Welcome to The Country Brocante Journal

My mum was always sewing! I loved turning the handle on her treasured Singer sewing machine while she created curtains and all kinds of clothes for her and me. Most evenings I would sit sewing clothes for my teenage doll or inventing patterns for teddies and horses, I still have them! As a very shy and rather anxious child, I completely lost myself in crafts of all kinds and later, in my 42-year teaching career, I realised how important creative activities are to mental health, both...

Some of you reading this already know me, Angeline and my small business Chalk & Paisley, you will therefore be familiar with the fabrics and products that I love to work with. My 'brand' is one of delicate pastels, historically within the pink palette, with more forays into blues (faded of course!) My 'makings' are a continually evolving area for me, partly because I like to incorporate a 'one off' quality to everything I create, it could be my stitch calligraphy around a heart...

And so it appears that the whole of April will be spent at home! In many ways, casting all the obvious worries aside, this is such a luxury - to be able to spend time at home, pottering, baking, gardening.. all the time in the world! It is as though we have pressed pause on life, just for a little while (we hope..) The weather has been absolutely beautiful so far, warm sunny days that are longer and lighter and filled with the sounds of spring now that there is far less traffic, on...

At the end of February, the rumblings and speculation of a lockdown and potential cancellation of mass gathering and school closures were on the horizon but not yet confirmed, it felt like a storm was gathering on the horizon. I think, like most people, we felt a deep sense of unease about what this meant for us personally and for our business. Weather is our always our main concern, weeks and sometimes even months ahead of the fairs we are glued to the changing forecasts set for the...