Antiquing Day Out

With the weather a bit brighter and warmer, we headed out for a day trip to Sawbridgeworth for a bit of antiquing. Just a short train ride into the countryside, Sawbridgeworth is a charming town and an easy destination with a string of antique shops right beside the train station.

Sawbridgeworth shops specialize in "smalls," the things you can carry away easily with you, although you might just stumble onto a piece of furniture that suits your fancy.

It's a great place to find the things you never knew you needed: like a thatched roof doll house,

a 1918 silver evening bag- £195 or a 1909 ivory and silver page turner for £120,

a 19th century ear syringe just £50,

 or an early 20th century French porcelain doll's potty chair for £26.

How about a Georg Jensen silver 1944 baby's food pusher for £80 or a Georg Jensen silver  cigarette holder from the 1930's for £160? We enjoyed imagining how "chic" some woman must have felt smoking her cigarette with such a fancy holder!

We all admired the 1907 Birmingham silver and cut glass ink well for £225--so pretty-

and this antique photo of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, signed by Margaret herself.

So much shopping can wear you out, so we headed to town for a lovely al fresco lunch in the center of town, and then following lunch, we enjoyed a leisurely walk back towards the train station. We spent a bit of time in the Great St. Mary's Church, built in the 13th century with a Tudor tower. Elizabeth I and Anne Boleyn have both worshipped there.

Inside this very small church are a couple of impressive memorials, this one for George Viscount Hewyt who "graduated from the cradle to public service and had scarce put aside his rattle when he donned a helmet as Captain-Lieutenant of the Queen's Guards for the remaining years of Charles II."

He was "snatched away by fever" at the age of 37 years, and although his sisters were grieved, they did just fine since they had "contracted the most handsome marriages."

The second memorial was a beautiful alabaster tomb for Sir John Leventhorpe and Lady Joan his wife, who both died in the 1620's.

Kneeling below are their 6 sons and 8 daughters in portraiture,

the smallest being little Arthur, in black, whose tiny size indicates he died in infancy.

Moving outside, we strolled through the church's cemetery

and enjoyed the beauty of the spring day,

before saying good bye to the little town of Sawbridgeworth and heading back to the city life of London.

Have you taken a day trip lately?