Castle Hill Fair July 1st 2012

The sun shone for us all day long!!

Jan Michell and her husband with their lovley china.

Patrick from the Bakelite Museum

Russell Needham with stunning textiles

Barbara's hats!

50's summer dresses sold well...

Our buyers were lovely....

An Edwardian Christening Gown

John and Barbara

Loveday with a beautiful veil

Alice from Homes and Antiques

Nolly's really useful crates

Rita has amazing French textiles

Patrick's stall

Sascha from Frockoholics

Deep in conversation

Donna and Jill

Hoping for good weather!!

Lots of our stallholders for Castle Hill will be bringing gazebos and we are really looking forward to the atmosphere it is going to create having all the bunting and pretty colours around on the fabulous lawns at this wonderful house....

Castle Hill Fire

Vintage Fair July 1st

We understand that there is some speculation that the Vintage Fair might be cancelled due to the tragic fire that happened at Castle Hill last weekend.
The fair will go ahead as planned but would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family of those who died.

The Fortescue Dresses

Lady Arran's Gowns

We now have the pleaseure of giving you a preview of the dresses that are to be exhibited at Castle Hill on July 1st.

 There are about ten dresses altogether that span nearly  a century of dressing up! Some were worn to Royal ocassions and some as everyday garments. All are beautifully made, mostly couture and it has been a real pleasure to handle them and see how they were constructed! The embroidery on the two pictured here is all hand worked and beautifully executed. I have learned a lot!


The yellow cocktail dress is also beautifully embroidered and was worn by Lady Margaret. It is made of silk taffeta and hand worked throughout.

 The Blue Evening dress is silk duchess satin from the 1950's and was worn by Lady Margaret Fortescue. It has the most exquisite hand sewing throughout....and is embroidered all around the lower skirt with beads, pearls and sequins in a floral swirl that was typical of it's time. As many couturiers would not label their dresses for regular clients, we are not sure who this was made by but it could have been Norman Hartnell who designed for the Queen. It has many of his design features.


To see the rest of the collection, come to the Vintage Fair on July 1st. The dresses will be on display in the Red Room.

Now nearly full for the Castle Hill Fair so busy getting  our stock organised and a brand new layout designed!!
We have been photographing the lovely family dresses that Lady Arran has kindly allowed us to put on exhibition at the fair. They are to be 'revealed' in the North Devon Journal soon so watch this space!
Flyers are being distributed all over the West Country so keep an eye out! Tell your friends and come and help us raise funds for the Calvert Trust!!

Homes and Antiques will be joining us as part of their 2012 roadshow!!

Confirmed stallholders include;

Donna Flower with fabulous vintage fabrics and sewing stuff!
Jan Michell who sells lovely china and collectables
Leonore Holder with amazing haberdashery, lovely old magazines and wonderful finds!
Russell and Suzie Needham with their lush textiles and clothes from the 1900's
Pat Campbell from Source for the Goose with furniture, garden and household treasures.
Jill Gibbons with her own wonderful creations using Vintage french Linens.

and more to come!!

We have specialist dealers who have been collecting, buying and selling fashion and textiles for many years, so when you come to this fair not only will you be able to see original couture gowns that were made for the Fortescue family to wear at prestigious events at places such as Buckingham Palace, but also be able to talk to people whose knowledge of such stunning workmanship
is second to none.

Donna Flower's amazing fabrics!


Check out the lovely things on this website;

http://www.dorisandco.co.uk/

Should you want to re-create your own vintage dress, Donna Flower is the person to help you!She sells beautiful fabrics and sewing aids.

Well, now we are getting excited about the next Country House Vintage Fair at Castle Hill!!

Almost fully booked now and with just the outside spaces to fill, its all about the detail!

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There are lots of other wonderful fairs happening too around the West Country, like this one;

Instow Vintage Fair

Just been out buying today and have some amazing stuff for next weekend!!
INSTOW VINTAGE FAIR
Saturday May 19th 11.00am till 4.00pm
Should be a good one!!
All proceeds to North Devon Hospice, so please come along and bring your friends...

We have LOTS of new stallholders and Rosemary's Vintage Tea Shop!!