A History Lesson……..

Hi Vintage Lovers,

I have been doing a little bit of research on "The Old Croft".

 

The previous owners had this old photo of "The Old Croft" and gave it to us when we bought her. I love knowing information about old houses and buildings, not that you will ever know all of it and that is also part of the appeal for me. So I decided to do a little detective work...............

Our local libaray has a history centre, which is where I started my search. A Heritage Survey was done in 2003 for our town which "The Old Croft" featured in.

I have discovered that one of the origial owners of "The Old Croft"  were the Scown family, George Scown owned a farm near by and then retired to "The Old Croft" in 1883. We are not sure if these ladys in the photo are part of the Scown family.

 

In a funny twist of fate, George is the great grand uncle of one of our good friends. He was able to tell us that George died at "The Old Croft" at the age of 73 in 1913, after a battle with cancer. George, with his wife (Emily) and son (Henry) are buried in our local cemetery.

 

Then we went for a wander the other day in the cemetery, to see if we could find them.

 

 

It wasn't long before we found the Scown family.

 

 

I am rather excited, I can't believe we have been this lucky to find out this amount of information about "The Old Croft" already. I am looking forward to doing some more investigating in the coming weeks and months.....................

 

but first, I have to organize an electrican, stonemason and someone to look at polishing the floorboards.

 

 I just love owning an old house.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Mel xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Old Croft

Hi Vintage Lovers,

 

It is my pleasure to introduce to you "The Old Croft".

She is our gorgeous circa 1870's cottage that we have just bought.

 

We fell in love with her the first time we laid eyes on her, and she felt like home as soon as we walked though her front door.

 

 

 

She even has an old store house in the garden .......

 

and the old out house has even been incorporated into the shed.

 

She is everything we were looking for and perfect for us. She needs some work and renovating done, just what I love doing. The garden will also need lots of work and TLC and I can't wait to get started.

 

We have decided to do some work on her before we move in, so we are thinking it will be a few weeks yet before we have our first sleep over.

She will certainly be the subject of many more blogs.

Mel xx

 



 

 



 

Happy Easter…….

Hi Vintage Lovers,

Easter is Here.

We have had a few Easter eggs hunts here ...watching the kids' delighted faces as they discover that the Easter Bunny has sucessfully fulfilled his job again is just beautiful.

 

 

Everyone is enjoying the weekend (no chocolate overdoses) and we all had Easter Sunday dinner with the goregeous centre peice above.

 

Good Friday was spent down at my parents farm having a family get together. We have also been to a few markets and cafes, but mostly we have been taking it easy.

 

Easter is the best time to take it easy and have some family time........As well as eating a bit too much chocolate.

Yum!

 

Hope you are having a great Easter.

Mel xx

 

 

 

 

A quick trip home and a rare find.....

Hi Vintage Lovers,

Last week was a busy week finished of with a quick trip home over the weekend.

These gorgeous old houses are on the way home. I think they are adorable and are just in need of a bit of TLC.

I would love to see them renovated and restored...........

It was just an over night stay for a friend's 40th birthday. She had a retro bowling night, which was a great fun night..........to have a few laughs and to catch up with everyone.

A rare picture of me showing my bowling action!

We had a fantastic time, with only one problem - it went way to quick ! We will definitely stay longer next time.

On our way home, we stopped off  at an antique shop or two for a quick look (I can never drive past one) and look what I found!

A beautiful green and cream enamel bread bin.

A very rare find...........and one I've been looking for, for a very very long time.

She matches my cake tin perfectly and will look fantastic in my timber kitchen.

Have a fantastic week.

Mel xx



 

 Favourite Things……

Hi Vintage Lovers,

I have a few lots of favourite things, all of them old, vintage and all of them priceless to me that will look fantastic in our old house. Here's a peek at a few of them before they are packed up ready to be moved to their new old home.

 

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My beautiful old linen and canisters,

 

 

Gorgeous vintage dessert serving spoons and napkins,

 

 

my green and cream enamelware and bowls

 

 

and my candle holder.

 

I can't wait to see them in our old house,

with my old suitcases............

 

They will be rather handy for storage in our old house.

 

 

The sorting and packing has started, getting ready for our move to our old house. Not long to go now, before we have our old house - can't wait. Not that I am counting the days down... well, yes, I kind of am!

Have a great week.

Mel xx

 

A lazy weekend, a few more treasures and candles…….

Hi Vintage Lovers, 

We are taking it easy this weekend.........

 

We have been so busy lately..........we need a weekend at home to catch up on some jobs and have some time out to catch our breath, have a cup of tea or two......

 

 

and some some yummy brunch..........

 

 

 ..........and to catch up on the latest Country Style Magazine.

 

 

 

I found a few more treasures for our old house on our trip home a few weeks ago............an old ladder and a vintage industrial light.

 

 

I am sooooo excited about finding these two. They came from two different antique shops but match perfectly and do seem to be made for each other. I think they will be fantastic in the laundry together.

 

 

I also found this gorgeous green willow dish. I had been looking ages for green willow and couldn't find it anywhere. Funny how you find things that have you been searching for in the places you least expect. I have filled it with chocolate eclairs and butter sotch (handy for when you need a quick sugar fix) and popped it on an old cabinet with some other treasured items in our family room.

 

 

I lit candles at home last night. I love the atmosphere that candles create and having them dotted around the house.........

 

 

 

........especially when you can put candles and vintage together, it is perfect. These old cupcake baking tins are perfect for tea lights on our kitchen table.

 

Hope you are having a fantastic weekend.

 

Mel

 

 

Autumn is here.....

Hi Vintage Lovers,

I just love Autumn, it is my favourite season. The weather is cooler (thank goodness) and the leaves start falling which is just beautiful. I can't wait for scarves and boots, hot chocolate and baking, fires and falling asleep to the sound of rain..........I can't think of anything better.

The garden looks happier and seems to sigh with relief when autumn comes around and I feel like being out in the garden getting my hands dirty again.

I love gardening, and can't wait to start the garden at our new old house. Only six weeks to go.......before she is ours!  I have already started thinking of some ideas for her garden. She does need some work (I like a good challenge) and am planning to re-work the existing front garden to put more traditional plants in with hedges around the borders.

I love my traditional English gardens with symmetry and hedges. I would love to travel to Britain and Europe to see all the beautiful gardens over there.  One day, it's on my bucket list!

My all time favourite plants are roses, aggies, clivias  and hydrangeas to name a few. I can't get enough of them and want the garden full of them.

I am also quite partial to weeping trees and maples and think every garden needs them to make it complete.

I can't wait to get started. I have so many ideas and thoughts on our old house and her garden buzzing around in my head right now. It's hard to think straight! Only six weeks to go........sigh.

What are your favourite garden and garden designs?

Thanks for popping in, have a great weekend.

Mel