Time for a virtual visit to the This'n'That shop!

Lots more vintage school posters all mounted and wrapped ready for you to frame (& a great reduction negotiated with the local framer for This'n'That customers!!)

Enid Blyton, Ladybird, Rupert etc. still This'n'That favourites!

Some great new embroidered cushions ... from £8.50!

Lots more china coming in daily (from my secret china hoard which has been growing over the winter. I'm having such fun unpacking it since usually I've forgotten what I packed away so at the moment every day is loke Christmas Day!!)

Lashings of ginger beer kits to make your own brew for those Blyton adventures!

Just can't resist books. Originally I intended to limit myself to just two shelves in the big bookcase but now they are threatening to take over!

Bliss, Oh joy! Now they are making little notebooks just like the Peter Rabbit books with a beautiful picture on the cover, usual front/back pages, marker ribbon and a colour printed page (all the rest are blank for you to write upon).

The garden corner of the window is still popular and filled with gift ideas.

The bookcase with those famous guinea pig egg cups and other bits and pieces of this and that!

Also, more posters on offer. I have sorted out some of the Enid Blyton nature plates which are not quite good enough for me to pay to have them mounted and wrapped but great bargains for you to frame at home.

Bloggy pics by Lidi ... as promised :)

The Babycham glasses and other promotional stuff continue to be popular. You can still buy the packs of four little bottles in many supermarkets and put with a pair of vintage glasses they make a great gift.

As soon as I have space there's a beautiful old cocktail cabinet to come in for sale. Will post a pic asap.

These retro styled stacking blocks and alphabet cards have been real favourites over the past month but I have a feeling that they are going as decorative items for retro minded grown -ups rather than as toys for children ... and why not?!

One of my favourite pieces of shop furniture ... the 50's cabinet is for sale but somehow I won't be sad if it's slow to sell!!

Knitted cakes made by my friend Sue. She lives in France but knits cakes for me when she visits. She even knitted one for my tom cat Leo (see earlier blogs for his stunning good looks and conical shape!) since he kept running off with the finished stock. The card is one of Lidi's photo cards and is for sale in the shop too.

As usual there's a tumble of stuff outside the shop. I suppose that its meant to show passers by what a mix of things they'll find in the shop. However, the other day I seemed to have picked all garden gifts and a passing vistor came in expecting a garden centre!

These lovely button badges are made for me by 'Sumptuosity' and are part of the growing range of cracker /stocking fillers for the 'grown - ups priced under a fiver! (£3.95 for these small ones).

Time to blog once more! Introducing Lidi :)

Sorry that I've not ben blogging lately. Not quite sure where the time goes but it's been a really busy summer and autumn at home and in the shop.

At the moment I still open for five days each week with Thursday and Sunday as closing days. My friend Lidi now takes charge of the shop for a couple of days each week. The days vary but I'm often in town on Lidi's days too, dashing around with new stock to unload and of course, having the odd cup of coffee in The Tangerine Tree!

You may have seen the apple picker in an earlier blog ... well, here it is again with Lidi! Thought I should introduce her. She's helped a lot over the years since This'n'That opened but now it's a regular arrangement and she knows just about as much about all of our lines as I do :)

Fortunately, she is a really good photographer and so we now stock some of her images as greetings cards and you will also see a lot of her work represented in the bloggy pics of the shop! When Lidi's website is finished I'll pop in a link so that you can see her work and maybe even pass it on to anyone in search of a photographer (look out for the pics which she took for Langage ... their lovely dairy cows looked even more fetching than usual!!)

They've arrived!! Nov. 09

I've ordered these wonderful little tin bird brooches to be in stock by the second week in October. Can't wait and can't decide which one I want ... such are the joys of having a shop and getting too attached to the stock ... I'm sure that we've got a therapy somewhere in Totnes to help me to be more businesslike:)

They will sell for £26 each and are handmade by Melanie Tomlinson who is based in the Midlands. You may have seen one of the birds in a recent Country Living but can't recall which one and my copy has gone to ground in the chaos which is our home!

PS. The birds vary in size from 6.5 to 8.9cm long. Thanks for reminding me Floss:)

Apple Time

Not quite the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness yet but the early mornings are certainly a bit cooler. There are a few 'apple' items coming into the shop.




More of the popular enamelled buckets Usually £22 now reduced to £18

Also a new line, a wicker apple picker (about 3 feet long) at a great price of just £7.50!




