We went to one of my favourite shops yesterday. Vintage Retreat is just outside Northampton town centre, close to the high rise "New Life" buildings. It has a huge black elephant on the roof, that always makes me smile. Inside, set over two floors are many little units, each set up by different traders, and a large cafe. I could happily go there every week and spend an hour or two wandering and wallowing in the nostalgia which courses through my veins as soon as I enter the door.
Everywhere I see echoes of my parents, my great uncles and aunties. The tea set with yellow roses, the blue glass vases with the cat perched precariously on the edge, and the mouse inside, old stripy deckchairs and big old wooden handled shovels and garden forks. There are cooking utensils, old meat stores with marble bases, 1950s folding tables and chairs, industrial lighting, old blankets, fabric, babycham glasses, telephones, radios and far too many other things to list. Vintage Retreat is so good for the soul.
It is like an Aladdin's cave, with other traders having upcycled and crafted items for sale, and dedicated record and clothing areas. It is like a darker edgier vintage version of Ikea, and you can never go there without buying something. When we extended the kitchen in 2014, the under the stairs alcove was turned into a home for my floor to ceiling china cabinet, which I have now filled. I LOVE old cups, saucers and tea plates, especially the little hand painted ones with yellow and orange flowers. But the cabinet is now full and I have to control those urges because there is no room for any more.
And when I have finished browsing, I find a table in the cafe and spend a few hours more trying to decide what to eat. Sometimes I opt for the old favourites, garlic mushroom and spinach melt with bacon, or brie and homemade chutney sandwiches. These are always served with homemade coleslaw and very fresh salad with their own dressing. L, being a girl of very plain tastes likes to have boiled egg and soldiers, whereas T favours the BLT. Mr C and I have had to restrain ourselves since we started the Slimming World lifestyle choice (shouts IT'S NOT A DIET), but even the jacket potatoes are delicious.
They play really good music too. Sometimes Northern Soul, but yesterday it was the crooners - Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. There is just a great vibe there. And such a range of people. I can never predict who I will bump into - it seems to appeal to such a cross section of people.
T and her boyfriend came with me yesterday, along with J who is on half term this week. T's boyfriend had never been before and we had to practically drag him around as he wanted to see everything. I tried to think how I would have felt faced with such a place at the age of 19, and I am sure that I would have found it dull and depressing, apart from maybe the records, the vintage clothing and the cafe. It is so low tech, the complete opposite of what I expect my own kids to enjoy, and yet they are just as happy as I am to wander aimlessly through its rooms, where they can touch and see and smell objects, many of which were regular features from my childhood, but which must surely look like museum pieces to them.
It is one of my happy places. Full of kind, chatty and mainly happy people of all ages and sizes. You should go.
Comments