Shipwrecked! Pirate-Themed Shop Display Competition

As part of Hastings Carnival Week 2010, all the shops in the old town got involved in a "best dressed window" competition... the theme - Shipwrecked! The winning shop recieve the Babs Muggridge Memorial Trophy. I was surprised and astounded by the effort put in by some of the shop owners. Check out the photos of the hopefuls, I think my favourite is the window display below...

Penbuckles - stockists of local wine, cheese, beers, ciders and and other locally sourced food and drink. I love the wine cork beach, which the shop turned into a "guess the number of corks in the window" competition.

Judges - totally organic bakery and my first port of call on my walk to work. They sell the most amazing chocolate brownies I've ever tasted (made from Green and Blacks chocolate), the best olives, the best soups, the best scotch eggs... there's a theme here!

The window of an interiors shop - shipwrecked barbies and cindys!

Antiques Warehouse - one of my favourite antique shops in the old town: the antiques and furniture were at one point filling every available space in the huge old house from the basement to the attic. I loved climbing up the rickety stairs to the top floors to find a treat around every corner.

The shipwreck themed window for the (relatively) new shop to take the place of the much loved Butlers Emporium, they sell some gorgeous things, and I love that they have kept the old apothacary style cabinets to display their stock on.

Love the anchor necklaces in a jewellery shop on George Street.

I don't know about you but this skull-faced pirate is really quite disturbing!

This window display blew my mind! It belongs to the Dolls House shop on George Street. The level of effort was amazing, the whole window was transformed into a shipwrecked island, complete with a (real, and fully functioning) water feature pool!

The huuuge treasure map in the window of The Drgaon Bar on George Street.

Part of the display for the shop Equilibrium, including pirate booty, sand, coins, pirate outfits, treasure chests and pirate ships.

Bebe Jour, the shop with clothes and treats for little ones also got involved with the competiton, with more pirate outfits, treasure chests and an inflatable palm tree.

Even the bath-time goods shop, Soak, got stuck in!

But the winning shop was Nelsons House Antiques! Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a photo of their window display, but, you can find the photos from the best dressed window competition here.

On Friday the 6th of August.... Ye Be A Pirate! Arggh!

Last year, as part of Hastings Carnival Week, the Old Town held a pirate day. It was an absolutely huge success and the streets in the Old Town were full of swashbucklers and much fun was had by all! So, this year, on Friday 6th August will be the second Pirate Day in Hastings Old Town, and to make it bigger and better, the organisers are going for a world record. Yup! The Guinness world record for the most amount of pirates in one place (currently at around 1700 people).

Last year Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Barbosa and Will Turner re-enacted scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean with sword fights and all, and they will be back again this year. There will be children's entertainment in George Street including: hair braiding, face painting, treasure hunting and musicians.

At 1pm follow the sound of the drums to the beach where the Guinness World Record attempt will take place by the Lifeboat house. Followed by the pirate procession at 2pm that starts at the lifeboat house, finishing up at the end of the High street, led by Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Barbosa, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan. After the procession there will be a piratical barbecue accompanied by sea shanties. Needless to say, the Pirate Day will be the highlight of Carnival week and I cannot urge you all enough to don your best eye-patches, swords, pistols, tricorn hats, bandanas and parrots and get yourself into Hastings Old Town and join in with the piratey fun!

So, no matter who you are, no matter where you are...

on Friday 6th August...

You are a pirate!

Vintage and Antique Treats in the Old Town

There's nothing I love more than rummaging in the junk, antique and vintage shops round the corner from my house in Hastings Old Town. There is nothing that you can't find in the nooks and crannies of these delightful little shops. I adore chunky gold framed vintage mirrors, antique home ware, old books and bits and bobs and I could spend hours scouring the shops and stalls hidden in the little streets of the Old Town.

Quirky and Cute Bicycles in the old town

There is a lovely little bicycle shop opened up in Hastings Old Town on the Highstreet called Bell's Bicycles: An Adventure By The Sea. I always like to have a little peek in the window on my way home from work and lust after the pretty, vintage bicycles. They are so lovely it almost inspires me to be more athletic... and that is saying something! Hastings is a great place to ride a bicycle (now that I'm living in the old town and not up horrifically huge hills) because there is a bicycle route right on my doorstep that runs all along the promenade with beautiful views of the sea.

