*Magpie* - A Most Marvellous Vintage Haven

On my last visit to the UK, I spent many happy hours with my Mum browsing around a new vintage emporium called Most Marvellous. It's a huge old warehouse type building in the town of Northampton, packed to the rafters with vintage goodness galore! The main hall houses everything from antiques, collectibles, furniture and bric-a-brac to handmade arts and crafts, all laid out in easy to view units and settings. The rest of the place is divided into concessions run by indie designers and other purveyors of fine vintage collections.

My favourites were Tally Ho Vintage; a beautifully curated selection of clothing and accessories from the 40s through to the 80s, and Grace Face; a local designer who makes the most gorgeous summer dresses from vintage floral sheets - perfect for twirling around the lawn with a Pimms in hand!

There are so many nooks and crannies to explore at Most Marvellous, to the left of the main hall is a cheeky corridor leading to a tiny, one customer at a time hairdressers, a florist and a vintage haberdashery department! Yes, that's right, I said vintage haberdashery! Most marvellous indeed! There were buttons, perfectly packaged in colour order (my absolute fave kind of order!) spools of chunky ric-rac, old sewing patterns, odd balls of yarn and doilies!

To the far right of the main hall, via the Retro Room full of funky records and posters, is wholefood cafe and cake shop, Nanna's Kitchen. This is the perfect refueling stop as they serve up delicious home made fare, guaranteed to fill you up. The sandwiches are giant doorstops and the tea comes in an array of big, mismatched mugs - just like a good cuppa should! I was too busy filling my face to remember to take a pic!

The underground gallery houses books and artwork from local makers as well as the So So Holistic Centre which offers a full range of divine sounding treatments to realign your shopped-out being! And, these guys really have thought of everything, The Marvellous Mini's offers creative art workshops for kids as well as Make It Marvevllous for creative grown ups too

I believe they also hold the odd yard sale on certain weekends and public holidays - so if you live nearby {cough, Mum} keep an eye out for notice of that! I also heard on the grapevine that Most Marvellous is opening a sister store in the not too far away town of Towcester and so my inner magpie is pretty excited to get my geek on again soon

Are you wondering what I bought? I was quite restrained to be honest (a downside of travelling with just hand-luggage on a flight!) and came away with the beautiful doily set pictured above, an Elsie Sparrow rose brooch (below) and the glittery cardi used as a styling prop in the above shot of my lovely friend H's bedroom

Their website is under construction but still worth a visit for info, and you can find the Most Marvellous vintage emporium on Abingdon Square Island, 22 - 36 Kettering Rd, Northampton, NN1 1AH - I cannot wait for my next visit!

Lisa x

{all images © Lisa Pocklington for Get Smitten using Instagram}