I’ve been to Minehead a few times, but mostly by steam train, and have rarely ventured off the Avenue.  However, this week I was there to meet up with an old friend and went by car.  Consequently, I was driving round Minehead looking for somewhere to park, and that is when I spotted it – an inviting shop front in Summerland Road (turn off the Avenue at Westcott’s flower stall and you can’t miss it) emblazoned with the name Sally’s Vintage Chic.  So once I had found a parking place, and had coffee with my friend, I went back to investigate.

Sally welcomed me into the shop, and an hour later I was still there – there is simply so much to look at, admire and be tempted by.  Her painted and distressed furniture is absolutely beautiful, some of the nicest I have ever seen for sale.  There is a good selection of vintage costume jewellery, ceramics and homewares, but for me the star attraction is the vintage linen.  Customers are encouraged to open the drawers in the display furniture, and are rewarded with high quality, beautifully laundered and pressed embroidered and trimmed table linens.  Linens which are too threadbare to sell as they are have been cut down and imaginatively re-purposed as cushions and bags, complete with vintage trimmings, or as colourful bunting (before I left I gave in to temptation and bought a length of bunting made from pieces of an embroidered tablecloth).  I am still contemplating whether I can justify the romantic, nostalgic rose-printed eiderdown, or whether the cat would appropriate and destroy it!

Visiting Sally’s Vintage Chic was a real pleasure, and this is now one of my Favourite Places (friends, beware – Christmas and birthday presents are likely to come from here in future!).  Apart from the quality of the items for sale, and the loveliness of the shop interior which shows them off to best advantage without being overly cluttered, Sally is delightful and very knowledgeable about her stock, with a real passion for all things vintage.  The shop was opened last summer, and I hope it goes from strength to strength, which is one reason why I am sharing it here!  Sally has at website at www.sallysvintagechic.co.uk and is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SallysVintageChic.  She promises to be on Twitter soon too.  Mail order is available, but for the full experience do visit the shop – why not make a vintage day of it and travel to Minehead by steam on the West Somerset Railway? http://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/