...oooh we're getting excited now! the BBR is coming...!......
as a warmup the Minstead show in Dorset this weekend was a solid little success, always a pleasant atmosphere show, friendly and low pressure. Lots of new people introduced to this fascinating hobby and several thinking of visiting the Summernational. Hadn't quite dawned on me that many local collectors only go to their local shows, so they can only buy there, the bottles there are the best ones they see in person, and they only sell there. So there are opportunities for buying and selling at every show....but there's nothing like the SummerNational...!
If you've never been to this supreme spectacle of bottles and bottle people socialising, sorry but you can't count yourself a fully fledged bottle collector...and you've missed out on experiencing the biggest bottle buzz on this island, the continent and probably several others....two and a half solid days of bottle buying, bargaining and beguiling. Display competitions that are now blowing away anything I've seen in any other country, with quality, rarity and above all display creativity. Now two auctions, an unreserved bargain burrowing one on Saturday, and the international leading top level item auction on the Sunday, where there will be some stiff competition and not a few ego battles between bidders. Throw in a Sunday morning boot fair (sharpened elbows a necessity), turn a whole village into a bottle equivalent of Glastonbury festival, where every pub in the village will be stacked out with bottlers from all corners of the country, all corners of the world, where Geordies converse with Cornishmen, and Australian collectors swap salad oils with Swedish guys. 40,000square feet of bottle stalls, a special social evening of prizegiving, recognition, beer imbibing and bottle story swapping around the tables and bars. Add the Yorkshire openness and friendliness, some good weather, camping nearby for those diehards, and B&B's, hotels and guesthouses for the rest of us softies, full up for miles around....
Almost forgotting the excellent antique centre where I've never yet failed to buy something, and the stallholders Friday afternoon free noshup with the famous hot local pork pies....it just goes on....
There is one warning, Monday withdrawal syptoms!
You really can walk round and round delving into the boxes underneath of boxes of bottles still with their dirt, some of them even dug the day before, and Sunday often has many stalls and stock different to Saturday, so definitely you have to stay both the days.
I think you get the pitcture
I like this show
The highlight of my year.
....which either means my life is very sad....or this show is just such an addiction.
I think it is the latter....
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