Peterborough Antiques Fair is not one of the biggest Fairs, but it is one of our favourites. I do almost all my buying at the outdoor stands, so it was nice that the weather finally turned sunny.

The best shopping is always done on Dealer’s Day, but you can only get in if you have the right tickets. Fortunately, there are ways and means of giving the ferocious gate guards the run-around, if you’re prepared to take your chances. And what’s life if you don’t take the occasional chanII'vce?

Yet again, the buying was fabulous. My biggest purchase was some charming daffodil bulb trays from an old flower farm in Norfolk. They’re like the kettering trays for potatoes that are always so, so popular when I can find them, but they’re smaller. I’d never seen any before, so naturally I had to buy 50. That was all the good ones available, so it was the most I could take. Quarantine is going to have a cow when it sees them. I’ve found lots of lovely wooden things this trip, so in fact Quarantine is going to go into melt-down.

I also found 7 very heavy metal storage tubs from an engineering factory that are stackable. I have no idea what people will do with them, I just know they’re fabulous. Plus I now have a good selection of wooden stools, a nice Chinese-influenced wooden side table, and a couple more brass-topped Byzantine Revival tables. I can go for several trips and not see a single Byzantine Revival table, but this trip I’m seeing more than ever. Getting them at the right price is the trick, and it is proving to be a dang tricky trick. But ot a few to show you, including the cutest, dinkiest little one I’ve ever seen.

So we’ve already taken two entirely full van-loads to the shippers and I’m just over half way to fulfilling my Mission of finding 1000 nice antique and vintage things. Tomorrow we’re catching a ferry to France, where the first stop will be Brittany to buy lots of good old copper pots and pans. Hopefully we’ll have a good Channel crossing, but right now a hurricane is heading into the north Atlantic, of all places.

I thought hurricanes were only tropical weather phenomena, and I certainly know they Hardly ever Happen in Hampshire. The the heavy rain has already started in the south-west of England, but with luck it will have passed by morning. We’ve only ever had one bad Channel crossing, and it had little to recommend it. So fingers crossed for a calm, sunny trip tomorrow.

Hopefully we'll only be blown away by the shopping. More soon from Paris. Meanwhile, I’ll pop a selection of more photos on FB.