Hemswell Antiques Centre and Hemswell Village

I was hoping to be able to go to one of the places that was holding an open gardens weekend today. Sadly the weather has been quite bad all week and today has been no exception and so I decided to visit an old standby for whenever it's raining; Hemswell Antiques Centre to the east of Gainsborough.

The antiques centre is located on an old RAF base and there are 6-8 separate businesses operating from various former hangars, barracks, and administration buildings.

There aren't just antiques on display here though...and that's why I enjoy looking round so much; there are collectibles, furniture, jewellery, toys, glassware, railwayana, paintings, books, artwork, vintage clothing, militaria, coins and medals, and all sorts of random tat and junk.

There are also several cafes, two small garden centres, a couple of garden and building materials recovery/recycling merchants, a nursing home and several other businesses on the site.

The buildings are quite far spaced apart, and as on previous visits we didn't manage to see everything we wanted to; there was time to pop into one of the cafes for cream teas though.

On the way home we briefly popped into the village of Hemswell so that I could take some photographs of the church.

Hemswell Antiques Centre

Europe's Largest Antiques Centre

A trip out in the car today with Siobhan, one of my support workers. It was the first time I've been out with her this year so there was plenty to talk about, a lot of catching up to be done.

I have to book our days out a week in advance and when I booked Siobhan last week the weather forecast for today was fine and sunny. Well, that's not how it turned out. It was miserable all day; cold, dark, murky, and wet. Obviously I had to change my planned destination. Hemswell Antiques Centre, a few miles east of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire is an ideal wet weather location to visit. There are six or seven separate large antiques and collectors' centres housed in various hangars and ancillary buildings at the former RAF base, plus cafes and a small garden centre and building supplies depot.

We had to travel via Retford because the road was closed at Beckingham. This meant that we drove through Clarborough. I thought I remembered the name from somewhere, and as we passed through the village Siobhan noticed a sign pointing to the 'Traquair Tapestries' displayed in the local church - we planned to stop for a look on the way home.

We were both quite tired after looking around all but one of the antiques centres; climbing up and down several hundred steps in the process. Although we had eaten our sandwiches in the car as soon as we arrived just after eleven o'clock we called at the cafe at the Retford and Gainsborough Garden Centre at Beckingham for tea and scones.

We didn't find the church and the tapestries on our return journey through Clarborough; as I've just found out this is because the Traquair Tapestries are actually in a neighbouring village, Clayworth.