Antique”ing” with Children
Wed. November 9, 2011
Last week we had a blissful few days with our three children, three nephews and nieces, my brother and sister in law on a family holiday in the Cotswold’s. Tim and I have never been great adventurers. Our holiday requirements usually revolve around at least one very good meal, visiting an interesting museum and/or gallery and of course a few antique shops. All of this has been turned on its head in recent years by the arrival of three small children aged 4, 2 & 1. Dinners out have been replaced by supermarket ready meals, of the luxury variety and good wine in smaller quantities.
Museums can still happen if we brazen out the occasional whinge from bored children. However, visiting antique shops is almost a thing of the past. We really miss being able to spend ages wandering around antique shops. We had one small success though last week when we visited Keith Hockin’s shop in Stow-on-the-Wold – what lovely things. Keith was welcoming and not in the least grumpy about being invaded. We took it in turns with the younger two to wait outside whilst our four year old passed on her knowledge of Mr Hockin’s stock to him (Mr Hockin). I’m pondering whether collecting antiques or having small children is the more expensive hobby!