Those who attend these things regularly will know that it's always a hit and miss affair. Sometimes you'll come away laden with goods and then another week you leave empty handed after several circuits desperately trying to spot that treasure you must have missed first time round.
We arrived just after 7.30 to find the place already busy despite the cold. It was freezing! A biting wind cutting through the layers. But we're made of hardier stuff when it comes to rummaging for old things.
The very first aisle we found this picture.
I initially picked it up for the frame but after doing a bit of research we may keep the picture as well. The photo is of the New Forest Agisters and looks pre-First World War. According to the trusty interweb, the agisters are employed by the verderers to help manage the New forest stock - ponies, cattle etc - which the commoners are allowed to let graze in the forest. A further search through a well known genealogical website and in the 1911 census 3 men from the villages of Burley and Boldre give their occupation as 'agister'. Mrs C's ancestors hail from those parts. We can but hope that one of those pictured is a distant relation or at least knew the family.
And then....nothing! Despite the number of stalls, many of which had bits and pieces of interest, there was nothing that we really wanted. How many Woods Beryl Ware cups and saucers or stoneware pots can one house really need? We did spot a couple of stone planters we quite liked...only they'd been sold. We later found the buyers...our in-laws who had beaten us to them!
So home for a much needed mug of tea. In the garden meanwhile things have been sprouting among the herbs
The weekend over and we're already looking forward to the next one. A country fair at Mottisfont.
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