Vintage & Retro Fair and a Detour to a Burlesque Shop (with Bonus Dinosaurs)

On Saturday there was a vintage and retro fair held in Torquay town hall, so I decided to go along with a friend of mine and check it out, since the one at Torre Abbey had been enjoyable! There were lots of stalls selling items mainly from eras ranging from the 1920s - 1960's, though some were a little older and some were a little newer. 

Some vintage magazine covers for Pan and Pearls Soap adverts on one of the stalls caught my eye, but, ultimately, I didn't end up buying them. I did, however, purchase two rather lovely items, for even lovelier prices.

A necklace with two flies and a beetle.

The above necklace is approximately 5.5 inches (14cm) across, really unusual and so detailed!  The bodies of the flies are covered in a thick, textured fabric, but everything else is either molded or done in enamel effect. Perhaps it's not to everyone's taste, but I love things like this and am also very fond of insects, so it was a great find for £2.50! 

The other item I bought was the brooch below, which is about 1.5 inches (3.8cm) across and is a beautiful deep red colour. It was £1.50 and is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for to go with a ring I have.

Apparently there had been singing and dancing earlier in the morning, but we didn't arrive in time to see it (sorry Sandy Sparkle, I'm sure you were fabulous!). However, the DJ was still playing retro classics the whole time we were there and, although it wasn't really my kind of music, it did add to the atmosphere of the event and it was a nice touch.

After the fair we walked to the indoor market via the high street and saw something about Dinosaur World in vacant shop window on the way there:

Dinosaurs hiding in the windows!

At the indoor market, we headed for a burlesque-themed shop called Annie's Boutique. Despite its little size, it always has a good selection of gothic, rockabilly/psychobilly, burlesque and retro inspired items for sale, including dresses, skirts, jewellery, accessories, shoes, and corsets. According to the website, Annie also offers a free personal corset fitting service, but I haven't tried it out on the occasions I've visited the shop.

However, I did buy a fascinator and a rather lovely hat/hair pin:

You may have realised this by now, but I'm rather fond of costume jewellery. I much prefer things that I think look ornate and interesting as opposed to those that simply have monetary value. Not that I could afford those expensive ones even if I did want them, haha!

When we got back, my friend wanted to mess about taking some photos of me, so we did that. Those are all that're under the cut below, so feel free to skip them! ;D

The International Agatha Christie Festival - Exhibition & Vintage Fair at Torre Abbey

The town I live in happens to be the birthplace of Agatha Christie, who was known throughout the world for her novels, largely of the murder mystery genre. The author would have been 125 years old this year and, to mark the occasion, The International Agatha Christie Festival was (and still are) holding all sorts of events. Last Sunday (the 13th), at Torre Abbey, I went to see the Agatha Christie: Unfinished Portraits exhibition and also attended a vintage fair there, which was a collaboration between TIACF and Miss Ivy Events.

The exhibition was initially housed in London's Bankside Gallery on the South Bank, but moved down to Torre Abbey for the second half of its run, which is the 11th September - 18th October. The exhibition consisted of photographic portraits of Christie from birth all the way up until her death, with biographical information and diary excerpts included alongside them. In addition to that, there was a timeline of her books, and cases containing original letters, notebooks, and other items. Photos were not permitted inside the exhibit, for obvious reasons.

It was an enjoyable exhibition and I found Christie's musings about becoming an author particularly interesting. She said that she had first wanted to become a musician, but soon realised that she didn't have the talent for it and so eventually ended up writing because it was the thing that she was good at. Yet even when her books were selling well she still never considered herself to be a "professional".

Vintage cars on display

The vintage fair consisted of over 30 various stalls and stands both outdoors and within the walls of Torre Abbey. There were vintage and vintage-inspired clothes, accessories, homewares, crafts, food & drink on offer and it was a wonderful setting in which to wander around. There were so many beautiful treasures on display and I rather wish I'd had money the money with me to buy some of the gorgeous dresses and rings being offered!

Some of the stalls outside

Arches in the gardens

A view of the Abbey from outside

As we were already there, my friend and I decided to explore the gardens of Torre Abbey as well because they're quite lovely. In addition to the pretty gardens, we also discovered some sculptures, like these cows:

I saw some gorillas at Torre Abbey before, but I don't know where they moved onto... 

"The Rower" by Sharon Windebank, 2007

There were also little bits of garden planting that perhaps weren't really sculpture, but looked just as lovely.

Then we headed over to the greenhouse to take a look around. I took lots of photos of the plants inside, but I won't post those here.

...and caught a glimpse of this cute little fellow guarding the hosepipe:

We then found another sculpture hiding amongst the plants:

And, for our own ridiculous reasons, my friend made me take a photograph of this plant and sign:

It was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon indeed!

Tomorrow, with any luck, we'll be off to another vintage fair, so there will be more fabulous things to see and do~