People don’t usually tell you about vintage finds – unless they are selling them.

Or they’ve already bought them.

But Charlotte of The Forgotten Library told me about some the other morning.

Charlotte is local to me and had spotted some vintage sheets – still in their packets – in the Oxfam shop up the road. She very sweetly took the trouble to tell me about them via a message on Facebook.

So off I trotted this morning to check them out.

I bought this lovely, unpackaged-but-unused, flannelette number…

A very welcome, snuggly addition to the stash.

Thanks Charlotte!But another, unanticipated bargain awaited my vintage buying pleasure…

A big fat stash of Midwinter April Flowers crockery, designed by Jessie Tait, was sitting forlornly on a shelf, just waiting for me to come and make it feel loved again…I can’t wait to serve up some veg from these gorgeous lidded tureens!

By the way, isn’t “tureen” a fabulous word? Underused these days, in my opinion. Of course, it will now be used much more frequently in my household!

Plus, we actually needed some side plates and a custard jug… et voila!

Interestingly, I thought these matched my gravy boat. But I was wrong!

I checked when I got home and found that although the floral pattern is very very similar, my gravy boat is actually a later reworking of this design, retitled Springtime. It has a squarer shape than these original curvy Marquis of Queensbury designs, which were considered a bit ahead of their time.

Who knew?!

I was restrained enough to leave behind a set of smaller plates and a large serving platter, as I know that we just wouldn’t use them.

So there’s still booty for someone else, if you fancy a bit of Midwinter and are anywhere in the vicinity of Mapperley Oxfam shop.

Consider yourselves tipped off. ♥