St Fagans Antiques Roadshow in Wales

After speeding back from the Lincoln Homes & Antiques Fair last night, and cleaning my two exciting purchases, I packed up my suitcase ready for a bit of an ‘antiques roadtrip’ with Judith Miller. First up on the agenda was the next Antiques Roadshow at the picturesque National History Museum in St Fagans, near Cardiff in Wales. Opened in 1948, the museum is open-air, and contains a number of original Welsh country buildings that have been rebuilt amidst the beautiful gardens of the manor house. Celebrating Welsh vernacular architecture, you’ll find everything from an 18thC tollhouse, to two watermills, a bakery, a working forge, and even a fully consecrated Medieval church.
I only wish that I had had more time to appreciate them, as the queue of visitors was vast when we arrived at 8am this morning, and didn’t let up for the rest of the day. Still, everyone got to show their treasures to a specialist and, even better, the rain held off all day! My day started off particularly well, as I went straight into make-up at 9am to record a spot on some fabulous furniture. Tune in later this year to find out what it was, and what I said. A wonderfully early Dean’s Ragbook Mickey Mouse stuffed toy, accompanied by a 1920s English mohair teddy bear in super condition, were also particularly memorable. I can’t say any more about them either, as the story was covered by BBC Homes & Antiques magazine and will appear in a forthcoming issue. On that note, you can read the deputy editor’s entertaining review of the event by clicking here.