The wonders of ... 'the shed' ... and blue sky!

Sunday dawned bright and blue (sorry for those folk who were stuck overseas but the brilliant blue of the skies was amazing!). Should we go off to the car boot or not? The decision was to stay at home and to tidy out my shed. Yes, we have his and hers sheds and both are jammed full! Mine is (was) the worst with stuff at the back which hasn't seen the light of day in years.


We didn't take a 'before' shot (too horrible) but above is the 'almost done' shot.


Everything was spread out in the garden, sorted and then lots of stuff washed and cleaned whilst three car loads went off to the tip.

These broken crocks (accidentally not hurled I promise), are the result of years of saving little bits for a mosaic idea which has been festering around since I saw Gaudi's work in Barcelona. No, it won't be a monumental building .. just a garden table with all of the colours of the rainbow picked out in vintage china.

Do you recall the mnemonic used in school to remind us of the order of the colours of the rainbow?

"Richard of York gave battle in vain". Maybe you used a different one?

As the day wore on the sky became more blue and the garden more full!

Then, the kitchen filled up as the trove was washed and spread out. Much better than a morning at the car boot. I'd forgotten most of this stuff and found it wrapped in 2004 newspaper!

I'm especially please to have found several honeypots and quite a selection of old plates and 50's tumblers.

The pixie mug on the right is my favourite and so I went through the usual inner wrestling with "to sell or not to sell" but the shop won and it's sitting there along with the others as I blog!

The cottage tea pot and biscuit barrel were a complete revelation! I can't even recall when I bought them. My guess is that they were made mid 20th century or maybe earlier. Note the daisies on our lawn which is more like a salad than the striped green glory which Mr Fixit aspires to own!

Finally, a glimpse of Pegasus. He was sculpted by Totnes artist Richard Dawson Hewitt. Richard only uses 'found' materials for his work and made this large Pegasus in 2003 from recycled frezer baskets! We freshen him up (Pegasus not Richard!) with a coat of white paint each spring. Then, he will sit on his stand behind some shrubs looking as though he is leaping over the hedge.

I often have smaller pieces of Richard's work for sale in the shop. You will also see them (at much higher prices) at the Dartington Cider Press Centre. I'll try to do a feature blog on them soon.