Bells Bicycles pride themselves on their love for antique and vintage bicycles from bygone eras and share them with us lucky lot. Here's what they have to say..."We love bicycles. The super fast fixed wheel track bikes of the 40's, the ultra elegant Dutch loop frame of the 20's and the simple town bikes made in the 70' and 80's. These are the machines that have inspired us, for their style, their engineering, their sheer panache. At Bell's we search the UK and abroad for bicycles, most have been pre-own and loved, whilst others are rescued by us and restored."

I love this Apollo bicycle complete with Wicker basket. Sadly this bike is already sold but it is too cute to not share it with you all.

As incredibly girlie as this bike is, I love this pink, Pashley Poppy bicycle! I love the loop frame and a wicker basket is an optional added extra!

Lastly, This gorgeous Vintage Tricycle

Gorgeous Red Floral Vintage Dress!

I'm not usually one for sharing my outfits in posts, but I bought this gorgeous red floral vintage dress for an amazing £7 in Camden and I love it so much it's too good NOT to share it with you all! I tend to find it quite difficult to find vintage dresses that fit my larger size and that look good on, so I was more than pleasantly surprised to find that this little gem fit perfectly! I completed the look with a red bow in my hair and white chunky beads. Happy days!

Where do you find your vintage treasures? I love finding little hidden vintage shops that are off the beaten path and grab myself something special. There are a few lovely places in Leeds that I visit regularly, and one of my new favourite's is a newly opened vintage shop in Hastings Old Town called Little Treasures, they have some really great vintage treats there!

New house in the old Town...

My parents have moved into a lovely new house in the Old Town in Hastings. The location is absolutely perfect: 3 minutes to the beach, 3 minutes to the country park, 3 minutes from the old town shops, bars and restaurants... in fact, it's more or less 3 minutes from everywhere (anywhere worth going anyway)! The building itself is gorgeous too, it's a listed building and has 4 floors on split levels. Because it is an old house it has absolutely tons of character and it has some lovely old fashioned features that, with a little love and attention, will be absolutely lovely.

This is the view from my little bedroom in the "servants quarters" on the top floor.

The front garden, a view from my bedroom window.

There are a LOT of stairs... you get a little dizzy going from the top floor to the bottom floor!

The tiles in the bathroom - some might say that they are old fashioned, but I love them!

The fireplace in the kitchen complete with pretty flowers :)

The country park, (AKA the back garden!) is such a beautiful place to go walking with Rufus, there are absolutely gorgeous views, and if I'm feeling particularly adventurous I can walk across the fire hills towards Fairlight and beyond!

Needless to say Rufus loves where we are living now, what dog wouldn't love living so close to all this wide green space!

Shopping in Hastings Old Town

Well, I have had a very busy week this week. On my days off work I have been shopping and baking for parties. Yesterday I spent the day looking round museums with the family for my sister's birthday... its been a lovely week! I kicked the week off with a little explore of Hastings Old Town with Danny. The Old Town has a little bit of everything: old, new and everything in between. I adore cupcakes and I love these cute little cushions, book ends, and notebooks that I found in Scatter Box in George Street. I also loved the white painted furniture in Scatter Box too. The white painted furniture was something that I found all over the old town.

I LOVE the old fashioned birdcages that are scattered in the antique shops in Hastings. I have always wanted one, but have never been sure about what i would do with it or where I would put it... perhaps I will wait until I have a bigger house so I can adorn it with lots of beautiful old things without it having to take up space of more necessary things... like my books, computer desk, or fish tank. Seeing as I have been living in a tiny one bedroom flat with my boyfriend for the past two years, I have been limited with the amount of pretty things I have been able to fit into the flat... but one day I will be able to have more room for such things!

In the tiny backstreets of Hastings Old Town lie the best little antique and junk shops where you can find some truly lovely little treasures... with more than just a teeny bit of a sprinkling of randomness and madness. This gorgeous little chandelier was a highlight, and there was some old white painted pieces of furniture too. Probably the pieces that have inspired the new ones in Scatter Box. It was in these little antique shops that I bought a wonderful little enamel bucket with some roses painted onto it, which I plan on planting some herbs in when I move into the new House on Saturday!