Love Lane Vintage

So yesterday the sun shone and Baby Lavender and I went along to the Love Lane Vintage event in Wisborough.  We had great company with a friend and her little boy and Baby Lavender and I enjoyed the conversation :-)

While on maternity leave I've noticed that there are lots of events that happen during the week and I've been lucky enough to enjoy them this year, but I will miss attending them on my return to work in September.  It's amazing how events are advertised .......... I've been to events advertised on boards on roundabouts and via facebook but very few have been advertised in the local press or on any 'What's on' in West Sussex websites - word of mouth is great and probably much cheaper than other avenues but I was certainly glad to hear of this Brocante organised by Lucy (and her family) of Love Lane Vintage!

Love Lane Vintage is now in its third year of offering vintage china hire and styling services for weddings and parties. Lucy started the business following her own wedding in 2008, the business has grown over the last few years and now Lucy has opened her first boutique in Sussex, this acts as a showroom for her china hire and sells a range of vintage homeware, furniture, clothes and pretty garden items.

Lucy has just designed her first range of ladies clothes inspired by her vintage finds and country living, all are in natural fabrics with vintage floral trims. These will be available exclusively through Love Lane Vintage.

Love Lane is truly a family affair with Lucy's parents and husband all helping out with various aspects of the business and this showed in the slick running of the event yesterday.

The Sat Nav took Charlie and I through single lanes winding their way through the beautiful Sussex countryside; what a truly beautiful part of the world Sussex is.  Sometimes I forget what glorious things I have on my doorstep and sometimes I just forget to appreciate it and take things for granted.  To be able to drive through the undulating landscape of the South Downs and drive to the freshness of the Coast in 10 minutes is a treat that I really should delight in more often.

I had heard about the Love Lane Vintage Sussex Country Brocante (Brocante meant means 'second hand' or 'junk' in french - love it) via Love Lane Vintage Facebook page.  There is another on Thursday 19th July from 11am - 4pm at Wisborough Green Village Hall.

After the drive the parking wasn't the best (as it was such a popular event) but we found a place close enough and admired the village green duck pond as we sauntered to the hall.  It was a rather nice entrance in the sunshine as we got to admire the goods of The Vintage Garden Company who are based in Hardham, near Pulborough.  The entrance fee of £1 was refreshing especially when you've driven over 20 miles to get there!  The welcome was wonderful - the Mum of Love Lane Vintage welcomed us with a smile and cooed at the babies and even helped us in with the prams - such a friendly welcome ~ thank you :-)

The atmosphere was lovely, there was a real buzz of chatter, music, clinking tea cups and with the sun shining through the windows the event had a lovely feel.  I hate it when you walk into an event and there's a cold stoney silence - it doesn't encourage me to linger but yesterday was just perfect.

The first stall holder I spoke to was Jill of Jill Frost Vintage.  Jill has several units (Midhurst, Farnham) selling wonderful French and British decorative homewares and clothing mostly from 1920s onwards.  I particularly liked the beautiful hand embroidered bag above and appreciated the amount of work that would have gone into such an item

Dewdrops and Kisses were one of the smallest stands there but with no less lovely stuff.  They are a small locally run business selling vintage treasures, restored furniture and pretty china.  Laura Turner the owner of Dewdrops and Kisses (what a pretty name by the way) can source and restore furniture to your specifications as well as painting and restoring your own furniture at your home or in her workshop.  We particularly liked their cake bunting - what a great idea for birthdays, christening or even that vintage wedding.  Everything was set out beautifully and I've 'liked' their Facebook page but do go along and have a look. 

Charlie and I wondered round and the next thing to catch our eye were these adorable hand made floppy rabbits on The Lilliput Bazaar Stand.  The four girls were joined by one little boy rabbit (front right) and we took a shine to them with their simple shape and cute faces they really would make a lovely gift.  It was the lovely big floppy ears that did it for me :-)

The Lilliput Bizaar specialise in good quality pre-loved childrens clothing (ages 1 -12), and you can follow them on twitter (I tried twitter but couldn't get on with it and found the Blog far more satisfying - I think it's the amount one can write - LOL!)

