THE LAND OF TEA AND CRUMPETS
With our antique treasures in hand, we were off to England to continue our shopping. But not before we have a troubling moment when we hear that the Manchester Airport is closed due to bad weather. So with PDA's in hand, we search for alternative transportation to England. But somewhere the antique gods were watching over us and the airport opened just a couple of hours before we were to land.
After a big bear hug from David - my "van guy" we were off to Lincolnshire. Although I've made the trip from Manchester to Lincoln dozens of time, I decided to rely on the GPS (or sat nav to the Brits) this time. But to my dismay, the route took us over the Pennines - a rather hairy mountain that should be avoided even on the best of weather days and certainly not with bad weather!
Kaci Lyford, owner of Patina Finishes and Patina Green http://patinagreen.typepad.com/, was voted as my "co-pilot" and GPS operator. Although she was unaware, her duties would also include climate control, telephone operator and last but not least - our windshield squirter! (we never found the button to open the hood so therefore, we never had windshield fluid!) Thanks go to Kaci for being a great sport.
Monday - LINCOLN HOME AND ANTIQUES SHOW
Setup day for dealers at the Lincoln Show and also our first day of shopping. The show doesn't open to the public until Tuesday morning but by special arrangements, our groups are allowed entrance early. This was my first tour since the Swinderby show moved and I was pleased to see that not much had changed. In fact, I believe that the new venue is much easier to navigate with less area to cover but no reduction in the number of vendors (antique dealers).
After the group meets our Shipper, Steve and his crew, we are ready to head out. Armed with walkie-talkies, inventory books, labels and "shopping trollies", the search begins. Steve and Cliff were at our beck and call for any questions or pickups. The first purchase went to Kaci, (only about a 100 yards from the truck) a wonderful wire locker that was used in a paper factory. The group kept Cliff busy with pickup. Among the days exciting purchases was a elaborately carved library table purchased by Philip and Theresa Robertson, from Robertson's Gallery in Springfield, MO. Additional purchases included a mountain of blue and white china, victorian garden items, architectural items and enough Black Forest to make any dealer jealous.
We quickly lost Sue Capt, a dealer specializing in anything SMALL! She was off in a flash and was only heard from once - with a list of pickups a mile long! June Ainsworth, who specializes in Folk Art and paintings was also among the listed missing. She surfaced several time at the truck with items to be packed.
After a very long day, the antiquers called it night. But not for Steve and Cliff who stayed behind at the showgrounds to carefully pack our treasures.
Tuesday - LINCOLN HOME AND ANTIQUES SHOW
By Tuesday morning my crew of antiquers are now experts. And with so much expertise, we needed to add one more person to assist in the packing and shipping, welcome, Paul. Between the shopping, exchanging money and "did you see that", food came in a distant second - that was until Kaci and Luann found the roasted pig sandwich, which she described as the "best thing I ever ate". And now being the bonded group - we all tried it!
Wednesday - HORNCASTLE AND HEMSWELL CLIFF
Steve and the guys get a rest from the group today as we head out to visit the historic market town of Horncastle. Amidst the thatched cottages and churches are scattered several wonderful antique shoppes. Once of the largest is the Horncastle Antique Centrewe scattered like mice to cover the three floors of antiques to find a variety of smalls including books, ironstone, copper, kitchenalia and transferware. We kept the shop owners running to keep up with the prices and wrapping. Philip and Theresa Robertson took charge loading the van. Our poor van, we couldn't have jammed one more antique into it but of course, this was just of first stop.
The Church photo is actually an antique shoppe in Horncastle.
Three more shoppes, a dozen or so more bags (lots of Blue and White china) a few photos and we were off to Hemswell Cliff.
Hemswell Cliff is about a 45 minute drive from Horncastle - it is through the lovely Lincolnshire countryside. Now our official windshield squirter is in full gear. With a light drizzle, Kaci is kept busy keeping our windshield clear!
Hemswell Antique Centre is set up in several buildings and it takes a complete day to see the entire area. There are shoppes that offer period furniture, a large variety of smalls as well as one dealer specializing in architectural and salvage antiques.
Our purchases are tagged and left for our shipper to retrieve.
MORE ADVENTURE TO COME WHEN WE VISIT NEWARK ANTIQUES FAIR
