Antiquing in Lewes

 

If you have been reading my instagram recently, you may know that Mr Poachie and I are moving. So on a rainy Saturday with no other plans we decided to head to Lewes to do a spot of shopping. Lewes is famous for their antique emporiums, shops that look small from the outside can be very deceptive! There are some that house all sorts of goodies over four floors and there is also a great flea market that sells everything from suits of armour to stamps.

We recently did a trip to Ikea which I found painful, but necessary. We are starting from scratch so we are having to buy everything from garlic crushers to garden furniture. I'm not a fan of shopping but Ikea was great to cover off all of the basic needs. But when it comes to unnecessary items, Lewes is the place to go.

It seems harder these days to find a real bargain, I adore things like galvanised buckets, stone jars and French armoires but it's not just me who thinks so, so the prices have really spiked in the last few years. We found the antique stores to be quite expensive but the Lewes flea market to be the most reasonable. They also have a market in Brighton which I would also like to visit.

I am also fond of visiting brocante vintage fairs but again it doesn't feel like you are getting a bargain, despite it being a nice afternoon out. The Ardingly antique fair looks great and I am hoping they will reopen this year but I have heard you have to turn up early to get the best finds.

We ended up coming away with a telescope, some cheese from a deli and a galvanised bucket! Not exactly what we had in mind but I am a believer in if you really love something then you should buy it. And I like that we have more a story to these pieces that just saying it was ordered from amazon etc. Facebook marketplace has also been a great place for buying cheap homewares. We have bought our sofa, a bed for the spare room, a garden mirror and some other bits from there and it's my 'go to' place now to look for what we need.

The rain was really coming down at one point so we ducked into this gorgeous shop From Victoria which sells a variety of dried flowers, rattan lightshades, house plants and candles. It's the kind of shop that makes you want to buy everything in stock. I have my eye on some dried palm leaves but I am going to wait until we have moved in until I make any purchases as we need to find homes for all of the bits that I already own.

I have visited Lewes a few times now but I never felt that I have actually explored it all so despite the downpours, we wandered around so I could take some photo's. There was a gorgeous crescent and we found Anne of Cleves house, a 6th-century timber-framed Wealden hall house. 

After all of our exploring and shopping we though it would be nice to finish off the day with a cleansing ale. I had such a fun day, Lewes isn't far from where we live but it felt like we had been on a mini staycation.

I hope you are all managing to stay dry from this miserable weather we are having!