08/07/2012

A thrifters tale

Happy Sunday to you all.

It is time for my promised post about my thrifty adventures while on holiday in Cornwall. This post will be a little picture heavy, I hope that's ok!

Being, as so many of you are too, totally addicted to vintage china collecting, I make it my mission to visit every charity shop or flea market that I come across. This is especially fun when in a different town, or in my case, county.

I was lucky to be staying in a cottage just outside of a small town that had two charity shops, both of which were shops that were unique to Cornwall so offered something new to the ones you usually find. It didn't take long for me to find a way to pay them a visit and the visit paid off...


So that was that, if I didn't make it into another shop, I wouldn't mind, I had these new additions. But, no surprise, it wasn't long before I started looking up Boot sales and markets in Cornwall.

On the second weekend of the holiday we went off without the parents to visit some flea markets that I had found. It was not my lucky day, both markets were shockingly small and mostly a waste of time and petrol! I did console myself with this set from one of the markets though..


I had been looking for new (old) dinner plates so i wasn't going to leave these behind. 
After leaving the second tiny market empty handed (we're talking three stalls here) we spent some time walking around the town and stumbled upon an Oxfam shop where my disappointment was further quelled by another lovely find.

This is going to be a fruit bowl.

To make up for the disastrous flea market hunt I tried to find some boot sales to visit the following day. I found one that sounded great and a smaller back up sale a little further out. Great, I thought. Readers, it seems that something was against me because it turns out there were no boot sales, both of them non existent, just empty fields. Cue major annoyance and a mini tantrum as we headed home empty handed.

But all was not lost, the boot sale Gods were not totally against me and I spotted a sign for a Sunday boot sale in the town we were staying near. Cue a quick mood change.

So, we headed to the boot sale on Sunday morning full of hope. I saw cars, I saw boots. My luck was changing. It was soon very obvious that this was quite possibly the smallest boot sale I had ever seen with only 5 sellers. But that did not discourage me, oh no. Five sellers is better than none at all! I came away with some real treasures having only spent £2!


 Pastel green shades are my absolute favourite and I was very pleased to be able to inject this colour into my collection. And for the total price of £1, I wasn't going to resist. I also managed to find two big jars for £1 showing that when it comes to boot sales, it is not always about size.

My tale does not end there though folks. On a rather miserable Monday last week I decided to make another trip to the local town to look around the two lovely charity shops again..just in case. One of the shops, excellently named 'Sweet Charity' was having a china sale with a table full of china at unbelievable prices. I had a good rummage through the piles of plates, bowls and side plates and found myself a little three piece treat..


I found a beautifully shaped rose print plate, a powder blue side plate in a similar shape and a lovely rose print side plate to finish off. Care to guess how much this trio set me back...20p..that's right...20 pence. Didn't I pick a good day to pop back into the shop?

Needless to say, I am rather thrilled with my china finds and my collection is now full to the brim. It is definitely time for a bigger dresser!

It wasn't all about china though, I found a few other treasures to. Like a set of three vintage cake forks and then there was these little beauties..


So, thank you Cornwall. Thank you for these treasures but not for your rubbish markets and boot sales!

With love,

Lexie



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17 comments:

  1. LoVe the pastel green too! So so pretty! What fabulous treasure Lexie!
    Victoria xx

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    1. Thank you Victoria. Very pleased that someone shares my love for Pastel green :)

      Lexie

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  2. hello Lexie
    Reading this very interesting post hurts!!!
    All those lovely flea markets and booty sales I am so envious. TCH!!!
    its the fruit bowl you see....I have a thing about bowls and jugs ...that one is particularly attractive. However I'd settle for all of it too :-)

    Amanda :-)

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    1. Oooo Amanda...If I ever see one like it I will make sure to get it for you :)

      x

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    2. Gosh! that would be fantastic! I've been looking on ebay uk and very tempted to buy a piece or two but of course the post pushes the price up and it also worries me if they'd wrap it well.

      A x

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  3. Loving the china, you managed to get some right steals there. I only stopped by a few of charity shops, one in Tintagel and a couple in Newquay but came out empty handed :( I have got a few charity shop finds locally though that I will be blogging about once I have caught up with all that is Cornwall related (and that is a lot tee hee) x x x x

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    1. I went into the Tintagel shop too. I found the three cake forks in there. Looking forward to seeing your finds!

      x

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  4. wow what wonderful finds, sounds like you were very lucky! Glad you had a nice holiday and found some good bits! x

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    1. Thanks Faye,

      I also managed to pick up some treasures for your jar :)

      x

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  5. Oh wow what finds!
    I am on the hunt at the moment, I am collecting china for my wedding, its quite hard to find in my local charity shops these days, think I need to venture to some car boots too!
    Love absolutely everything you've found :) xxx

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    1. Ahh I bet that's loads of fun! I am happy to lend anything and if you have particular styles in mind I can keep an eye out while on my thrifty adventures!

      x

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  6. Thanks so much for the comment lexie! I would absolutely love if you could keep an eye out, that would be so lovely of you! I'm just after pretty, floral, pastel - especially like the cups in your top photo and the lovely pastel green although I understand if you found such gems again you'd probably want to keep them!!!
    my email address is gemahogan@hotmail.com if you see anything you want to share! Or I can send you my mobile number if thats handier (thinking if you were out and about it might be easier!) xxx

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  7. Also, are you on instagram? if so what is your username? I am @littlegem12 xxxx

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  8. What a lovely selection of china..great finds (especially the pretty china plates for .20p..bargain!)
    Magie x

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    1. I struck gold with those ones Magie!

      x

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  9. this is such a bargin! great post <3

    www.divagirlstrikesagain.blogspot.co.uk

    Natali xox

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I would love to hear from you! Leave me your blog address or e-mail and I'll write straight back.

Love,

Lexie

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