The Vintage Fair

On Saturday, Tim and I took the girls to a vintage fair at a local pub,The Bickley, in Chislehurst. It was the first one we had been to and it was brilliant. The whole garden was taken up with a huge marquee complete with pretty bunting and tables and chairs for you to relax and enjoy the singers and dancing .

‘What has this got to do with baking’ I hear you ask, well I’ll tell you. Cakestands!  I have a small addiction to cakestands. I may have mentioned that before. Tim thinks my collection stands a nine, but it’s actually 21 (Shhhh! don’t tell him) I use them for everything, all over the house – fruit bowls, soap dishes and my fav is a huge three tier etagere  with glass plates which has all my corsages, necklaces and some dangly earrings hanging from it.

But my favorite use is of course when we have a family gathering and I can pile them high with cakes, which takes me straight back to the Vintage fair!

At the back of the marquee they were serving tea and cakes on beautiful mix and match vintage china. It looked really great all piled high. There were Victoria Sponges, Coffee and walnut cake, gluten free orange cake and brownies as well as chocolate and sugar mice (well, you have to keep the kids happy don’t you?)

Amongst all these delicacies were beautiful cake stands with price tags on. I was chatting to the owner of the pub who told me about the company that hire out the china for events like the fair and weddings and parties. (It’s called Lilac and Willow you can email them at info@hirevintagecrockery.com, but I have a feeling that they only deliver in the Bromley area)  But they also have a website where they sell the fabulous cakestands.

I got to see a great selection of their wares on one of the stalls.  Caketands are just a small selection of what they sell. There are also pretty plates and teacup and saucers filled with candles as well as vintage tins. Visit their website at www.bespokebyblossom.co.uk

I have to say that my favorites were the ones with the tea cups at the top – how great would they be for storing and displaying earrings? and the ones with the square cake plates at the bottom tier. I haven’t got any like that, but as Tim was with me I had to resist. Thanks goodness for the website. Now I can sneak one home without him noticing and when her mentions it I can say “What that old thing. I’ve had it for years!!!”

enjoy!