I liked their ethos that they provide a service to the local community with recycling as a key focus - what a great mantra for todays disposable society. I am a great fan of the second hand market for Baby Lavender and people have been so kind with 'hand-me-downs' that Baby Lavender is sorted for the next few months but would certainly visit once Baby Lavender has outgrown her latest wardrobe! :-)

I had a little chat with Helen Wormald of The Lilliput Bizaar and she mentioned 'Handmade with Love' to me ... a Lavender Loops motto.  You can't sit for hours making something without a little bit of soul and love going into it - as good all crafters know.  The event is in Tunbridge Wells later this year and looks set to be exciting .... possibly some crochet workshops to make a granny squares to go away and craft etc .... I believe more details of the event are to follow but thank you to Helen for mentioning it.  There's nothing like word of mouth for spreading the craft word!

Walking round one of the largest stands was 'Stuff' (I believe they are in the process of creating their website www.stuffandcouk.com and unfortunately I couldn't find them on facebook :-(However if you want to contact them then you could email them stuffandcouk@gmail.com)  It is a fab name for this stand as it was full of wonderful stuff, lots of stocking fillers (yes I'm already thinking of Christmas as it's less than six months away!!)  We spent quite a long time speaking to The Flan Girls -  Fee, Lisa, Amanda and Nicola (and Louise a sister of one of the Flan Girls who is also creative making bags etc - but I didn't get a website I'm afraid!)  As they were stood by the stand it give the stand a friendly buzzy atmosphere and I found out that they were all involved with 'Stuff'.  They used to gather for a coffee on a regular basis for a club they attended and became friends and discovered they all had creative sides and 'Stuff' was born!

A few items stuck out as very creative ... I particularly liked their Tape Measure brooches and their old ruler photo frames all reasonably priced (which is always appreciated!)

Charlie liked this 'Tufty Club' bag and asked if I remembered the Tufty Club ... I didn't and had to google it today! Tufty the Squirrel apparently used to teach road safety to the very young from the 1960s onwards.  I found lots of information about him here!  I was more the 'Green Cross Code' girl!








After talking to the girls of  'Stuff' the next stop was the vintage cafe ... where we enjoyed a good cuppa and great slab of home made victoria sponge.  The babies enjoyed a small snack and with the energy levels refueled we carried on touring the stalls.

Parkminster Products was a lovely stall with fabulously branded and beautifully scented gifts for the home, body and bath all hand made in Sussesx.  Their range includes soy candles, body salt scrubs, bath salts, reed diffusers, soaps and foam baths.  Krystyna, originally an event organiser, makes all of the products in her studio where she lives in a cottage near the Cowfold Monastry with her family.  Her husband has helped with the branding and it really sets off the quality of the product. Parkminster Products can currently be found in a variety of boutiques and vintage shops around the UK.  Why not follow them on Facebook.
 

 
Theo and Bernice (the Granparents of Debbie the owner of the stall) had a lovely stall and her husband was great with his selling techniques and bought a smile to my face when he was telling me what great bargains there were ... and to come and get my 'Vintage Wares' at Theo and Bernice ... fabulous! :-)  You can also follow them on Facebook

There had to be cake involved somewhere and Cake Angel filled that criteria ... fabulous tea cakes and mini Victoria Sponge Cakes to tease the taste buds but what got me was the beautiful tea cup stand that Sara Hobbs had purchased from France several years ago.  Apparently it always gets comments and I wouldn't mind owning one myself!

I didn't get a chance to speak to the stall holder of Found Country Antiques but here are some pics of her stall ... I loved the minature enamel coffee sets they had for sale and the pale palette of their china! Another stand that I didn't get a chance to speak to was Gazehound Vintage - I wish I had managed to but it was  Baby Lavender (or cake!) that prevented me from taking a photo of the very cute minature bed and dressing table. 

Little Mouses stall was well presented and Katie Peats minature bunting really stood out with their professional packaging and the touch of vintage lace was just lovely.  The cushions with the vintage lace presented in the old suitcase was lovely (I used my Granfathers evacuation case at my wedding earlier this year as the place for the guests cards - you can  have a look on my facebook page for my wedding album!)

All in all a lovely afternoon and I'm hoping to go the the big Love Lane Vintage and Country Living Fair next event on 7th July (Baby Lavender has her first birthday party to attend for little Monty ... she's looking forward to it and I might be able to go to this in the morning before the party at 3pm :-))  My dear friend Olive Homeware will be there with her wares (beautiful cushions made from beautifully patterned fabric, organic muslins with Liberty appliqued elephants, organic baby blankets and bibs to their retro china and vintage childrens toys and books.)  Do pop along to Olive Homeware to say hello and have a look at their website and follow them on Facebook :-) 

Well done to the Love Lane Vintage team :-)  Don't forget to follow them on Facebook ....