This year we decided to grow more of our own – and we’ve got no excuse, as Todmorden‘s the home of Incredible Edible.

We have a variety of crops to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Most of them are growing in containers as much of our garden is paved with stone cobbles. It also makes protecting them from the ubiquitous slugs & snails much easier.

We use lots of the old galvanised metal ‘dolly tubs’, buckets and bins.

The plants seem to like it!

Potatoes, beetroot, carrots, tomatoes, rhubarb, strawberries, broccoli, courgettes, squash, peashoots, salad leaves, a variety of herbs – and yes, those are figs.

There’s still a little room for some flowers.

Perennials like the hostas, astilbes and lupins return each year like old friends. Although this year’s harsh winter saw a few losses.

To these we add a few annuals – osteospermums,  lobelia and the like.

We’ve enjoyed working in the garden this year. We don’t think self-sufficiency is here just yet – but hopefully we’ll reap some rewards!

This kitchen cupboard/kitchenette has been this week’s little renovation project.

We collected it from a garage in Wakefield – and set about giving it a bit of TLC.

First of all it got a good wash inside & out. The original red Formica was very faded and mottled, so we repainted it in a lovely vintage green…

…and lined the shelves with a chintzy oil cloth.

It’s now standing in our Picture House Antiques Centre pitch waiting for someone to give it a new home -  in the meantime, it’s great for display.

We recently decided to upgrade our space in the local antiques centre from a cabinet to a room-sized pitch. It will enable us to sell a much wider variety of items. It’s our usual mix of mid-century modern, handmade objects and rustic antiques.

There’s enamelware, ceramics, glass and fabrics… we’ve had some fantastic vintage posters framed for the walls… there are clocks, lighting and larger pieces of furniture.

It’s been quite a busy week – there are slideshows below charting the move.

BEFORE
(Items cluttering up our lounge, waiting to go)

DURING
(boxes to unpack, shelves to put up & pictures to hang)

AFTER
(More tweaking will surely be done, but we’re happy with the result so far)

Come pay us a visit if you’re ever in the area!

We recently picked up some lovely vintage teak dining chairs from a local auction. They’re from the Moselle range produced by A. Younger Ltd in the 1950s. The upholstry was looking very tired, generally letting them down. We’ve set about re-covering them. We bought the fabric a few years ago and have been waiting for just the right project to use it on. Here are the early results.

They’ll soon make a wonderful set. They come with a matching extendable dining table.

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