In January we were lucky enough to embark on an amazing trip to India.The trip was part holiday (we needed a break and a freshen up before the 2015 season begins), part adventure (we never book accommodation or plan a route until we get there and see where the mood takes us) and part work, sourcing new products for our growing vintage collection.

Buying is the best part of our job and India was antique heaven! Although we were in awe at the highly styled, glamorous antique showrooms it’s the musty, dusty back rooms the that we love to dig around in. Mooching around piles of wood, sifting through old treasures, looking for unusual items that don’t sit well on the shelves of highly lit antique emporiums.

So much inspiration and superb vintage finds including Colonial British, Dutch and Portuguese furniture plus Indian pillars, carved doors, hand-made terracotta pots, urns and architectural items. Of course India is all about bartering, which takes determination and a sense of humour and over the days our skills became well honed!

We made some great contacts and a few purchases, but refrained from filling a container, which we were very tempted to do! Over the best biryani we’ve ever eaten served in a small local eatery in the labyrinth of back streets amongst the goats and the cows we decided we’d make another trip to wonderful India along with Nicky from our Scottish branch so we can all enjoy putting together a new collection for Virginias Vintage Hire. We raised our glasses of sweet masala tea to this exceptional idea and look forward to sharing our finds with you for the 2016 season!