lovely jubbly london

Sunbury Antiques Market

I have finally found it.

The best antiques market near London is at Kempton Park.

For those of you without a car, don't fret- there is a train station in the parking lot and plenty of vans ready to deliver your goods straight to your door.

Word of warning? Arrive early. We arrived at 6.30am and 4 hours later, I still felt like I wasn't finished. Upon opening, many dealers will only have a small selection of their items out. An hour later, every stand will be unrecognisable and new goods will appear with every pass.

 

 

 

 

If you see something you definitely want, buy it then and there. Many items I liked were gone by my second pass and while some dealers will take credit cards, cash is definitely king.

I brought the above home with me and if the sideboard wasn't so large, you can bet I would have bought more! Many people bought the large baskets on wheels (laundry baskets?) and then used them to hold everything they bought which was genius.

Sunbury Antiques

Kempton Park Racecourse

Station: Kempton Park 

Trains depart from London Waterloo and take 45 minutes direct.

The market takes place the second and last Tuesday of each month.

Don't worry about bringing food, the food truck makes surprisingly yummy toasted breakfast sandwiches. 

Hall's Bookshop

I have a slight obsession when it comes to antiquarian books and Hall's Bookshop in Tunbridge Wells is one of my favourite spots.

 I don't ever buy anything really old (aka expensive), just books I love or want to love.

I never manage to leave Hall's without a stack of books and my biggest secret is that I buy classics in bulk to give as gifts. If you're an expat like me, your American relatives and friends will love receiving a classic English novel. The best part is (and this is really the secret)- you can pick up an old classic for less than £10! It's a win-win.

 

Hall's Bookshop

20-22 Chapel Place

Tunbridge Wells

{Darling} Dorking

This weekend I discovered the charming little town of Dorking. The antiques on West Street are definitely not to be missed.

If antiques aren't your thing, Dorking also has a variety of modern shops and a little bit of American history to boot.

Dorking can easily be reached by train from London if you don't have a car.

back in American hands

 

Back in July our village church brought out these chairs and the Vicar and her husband told me they were just for me. I instantly fell in love and wanted a few. Fast forward a few months and we were talking about them again. Her husband told me it was too bad I didn't want any and they got burned in the bonfire. I was like, what?! I wanted one or two! 

Then a few nights ago I went with the husband over to the church because he went to look at something for them. While there we were exploring and ventured up the very small and narrow stone stairs that are normally behind a locked door so I could see upstairs. Well, lo and behold there was a stack of the chairs! The Vicar of course, told me to take some (the husband only let me take two) so I did. And I really want to go back and look at a few more...

What is so special about these chairs you ask? Well take a look-

 

You're looking at chairs the US military used during WWII. Doing a bit of research I found out that five million of these chairs were made for the military and somehow a few ended up here. Who knows, maybe there was a WWII US military base right in this very village.