Spring Opening

April 30 -- May 1, 2005

This month's buying trip to England was unusual for us in several ways. First, most of the American friends we usually see at one place or another had decided to stay home, largely because of a dollar to pound ratio of nearly double. At the same time, English dealers claim to be having great difficulty finding stock. We tried to compensate by planning an extensive travel itinerary around five major fairs and markets. Our travels took us to fourteen counties, and we put just over two thousand miles on our rented Vauxhall Vectra diesel. This was our itinerary:

Wednesday, March 30    Arrive in England

Thursday, March 31    Antiques for Everyone; Birmingham; West Midlands

Friday, April 1    Swinderby Antiques Market; Swinderby, Lincolnshire

Saturday, April 2    Portobello Antiques Market; London

Sunday, April 3    Malvern Antiques Fair; Great Malvern, Worcestershire

Monday-Wednesday, April 4-6    Shops in Liecestershire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire and Berkshire

Thursday, April 7    Newark Antiques Fair; Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire

Friday, April 8    Shops in Northamptonshire and Warwickshire

Saturday-Tuesday, April 9-12    Hampshire and Sussex

To offset the effect of the ailing dollar, we purchased very little furniture on this trip, reducing our shipping costs and putting our resources into interesting, reasonably priced accessories. We sought -- and found -- variety and freshness. The spoils of our adventure--and one or two pieces of furniture from our personal collection-- will be unveiled at our Gala Spring Opening on April 30 and May 1 from 10:00 until 5:00. As our regulars have come to expect, we'll have refreshments all day, which will become slightly more potent after noon. We hope that you'll be able to come.

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