I love going to antiques fairs and my favourite is in Ardingly which is only an hour from London at the South of England Showground. It’s held just six times a year so I’m always there come rain or shine. There are over 1,700 stalls so you have to be pretty committed to foraging but there are always some fantastic finds to be had among the endless pathways of stalls. Original 1930s Ercol furniture, French linen, fine antiques, Hungarian olive pots, old butchers tables from Holland – I’ve spotted all of these among the wealth of European treasures waiting to be uncovered.

The Ardingly fair is still off the radar for many fashionable Londoners who all seem to know about Kempton and other events nearer to home, which means you can still find fantastic pieces that are really on trend. I like to seek out weird and wonderful old finds that just seem to work when you put them all together. Just go with your instincts and don’t think too much, I say!

If you’re seriously hunting for furniture or something specific then you should definitely go on the first day. And if you’re a really committed bargain hunter then you could follow the lead of a very focused buyer I saw there last time who was whizzing around on a bicycle spotting potential purchases in order to be ahead of the game. When I later saw her piling things in to her van I thought it was a genius idea!

Photos courtesy of Little Musings