Dairy House in print ...

The Antiquexplorer magazine for the West Country is published at the beginning of every month and always features a particular aspect of the antique world. Sometimes the feature relates to ceramics, or maybe glass, or perhaps furniture. This month the Antiquexplorer features fashion and textiles. The Rag Market was well advertised, and most of the textile dealers who attended and who are linked to the West Country Talent for Textiles fairs took out an advertisement.

I've known Karyn, the editor, for several years, and she has been waiting for an opportunity to offer me some appropriate editorial space to let people know that Dairy House Antiques is under new management, and what better opportunity than the August issue. Naturally I took some advertising space, too, and ended up with a one-quarter page ad which Karyn arranged using photos she took when she visited DH a couple of weeks ago. I'm absolutely thrilled with the ad, and as for the editorial text ... well, if that doesn't bring people in I don't know what will. Another super photo and a write-up to be proud of (apart from the incorrect spelling of my surname!). Soooo exciting, and I felt so proud when I read it. If you click on the photos to enlarge them you'll be able to read the text, but the scans are quite grainy.

Also this week I received the complimentary copy of The Country Living Guide to Rural England: the West Country. I wasn't sure about this one because the cost of the ad was astronomic, but in for a penny and in for several hundred pounds ... and once again, I'm thrilled. No photo as the book is at Dairy House rather than here at home. I did the write-up for this one and am quite pleased with how it reads.

Did I tell you we also got in "The Back Page" of the Antiques Trade Gazette - a weekly newspaper for antique dealers - at the beginning of July? That was another super article, complete with photo. I think the advertising is beginning to pay off. We have been so busy at DH over the last couple of weeks, with far more people than usual steppping over the threshhold, many of whom have not visited before. In fact, yesterday a lady arrived just as we were about to close, saying she'd made a detour especially to see us. She was travelling from Derby to stay with a friend in Salisbury and they will probably come again sometime during the week. Each month we wonder how sales will compare with 2007, and so far each month has exceeded last year's sales. Let's hope the trend continues, but I certainly won't be complacent.

Where the time has gone I just don't know. I've been the new owner of Dairy House Antiques for one third of a year already ... and I'm loving every minute of it!

I did wonder whether we should have a blogger's day at DH one Sunday, but I don't think I can organise it just yet. That might have to wait until the first anniversary, by which time I might have made the kitchen and loo fit for visitors!!! Having been dominated by male antique dealers for several years neither is particularly pleasant at this moment in time, and certainly not suitable for gentille bloggers! "Adequate" is probably the appropriate word for them, but a few more months should see them gleaming and far more 'user friendly'!!

On that happy note ... have a good week!