Peakirk Books Olympic Offer

I have just realised that in my usual disorganised way, that I haven't mentioned to my blog readers/members that we are having a special offer to celebrate the London Olympics. This hasn't been a high profile sale, but in celebration of the London Olympics we are offering the following discounts to customers buying books from our own website at http://www.peakirkbooks.com

Until 12th August on any orders you make, simply add the following discount codes as appropriate into the coupon box when you go to the shopping basket checkout,  to get the following discounts.

BRONZE - Spend up to  £25.00, and receive a 10% discount
SILVER -  Spend up to £100.00, and receive a 15% discount
GOLD -     Spend over  £100.00 and receive a 25% discount

                               

                                                                             

Our Gordon Setters - Update

Just a few piccies to show how Poppy & Henny are doing!

First - as you can see, reading is not just for humans! Henny always likes to get in on the act.

                                               

Poppy always likes to try and help - this is her resting her chin (below), when helping gets to much!

Henny wonders if she can replace the fairy at the top of the tree if she flies up there (below)

Poppy always loves to climb and get a better view! Here she is on our Patio table (covered up).

............And sometimes it's just time to sleep!

                               

'Words Gone By ' takes to the Road

The time had come for Annette and I - those intrepid Vintage Paper Girls to take to the road and do our first Ephemera stand at an Antique and Collectors Fair. Our fledgling business was at last got off the ground after what seemed an interminably long process of dealing with banks, who inevitably lost bits of paper and caused even more delays, and we had got ourselves named & registered,  had filled in endless forms and got sorted out for tax. However, we got there,  and having been doing a little buying, eventually a few weeks ago started selling on the internet on the ebay site using sellers name Vintagepapergirl12012.  Our first item was very successful - a lovely old early twentieth century scrapbook, full of a gorgeous variety of scraps went to one happy purchaser.  Since then we have sold some attractive old Christmas cards, including the attractive  Hold to Light ones, and some vintage posters including some illustrated by Pauline Baynes.  We have more of all of these coming plus loads more stuff that we have been squirreling away.  We had also been accumulating items for the fair we were going to do, as we intend to sell by Fairs and ebay.  The last couple of weeks have seen  a flurry of plastic bags, price tags, sticky labels and tape, as we were due on the Saturday to go and set up in The Greshams School in Holt,North Norfolk on Saturday afternoon before the sale on Sunday.  Even though I am obviously used to book fairs, this to me was very different, as we aimed to make the stand as pretty and eye catching as we could - not something Jeff and I aim for when doing our book stands. Also for Annette this was all very new, as she doesn't do book fairs, and she was really enthusiastic.


The weather however wasn't on our side.  We had obviously booked an inside stall as water and paper does not mix, and we were inside the marquee - but the rain of late has not been ordinary rain, being considerably heavier than usual, and as we arrived the heavens opened. We had quite a wait before we could even begin to unpack - we couldn't risk getting our precious paper wet.  Fortunately though, the rain did eventually cease, and we were able to unpack, and the sun did come out and dry the mud to some degree.  However we could anticipate that we would need to wear boots the following day!  As it was our first display Annette and I had left ourselves lots of time as we knew we would need it.  We're not naturally artistic, but do love what we do - so just need to 'work at it!'
Eventually a couple of hours later, having done lots of fiddling and twiddling, we were happy.  You can see the results below.
                                                                                   

                                          

                                          

                                         

                                                                                 

Having set up, we left on Saturday little nervously, as we were doubtful of the ability of the marquee to withstand some of the amounts of water threatening to leave the sky, but there was little we could do but cross our fingers, and when we returned at 7.30 am the next day (yes 7.30 am) all was well - that is except for the pouring rain.  The marquee had held up well, but there was the occasional drip from joins, and we did spend the day trying to stop drips of water getting onto our stock, which wasn't very relaxing.

Despite the fact that it rained for most of the day, and the Wimbledon final was on with Britain's own Andy Murray playing, and the British Grand Prix was taking place, we were pleasantly surprised to see that quite a few brave souls had decided to brave it out and attend the Fair, and we did better than anticipated. We met some very nice customers, and a great deal of interest (and purchases I am pleased to say) ensued. Some people also left their 'wants interests' with us, much as they do with books - I hadn't expected that! It also made a pleasant change for me.  Don't get me wrong, I still love my books, and would never want to give up being involved with them, but its always good to develop new interests and to see what else is out there - and really ephemera is a fairly close relation. Despite the rain, and it was  it chilly too - British Summertime at its best - Annette and I were both very pleased with how things went - and another benefit.  Ephemera is a great deal lighter and easier to pack away than books. We were all packed up in about half an hour, ready for the off  and I don't think it will be very long before Words Gone By takes to the road again - we will keep you posted.

