travel in 2010...

While the economy suffers, we do not. Our trips to France and England bring us many more opportunities. The buying is even more fun now. Here is a glimpse of the unique and fun items we secured on two trips to Europe this year. Our home in France was Hotel De Europe, in Avignon. It is here that we were fortunate to secure one of our special zinc top store counters.We buy as many store counters as we can find in France and the UK. We also found one morning the most beautiful Enfilade we have found in years. It was in cherry and had the most beautiful patina.

Before leaving France we found a wonderful collection of French wine signs. This was a new contact for us and we are hoping to have a source for these unique old signs. We can’t leave the south of France without a visit to our favorite restaurant in Avignon. All the meals in France are special but this place is over the top good. You must try it if you’re traveling in that area.

Off to the UK and those of you that follow our trip are aware of our home away from home, Callow Hall, in the countryside of Staffordshire.

While there we were fortunate enough to find more store counters. One piece came from an English grocery store and comes complete with baskets, original to the counter. We can’t find enough shop and store counters, to be the centerpiece of our customers kitchen. This piece , bought on our last day of the 2nd trip this year, came from an English bakery and its totally original, including the marble top, which is removable.

2010 also introduced us to a very special artist, Roger Groth. We met him on a personal vacation to the wine country, in Sonoma. Roger did a series of paintings on dog training and we asked him to make us two pieces to put into our store. The content of his work and country feeling of our store is just perfect.

Each trip is unique and all are different , in the sense that you never know what you will find. The similarity is that we always have fun and always find some very special pieces.