The Malthouse Collective

On the Sunday we headed for the outskirts of Stroud for a big antique centre (and café) called the Malthouse Collective.
Lunch was the first item on the agenda - we had to move away from the big picture windows to the slightly warmer booths at the back of the room. It really was chilly. The food was a bit slow in coming, but when it did arrive it was delicious - my friends had variations on a fried breakfast and I had the salmon bagel from the lunch menu.
Then we went through to the main body of the shop, which is on two floors, for some gentle retail therapy. My friend who is just moving house now has an open fire to play with, and she found a magnificent copper coal scuttle, with matching little shovel. She also found one of those printers' drawers, to display small items.
I was looking for anything with badgers, and came away with a pretty little pottery dish lid showing a family of badgers playing around the entrance to their sett, and my other friend got a few last minute Christmas presents.
There were crafts for sale, as well as antiques, and even a stall selling vinyl and comics, so a good mix. I have to say I was greatly tempted by the Kenyan spear which had reputedly been used to defend the village's goats from wild animals - but I'd never have been able to get it home on the train!

Queen Susan's Horn

Isn't this delightful?
I treated myself to it today. I popped into the local Antique Centre to browse, and it caught my eye - and the first thing I thought of was Queen Susan's Horn, which is given to her by Father Christmas in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and which is blown in Prince Caspian to get the children back to Narnia.
This one is not a blowing horn, but a drinking horn, probably with real silver, and it's a dainty little thing at only about eight inches long.