we heart Lassco 3 Pigeons. x

a few weeks ago I finally made it to Lassco 3 Pigeons, the reclamation group's Oxfordshire branch at Milton Common.

I have been wanting to go for ages and I just had to share my trip with you! the very lovely manager was kind enough to let me take a few (ok, a lot of) shots whilst I was trecking around their site. it was a beautiful sunny afternoon and I think I could happily live in their grounds amongst the outbuildings stacked with reclaimed doors peeling with a hundred years worth of paint...
I do love a wander around a reclamation yard although they always have a slightly spooky, forgotten air about them- perfect for a Halloween party- but ever so slightly disturbing... (is that just me?)

..and Milton Common really does have a reason to be even spookier than most:
I think this might well have been the tree that John Price hung from back in 1785... rather grim...

...but dispite it's rather gruesome history, Lassco had some fantastic finds.

I am again quite gutted that I didn't make it here whilst I was we were doing up our flat a few year back. These concrete tiles below (spanish?) would have been perfect for us. In fact, if no one beats me to it, I might just have to head back and buy them.
curios of all types filled the Lassco site's main building- it was literally filled to the rafters. And in amongst the doors, taxidermy, parisian statues, railway sleepers and marble busts there's a little tea room serving the most delicious of fruit cake (I urge you to try this if you ever visit- actually one of the best I've had in a long time!) which just gives you yet another reason, if you needed one, to divert off the M40 for a few minutes (hours)...
the most pristinely kept set of magazine journals I've ever seen. I think there must have been about 100 of them:

this intricate parquet flooring was one of my favourite finds. Isn't this just stunning? It looked as though it has been badly infested at one time but that didn't detract from how stunning it was. I need a house to put this in. Plus a good dose of woodworming treatment just to be on the safe side...
and my other favourite find was this garden table. I really, really had to control myself to stop buying it. When I got home and showed Mr A, he said 'why didn't you buy it?' and (apart from I'm not supposed to be buying anything at the moment- holiday coming up shortly!!) I actually don't know what stopped me. I do love a bit of weather-beaten rust AND I do need a desk. aybe I'll be heading back shortly for a rusty table and cement tiles.

Lassco 3 Pigeons

London Road

Milton Common

Oxfordshire, OX9 2JN

01844 277188

open monday-saturday 10am-5-pm

we heart Lassco. x

During my final year of college I lived south of the river near Brixton and in that time I failed (heaven knows why- I had every opportunity) to stop at the amazing treasure trove of a salvage 'yard' that is Lassco. On Sunday I finally made it- I have no idea why on earth I had not managed to make it there before now?!

I am a salvage junkie. I'll happily admit to spending hours wandering around many a yard when Mr A and I bought our flat (now on the market just in case anyone is interested?.. no takers?..). We tried our best to find as many salvaged items to replace those that needed replacing but it wasn't easy to find everything. It was mildly annoying then to find that IF I had just stopped in Vauxhallo 5 years ago I would have found everything I needed!! Yes, annoying...

I completely love the most random of objects that I clearly have no current use for- on our honeymoon in Bali I was actually considering an antique Indonesian carved door and looking into how much £ would be involved to ship it back... I do think that if it wasn't for Mr A's more minimal stance on home decor, I might well live in something that vaguely resembles a junk shop/your granny's attic.

So needless to say I found a gazillion objects of fascination on Sunday afternoon.



(probably all poisonous but how pretty?..)

and of course amongst all the pretty decorative items, there was the practical home fixtures and fittings. This pendant is just stunning and would have been perfect in my flat.

we have the exact same wooden cistern!

and we also have the same toilet seat!

Isn't this just the most stunning of toilet pans? (never thought I'd write that on my blog!) Seriously, the most mundane of home fittings turn into the beautiful of objects.


and my most favourite of finds was this quail cot.

err, does anyone want to lend/give me £550?...

I am totally besotted with this place!

AND if that wasn't enough, I started having hot flushes when I popped into Brunswick House Cafe to one side of the house. I think I must have been stood there gauping for a good few minutes. It's an Aladdins cave of chandeliers, pendant lamps,large neon-bulb signage and random hung objects strewn around a haphazardly arranged selection of chairs and tables, roughly resembling a restaurant.. I didn't eat there but I am definitely going back very soon!

hint to Mr A: do they hire I wonder? Birthday party??.. x

photo from lassco.co.uk

AND to fill my fix even further, there is another site on the way home to Gloucestershire in Oxford.

A visit is already pencilled in my diary. x