks of Sheffield don't let a few inches of snow keep them from their vintage bargains, and the fair was lovely and busy.

There were January bargains aplenty too, with most stalls having discount rails, bargain bins or some kind of offer. We had a £10 jumper rail, and were offering two for £15, and this went down really well. Other top sellers were floppy hats, collar chains and print dresses. If you missed this one, the next one is on March 2nd, and if you're not Sheffield based, see our events page to find out when we'll be coming to a town near you.

There were lots of stylish shoppers, which is usually the case at vintage fairs, and it got us thinking. We're at vintage fairs all over the country every weekend, and we see so many well dressed people and lovely things, we really should cover them more on the blog. I used to write about vintage fairs regularly on the blog but it got a bit repetitive after a while, it was always something along the lines of "We went to *insert city name* vintage fair this weekend, we had a lovely time, here are some pictures of cupcakes, clothes rails and stacks of suitcases". So from now on, we're going to try and cover the fairs more regularly on the blog, but we're going to try and have a more interesting angle for each post. We're not exactly sure what form this will take yet, but hopefully it will be worth a read. So watch this space!

The ever fabulous Jeny and Amber

All the fun of the flea!

If you're a vintage lover (and if you're reading this blog, I'm guessing you just might be!) and you live not a million miles away from the midlands, you simply must check out Malvern Flea! It's basically vintage heaven. It's a huge market that happens once a month and is a fantastic blend of vintage, antiques and oddities.

What's great about it is the fact that it isn't a full on antiques fair, so the variety of stalls means that you might find pretty much anything, and that's the fun of it. And for the odd stall that is selling nothing better than old tat, there are about twenty more selling amazing treasures. Also, Great Malvern is such a pretty little town, so you can pop in there afterwards for spot of afternoon tea, and you have the perfect day out! You can find out more here.

The Haul

We didn't actually buy all that much, we tend to buy a mix of stuff for ourselves and for Minimum Mouse, today we picked up some beautiful leather bags, a cool 1970's flight bag, a gorgeous Welsh tapestry purse and some pretty hand mirrors. I also picked up a 1930's guidebook to Glasgow and the west of Scotland, which I'm planning to give to my dad as it covers his hometown, and then, perhaps inspired by this, we spent quite a while at an amazing stall jam packed with old postcards and found a few hometown treats for ourselves - two old postcards of Aberystwyth for me (one is from 1904!) and a couple of retro 60's Birmingham postcards for James. We're going to frame them and add them to our growing collection of kitsch pictures at home.

Car Booting With Minimum Mouse!

Car booting - the epitome of Englishness

Always a chance to stock up on Cliff Richard vinyl

 We were very excited mice today - we visited our first car boot sale of the season! It was a nice little bank holiday treat and with glorious sunshine it would have been rude not to go and do a spot of rummaging. We love a good car boot, it is where we have found a lot of the great vintage that we have sold over the years, and is where we get lots of stuff for ourselves! Today we visited Coleshill car boot (near Birmingham, just off the M42) which is on every Tuesday and Friday. We hadn't tried this one before so we didn't know if it was going to be any good, but we were pleasantly surprised - the good weather and bank holiday had brought out a good crowd and lots of sellers had some nice little knick knacks and oddities to look at.

We came away with some nice goodies too - I got a couple of cute wicker handbags, a giant tomato ice bucket, a lovely stripy satin dress and James found some nice retro sportswear and a couple of vintage suits.

Don't let a mound of stuff like this put you off - have a good old rummage!

 For the next few months we will most likely be at car boots at every opportunity! And you should be too, they are the finest way to find some great stuff on a budget. In fact, I don't think there is much that you won't find at a car boot sale!

 So, with this in mind, we have a few top tips for booting...

• Go early! A lot of car boots kick off at around 6 or 7am, which is an excruciating time to get up at the weekend, but if you are looking for the pick of the crop, you need to be there with the dealers who get in early before the more casual shoppers arrive. Alternatively, if this sounds too much like work...
• Go late! Some of the best car booting we have done has been when we have nipped along late for the dying moments of the car boot sale. When people are starting to pack and go home they are more likely to give you a good price on stuff, after all, they are not looking forward to packing it all up and lugging it all home - if they can offload it, they won't have to pack it!
• Don't be afraid to bargain a bit - you may be shy to, I was at first, but it is always worth asking if you can get a discount. Start by asking the price of an item, if something is 20p then I tend to think you should just pay that (I would feel really awful asking for money off something so cheap!), but for more expensive items then go for it. Tell them what you would like to pay and see if they'll accept your price or perhaps meet you in the middle. Always be polite and the worst that can happen is that they say no!
• Bulk buying - another way to drive a bargain is to buy a few things from the same stall and see what discount they will give you for the lot. Of course there is no point doing this unless you genuinely want the items, but don't forget to ask for a deal when buying more than one thing!
• Don't let a multitude of stalls selling cheap toliet rolls and knock off dvds put you off, it's always worth having a quick scout around a sale even if it looks disappointing, you never know when you will spot an amazing gem!

To find out about car boots and jumble sales in your are check out the local newspapers and also Car Boot Junction, which lists car boots in the UK by county (though many car boots organisers don't seem that internet savvy, so there will be lots more that you won't find on here). In the midlands, Dunworkin is a good source of car boot info.

Have fun and happy bargain hunting!

You'll often find the odd vintage gem on an unpromising clothes rail..