Baby Fairies


I wonder very much, don't you,
What little baby fairies do
When all the mother Fairies go 
To dance upon the green, you know?


Are they not lonely by themselves,
These darling little baby elves?
And do they ever cry and fret,
Or into dreadful mischief get?


But then, of course, 'tis understood
That baby fairies are always good;
Yet, when their sleepy time is near,
They must be cross and tired I fear.


I shouldn't be surprised, should you,
If there are fairy nurses, too,
Who take these little sleepy heads
And put them into tiny beds?


A bluebell or forget-me-not
Would make the sweetest fairy cot;
A pretty leaf, of green or brown,
Might answer for an eider-down


I'd love to see these babies lie,
And hear their nurses 'hush-a-bye'
While all the twinkling starlets peep
To watch the baby fairies sleep.


Helen Stewart in Our kiddies Fairy Star

The Isle of Wight

As usual we have been incredibly busy lately. Not only were we involved with the village jubilee events -all of which went well, if a little chilly I am pleased to say - but recently we have had lots of people offering us books for sale.  We are of course always pleased to see books for sale, as we hope to find just the books we are looking for, to meet our customers needs, but going through the books to see them, either via lists or going on house visits, takes up time (even if enjoyable - I do love routling through books) and then when we get them home, I have lots of sorting to do way before they ever get listed for sale. In amongst this, and all our other usual work and activities, we were also due to visit the Isle of Wight for a week.  This was to be a family event - indeed celebration, as my parents will soon reach their diamond wedding anniversary (60 years) and wished to celebrate it with us, and my brother and his family all together in a holiday house on the Isle of Wight.  They had hired a fabulous house for a week, and we all planned to spend the week there - hopefully basking in the sunshine and exploring the island.  The last time I had visited the island I was 13 - I in fact had my 14th birthday there.  I had gone youth hostelling with 3 of my school friends, and had nostalgic  memories of my first holiday adventuring off on my own, without 'grown ups' in 1968.  Jeff too had only been once before - in 1967 with his family, and was eager to see the Island again.

We crossed on the Ferry from Southampton to Cowes. I must admit the queues in Southampton to get to the Ferry were quite a shock - and we managed to miss the ferry, not a good start, but they transferred us onto the next one, the ferry people were obviously used to this.  The Ferry was quite a pleasant experience, and I went with my young niece and her mum to listen to the story teller on board tell us tales to make the crossing more entertaining. At the other side we drove in the sunshine to our destination which was a village called Bonchurch, just by Ventnor, and the house we stayed in was indeed lovely - especially the gardens - an acre which went down to the sea, and quite a site to behold. Indeed a little corner of paradise.

Unfortunately we did not see a huge amount more of the sun during the week, just the occasional little burst, but a great deal more of the rain, which really was a shame as it meant we could not appreciate the garden as fully as we would have liked to.  Nevertheless, it was a lovely place to be.  Of course, as well as generally exploring, I was led a little by the locations of where bookshops were - but of course this does have the advantage of taking you to places that you maybe woudn't have otherwise gone to. We made a point of visiting a village called St Helens, where someone had told me there was a book shop, and I am pleased to say it was still there (so often you do go to places where you are told about book shops, and they have gone, as was the case in Ventnor), and we also went off to a place called Yarmouth, a lovely place when we got there, because we had been told there was a book shop there. The shame was it has taken us so long to get there and have a look round, that when it came to bookshops, the others in the party didn't want to wait while I looked round, (that's the problem of going with 'non-book' people) and so I was out voted and had to leave without looking inside.  The height of frustration.

Needless to say the 4 year old member of our party had a wonderful time.  Even if the sun wasn't constantly shining, she did manage to go onto the beach a few times.. She also introduced me to the joys of 'Mist' (a real life working sheepdog)  the Puppy sheepdog who lives on a North Devon Farm - created by David Kennard for Channel 5. Of course being a dog person I immediately fell for Mist and all her sheepdog family and have become a firm fan. Come my nieces bedtime, Jeff, Susie & myself were lined up to watch the next episode of Mist !

To be honest I am not sure how much the Isle of Wight has changed since I was there before.  I couldn't find one of the Youth hostels, and suspect it has long gone. The island seems to be much busier, with far more traffic than I remember, but maybe that is false memory - and we didn't have enough time to fully explore the island.   Maybe I need another visit, in the sunshine, to explore further and get round the rest of the bookshops.

The crossing on the way back on the Saturday was pretty choppy, and it it took most of the day to get back .  General verdict - Isle of Wight was quite nice - but it doesn't beat my good old Norfolk!