Yesterday 23 January 2019

I had a lovely day out with a friend.  We went to Market Deeping Antiques Centre and for once were able to take our time and have a good root around.  I love this side of going to Charity shops or indeed Antique Centres.  I like car boots too.  I love the looking, the touching and the joy at finding a lovely piece or an unexpected find.  It pleases me.  I like a lot of stuff and I don't go a bundle on everything.  When I was younger I liked to collect sets of this and sets of that but as I have got older and run out of room I have I think become more selective in my choices.  In the interim quite a lot of stuff has left the building and a lot more has yet to leave.  I am getting rid of stuff slowly.

Recently at the Stamford Antiques Centre I came across a glazed terracotta panchion, which very unusually had a lid.  It was a wonderful piece which was approximately £90 {I did not like the price though}.  I fell for it hook line and sinker.  It is the only panchion I have seen with a lid.  I made a detailed inspection of it and found a hairline crack in it.  Even though the piece had spoken to me and wanted me to take it home I would not because it was terracotta and ideally I wanted to be able to use the piece.

My great grandparents on my mum's side used to have a bakery in the Sheffield area of Brightside Bierlow.  My grandmother used to talk to my mum when she was small of having to get up early in order to clean the bakery out after their mum and dad had turfed the rising bread out of the panchions to be cleaned and having to scrub the bakery out with her sister. We are not quite sure what happened but the family ended up moving to Lincoln where my Great Grandmother became a lady tobacconist and a land lady. Great Granddad was a wheelwright and apparently had his own business in the Chesterfield area and used to commute between Chesterfield and Lincoln.  From what we can make out from the limited family history Great Grandmother was quite wealthy in her own right until the Wall Street crash.  So for me, owning a panchion like this would be a connection representative of part of my family's history.  I want to be able to use one though.

I have through the years bought various bits of Kitchenalia with the proviso that it has to be usable. I recently bought a Strawberry double ice cream mould (which obviously forms the shape of a Strawberry) and it is in excellent condition.

Today I have found a small shallow stone bowl.  It is the right size and shape ideal for making scones in for the princely sum of £3 (which my friend treated me to) and that has come home with me.  As I am hoping to re-introduce Sunday tea back into our lifestyle, this bowl could not have come at a better time, timing wise and this Saturday I intend to use it to make a couple of batches of scones.

After we had been to the Antiques Centre we went to her home and had a big bowl of Tomato soup to warm us up together with some crusty bread and butter and that suited me fine.  Later on, on the way back home we stopped off for a piece of cake and a pot of tea at The Granary Tea Rooms which is part of the Willowbrook Farm complex.  Good company and good service very good service.

So after playing hookey yesterday it is now down to the grind today.  Have a lot to do.  Catch you all later on.

Pattypan

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