Yes, that's our name - we wander around, buying and selling, here and there. It's French for pedlar or hawker, but marchands ambulants sounds much more respectable and, as usual, we did a lot of "ambulanting" around junk and antique shops on our recent trip. I pinched the name from Priscilla Carluccio, sister of Terence Conran and an icon to ladies of a certain age. (She is 76 - if she's still in the loop there's no excuse for we spring chickens not to be.) Priscilla has a blog herself, from which I learned that she too was once a "pedlar", in France. She also mentions Alastair Hendy's retro-style shop, the coolest shop in Hastings, almost too cool for us to dare to enter.
Click on this link to see more.
Here are some more of the shops we found in Hastings and Rye.
Here are a few of the things I found...
...a tiny Victorian cross-stitch sampler, just 1 by 2.5 inches in size.
A little dress shirt for a gentleman with an 8 inch chest
An antique miniature dresser made from slate mined at Blaenau Ffestiniog in about 1850.
A model Arts & Crafts chair, finely crafted in oak...
...a prospective new owner already trying it for size.
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Your photos and the beautiful shops that are their subject make me quite homesick! I do miss the lovely, fascinating and curious shops of England - it's not the style of the town where I live at all. These all look so inviting and interesting. I absolutely love your model Arts and Crafts chair...as for the miniature dresser, it's perfect! Axxx
ReplyDeleteThank you Annie - I enjoy your photos of Spain too. I was 16 when I last visited and I won't tell you how long ago that is, but one abiding memory is of the exceptionally kind & friendly Spanish people.
ReplyDeleteNilly x