I hope that last year's best selling wrapping paper with pictures of dozens of varieties will be arriving soon. I already have the sheets of 'apple names' wrap and will try to scan some of it to add to this post soon.

Introducing Pegasus!!

Thought it was time to introduce you to this legendary guy who lives in our garden. He is a (very) large wire sculpture by a local artist. I regularly sell smaller pieces by him in the shop. The interesting thing is that Richard only uses 'found' materials and so some of his projects can take some time to complete whilst he searches for what is required.

Recent trove!! As yet not polished up and restored but thought you'd like to see what I've found!

Couldn't resist this lovely book. Don't know anyone off to Ireland at the moment so it's for sale in the shop. It's brand new and beautifully illustrated on thick, quality paper! Love it!!

Lots of other books below to come into the shop. I'm especially pleased that there are more natural history/gardening ones. The old penguin ones on fruit are by Mr. Bush!

Below: a mottley collection all awaiting This'n'That's brand of TLC from Mr. Fixit!! Funny how things seem to appear in batches! This week's batch would appear to be little brown cases. As you can see the largest has drawers! Now I have to wrestle with the options of whether to keep it (and perhaps line it with paper or fabric) or to sell it for someone else to do the TLC stuff!

I used to be indecisive but now I'm not too sure:)

The cash boxes make great treaure boxes and have trays with little compartments inside. One is being polished up as I type this and once gleaming they will go into the shop.

The milk bottles are an interesting collection. They are popular as 'kitchen windowsill vases' and look great with a bunch of buttercups or suchlike.

Ironically, one had a picture of a milkfloat and a message which read "Don't let your milkman become a thing of the past", and here I am selling the bottle as a collectable!

This book was something of a 'wildcard' for me since I sell very few new books. It's all about the postcard as artwork - very funky and modern looking.

More maps .... lovely miniature shears (can't say childsize since the health & safety thought police would get me!)

The ceramic bowl with a shiny metal rim is a curious thing. It has a flowery print (very olde worlde) and then painted over it (and glazed and fired) is Clarice Cliff style angular, orange, red and black design. I can only think that it was used as an developmental or training piece as styles changed in the 30's.

Pimms bunting ... well do I need to say more? Even without the bunting we all deserve a little tipple and a few mins of tennis on TV. The cocktail shaker is a penguin with a bow tie. Every home should have one:)

I'm so pleased with the miniature insulated tea pot and the egg cups but ... yes ... I will be brave and sell them ... honestly!

The season for summer picnics seems to be upon us and so I will be bringing them in over the next few weeks.

Finally ... Fred! Lovely boy:)

Remember Jane of Ladybird fame?!

Well, in those days the Mums and daughters did all of the housework whilst Peter and his Dad did the manly stuff like mowing the lawn and playing with the dog!
I admit that she's looking in need of being ironed (must be all of the chores giving her wrinkles) but I just had to take a pic. as soon as I unpacked her.
'She' is a teatowel which I sell for £5.95. If any bloggers would like one I could find out postage which I doubt would be much. It comes in a cello pack with a 'ladybird' card top.

Remember the old canvas Li-Los??

I was so pleased to find one of the old cardboard Li-Lo pumps and now it's proudly displayed with the new inflatable cushions which I sell. They are just like the old ones with a cottony canvas outer layer and rubber backing. There is a stopper on a string to pop in once its blown up and the front is a pale aqua with old roses whilst the back is the same aqua colour but with spots.
I have full size Li-Lo style airbeds in the same shades too but every time that I get around to displaying them the weather changes! (pics soon once I have inflated them)
The cusions sell for £11.50 and the airbeds for £35

Arts Award presents "A Day at the Beach - 1950's" with KEVICC students in partnership with This'n'That on Saturday 23rd May.

What a great start to the day on Saturday when a group of KEVICC students set up outside the shop to present their version of This'n'That's 1950's beach theme.
They were just great and deserve a big round of applause. The students had visited the shop previously to choose the aspect to focus upon ... and well ... the pictures speak for themselves!! They even put down sand to create the 'beach' from which they 'paddled'.

Remember when?!

As visitors to the shop already know, it is small and not very perfectly formed. What I would really enjoy doing, given more space, is to offer a comfy corner for you to catch up with all of those old comics, Enid Blytons. Biggles, Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drews etc. etc.
Oh well it's nice to dream ... meanwhile you are really welcome to call in and browse:)

As I'm always saying to visitors to the shop, when you start to browse through the old comics, books and annuals you will start to remember things which you never even realised you'd forgotten! ... If you see what I mean:)