The alarm was set for 5am but I woke early to take a shower and make time for coffee before facing the cold, dark morning and climbing into our car for a trip to the races.
We’d been thinking about visiting the antiques market at Kempton Park for a while, but it never seemed plausible until we bought a car, so hungry and bleary-eyed we made our way past Hampton Court (short break to check strange noises coming from the car), and arrived at the car park at 6.30. It then struck us – we should have brought a torch. Beams of light attached to animated figures moved around occasionally settling on the interior of a van with an enormous piece of furniture levitating out of the open doors.
We hadn’t realise that most of the traders would be setting up outside in the dark – it was cold and we don’t have night vision so we headed for the grandstand to start our treasure hunt there. It was a suprising long walk from where we’d parked to the interior space filled with dealers setting up their stands, but we soon engaged in the weird game of equating the price of our desires to the amount in our pockets.
When the sun started to rise we ventured outside to search amongst those brave enough to pitch their wares outside amongst the ice covered puddles. As the light grew the traders began to bring out their smaller items – that’s what we needed!
It was a nice suprise to see a lot of French dealers there – bringing a different flavour to the display. We wandered around the market many times, watching items go then replaced by new wonders, we managed to spend a bit too, carrying armfuls of purchases to the car two or three times.
By 11.30am we were through, we left happy with our purchases vowing to return another day better prepared. Now to find somewhere warm for breakfast.