My country business
Customers love to browse the array of vintage items while enjoying a cup of tea and a slice of homemade cake.
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homemade cakes. Many sources of happiness don’t cost anything,’ says Jackie. When Jackie reached her 50th birthday she decided it was time to challenge herself and, with a good friend, Rhona, she trekked the Great Wall of China raising money for Marie Curie Cancer Care. ‘Rhona and I were also regular visitors to the auction rooms at Pickering and we started picking up a few vintage pieces, which we sold at garden parties and Christmas craft fairs that we organised as part of our fundraising,’ says Jackie. The idea of a vintage business called Vintage Discoveries grew out of this. Sarah took a stall at one of Jackie’s fundraising events, where she sold her own range of handcrafted gifts under the name Libbyanne. Unfortunately, the fair wasn’t as well attended as they had hoped. ‘I got a lot of pleasure from setting up and dressing my Vintage Discoveries stall, but felt limited by the space,’ says Jackie. I approached Sarah with my idea of a pop-up shop, just me with my vintage pieces and Sarah with her lovely makes.’ The name for their new venture was easy to agree on – Homemade & Vintage. Once the collaboration had been established, Jackie and Sarah had the creative freedom to
What we love most…
Encouraging people to rediscover life’s simple pleasures and reminding them that many sources of happiness are free dress the pop-up shop as they liked with country-style bunting and flowers in pretty containers. ‘We wanted to create something different, not just be there to sell, so we decided to have tea and homemade cakes as we both love baking. Customers could sit and relax, while drinking out of beautiful vintage tea cups,’ says Jackie. ‘We were constantly being reminded about the recession and wanted to show people that with good ideas and inspirational displays – as well as an eye for a bargain – you can turn a house into a home without spending a fortune.’ The first pop-up shop and tea room took place at Thirlby village hall, where Sarah and Jackie used pieces of their own furniture to dress the space. They were helped in the kitchen by Sarah’s mum, Mary, Jackie’s sister-in-law, Siobhan, and a friend of Sarah’s, Helen. Mary and Siobhan still lend a hand at events, free of charge, as does Siobhan’s daughter Eleanor, and Mary also bakes endless cakes and cheese scones. ‘To publicise the first event, we printed flyers and put them through letterboxes, and advertised in the local newspaper,’ says Jackie. ‘The response was amazing and we started taking email addresses so we could inform people of future events. We were so inspired that we booked another event and things have just snowballed.’ They have since expanded to other villages to target new customers – Helmsley town hall and Coxwold village hall are popular venues. ‘The whole idea has taken off tremendously well and we always get people asking if we can do more dates. We both love what we do and simply can’t imagine doing anything else.’ Visit Homemade & Vintage, 15-17 June, 10am-3pm, at Thirlby village hall, Thirlby, North Yorkshire YO7 2DJ. For other pop-up events, visit homemadeandvintage.co.uk.
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