Kendal: Antiques Road Show

 

Sleddall Hall antiques occupies a structure built in 1550.

The Kendal Museum was unexpectedly closed so we had some time to kill.  We wandered past a humble store advertising antiques and decided to poke our heads in.

We aren’t antiquers, and wouldn’t recognize a “find” if it hit us in the head, but we guessed that “eccentric” could as likely describe many of the shop items as “old.” Luckily, Marjorie greeted us, and thus started our discovery.  She described her granddaughter as a girl “with brains as big as a planet,” which captured our experience of her as well.

It was a delightful hour, not to be found on any TripAdvisor lists.

 

 

 

Marjorie and store owner, Robert, show us photo of BBC’s Antique Road Show host who was present for a shoot 2 weeks ago. It’s the 6th time the shop has been featured on the show, which will be broadcast in September. “They were not at all stuffy–they were quite fun!” she recounts.  Note the Hindu headdress hanging on the grandfather clock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Betsy appraises odd and old things. Marjorie has several degrees in design, and volunteers once a week at the shop to organize product display.  Given the volume of things and small shop, her efforts must be diligent but aren’t always obvious.

 

Marjorie introduces Betsy to a “ginnel”–an old low passageway between buildings. River Kent flooded this ginnel and the antique shop 2 years ago, creating losses and headaches.

The second floor was bountifully loaded with old stuff–and creaky. I avoided standing in the same place as Betsy as I’m sure the loading wasn’t analyzed by an engineer!

 


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