It's The End of the Road

 A week ago today we left home at 6am and set off for the Larmer Tree Gardens in Dorset for the final festival of 2023, the wonderful End of the Road. Four hours later we were on site & as always, treated like absolute superstars, with the stewards embracing us and the staff in the ticket office squealing with excitement.

After catching up with neighbours Shaun & Amelie of Shilpa Silver, who we hadn't seen since Glastonbury, we set to work building our pitch and on completion nine hours later, celebrated with a can of ale and a bowl of pasta and tumbled into bed just after 10pm.

Thursday was abysmal with heavy rain and temperatures hovering at around 12°C. Luckily, after fifteen years, we're used to the extremes of weather at End of the Road and came prepared. Jon dragged out his jeans, Docs and a long sleeved shirt whilst I donned a cosy 1960s Louis Caring maxi dress. Despite appearances to the contrary my feet were warm and dry in my suede boots. These insane vintage sunnies (given to me for free from a car boot trader) were a festival staple for years, I dragged them out of retirement 

Although the festival didn't open to the public until 1pm, we'd had a steady stream of customers since we'd rolled up the shopfront at 11am in the form of the on-site crew. Despite the rain and the inclement temperatures we were busy all day and, as usual, the last stall to shut up shop at just after midnight.

As always we were sited directly opposite The Woods stage, offering not only a great view but the acoustics are perfect.

Friday was sunny-ish, a lot warmer and fortunately, despite the previous day's rain, not at all muddy. We rolled up the shop front at 10am and posed for our customary front of shop photos. Jon's wearing a Diesel shirt he bought from a car boot sale in 1999 and I'm in a 1960s Hilary Floyd maxi some friends found for me in a charity shop five years ago.

Trade was brisk. This lady popped in to show us the 1990s No Fear top she'd bought off us the previous day. Doesn't she look fab?

Stunning Jenny (with lovely boyfriend, Russell) has been a Kinky Melon regular since we met at the much-missed Indietracks. I made her this top eight years ago and it's still going strong. She left with a 1960s psychedelic print barkcloth maxi dress and a 1970s purple velvet jacket.

Meanwhile, on the Woods Stage, which is directly opposite our stall, Say She She drew a huge crowd and were brilliant.

Frances is another regular and an absolute goddess. This year's purchase was this incredible slinky 1970s maxi which I bought with her in mind and luckily it fit like a glove. 

This chap never fails to amaze us with his outfits.

Russell told us that Friday's outfit was 1970s American Deep South used car dealer (I think he nailed it!) wearing a jacket bought from End of the Road, 2022. This year he left with a vintage Norfolk-style jacket, a 1970s dagger collar shirt and a Acetate cravat.

Jewellery designer Morgan bought a 1960s Harris Tweed coat from us six years ago and says its the best thing he's ever owned. This year he treated himself to this amazing 1980s orange-y rust cord coat.

We've known Freya since she was a little girl. Now she's a beautiful & articulate teenager with an incredible sense of style. This 1980s wool & metallic thread jumper was one of this year's Kinky Melon buys.

This 1960s Indian cotton maxi dress with filet crochet work used to be mine but looked absolutely amazing on Ellie. Partner Tom thought so too, he proposed to her when she changed into it and she said yes. The power of vintage clothes!

Once again, on Friday, we were the last non-food trader still standing, rolling down the frontage at ten past midnight and, on Saturday, we were the first to open, discovering a queue of customers patiently waiting when we did. 

Jon wore a Y2K tiger print shirt with a 1960s Kangol pink & white gingham newsboy cap.

This 1970s Jody T of California maxi dress hadn't seen the light of day in a couple of years and I packed it in the hope of giving it an outing . That's my friend Nicola, who pops in every year. Thursday and Friday were busy but Saturday was utter madness, we didn't even crack open a drink till gone 4pm!

 

Gorgeous regular Jen all ready for her big Saturday night out. She'd bought this 1970s tiered chiffon maxi from us on Friday.

 

These women always look amazing. 

Dean (on the right) is a much-loved Kinky regular, both at EotR and Glastonbury. He bought his fedora plus an outrageous 1980s satin shirt. His nephew is wearing the 1960s Hawaiian barkcloth shirt he'd bought from, us the previous day.

Chloe bought this Adidas jacket as it matched her outfit perfectly.

It's that glamorous guy again!

This young woman was beside herself with excitement after discovering this 1970s Northampton-made on our rails. Her metallic cowboy boots, brought by her Grandparents on a recent trip to NYC, couldn't have made a better accompaniment.

Another happy customer who popped back to show us the 1970s West African waxed cotton dashiki she'd bought from us at midnight the previous evening. The pocket was the perfect size for her water bottle.

I was thrilled to discover that the mystery band on Saturday evening were Wet Leg and even more so when we were told that they'd posted a photo of our stall on social media. A lovely teenage girl who was working the festival season as part of her gap year asked if I could escape the stall for a while and go and watch the set with her. She guessed my age at 37 and was amazed that I was older than her mum!

Freya in the 1970s dark floral off-the-shoulder midi dress bought from us the previous day and gorgeous mum Rachel (check out her incredible jewellery HERE), in the block-printed Indian maxi she'd snaffled in 2022.

This beautiful customer loved this rik-rak trimmed 1960s cotton mini dress by rare psych label Whispering Kite so much that she left the shop wearing it. It's off to live in the USA!

As did this gorgeous girl who rocked the hell out of this 1970s Richard Shops maxi.

Another happy customer wearing the Empire Stores 1980s cotton midi dress (with pockets!) bought from us the previous day.

And Orava in the 1970s chiffon maxi she bought from us back in 2021.

Someone described EotR, after the main stage closes, as a playground for grown ups and, as is usual on a Saturday night, we shut up shop at 10pm and joined in with the fun.

This is the furthest either of us had been since arriving on site on Wednesday morning, even the food stalls seemed exciting.

We'd just missed Canadian post punk band, Crack Cloud, who'd been in the shop earlier buying leather jackets and militaria but caught the mesmerising Arooj Aftab (as recommended by Vronni) and bumped into lots of customers who'd become friends over the years. 

We reimbursed free beer tokens a customer had given us earlier and hung around the games area....

And ventured into Effing Forest...

Making our way to The Boat (formerly The Ship Disco) where we danced to Northern Soul and Rare Groove into the early hours.

Despite the late night we were rolling up the shopfront a few hours later to a queue of prospective customers.

It was gloriously hot and sunny, we had a steady stream of shoppers and the music was brilliant - we especially loved Texas cowboy Charley Crockett and soul legend Lee Fields.

Including these two beauties who popped back later in their purchases - Freya in a 1970s cotton voile Stevie Nicks-style maxi and Rachel in a FabIndia silk dhabu print kurta. 

All too soon it was time for the final act of the festival, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizards and we managed to have a bit of a jig outside the stall fueled by tins of gin and liquorice from our lovely trading neighbours, Saint Valentine's. 

Kicking off at just after 8am, Monday morning was spent breaking down the stall. At 1pm we said our fond farewells to our trading family (we won't see them again till Glastonbury!) We stopped for a very late lunch at Gloucester Services and were back home for 5pm, with a very warm welcome from young William.

And so ends our festival season for another year. Thanks to everyone who visited our stall, popped in to say hello, kept us company and bought our stock, you've been f*cking fabulous. See you all in 2024!