Jen Jones' Cottage Shop at Llanybydder

On Saturday, we headed towards Lampeter - but stopped off at Jen Jones' original cottage shop first. I wanted Mike to see this tiny listed cottage.

Luckily, Hazel was there to welcome us in. I have been several times before, but always enjoy the display of blankets, quilts and other items here.

The cottage is just outside the village of Llanybydder - I wasn't sure that I could remember where it was...but we arrived...

The cottage is tiny but crammed full of stock. Upstairs, the rooms are arranged as bedrooms..

Some of the better quilts are to be found upstairs....

Hung on rails...

More quilts....

Quilts folded on racks...

Downstairs, there are lots of Welsh blankets for sale.

The main room has an attractive clutter of objects...

The main room....

More blankets....

Welsh quilts for sale...

Apparently, the tapestry blankets are not as popular as they were last year, but the Welsh quilts remain popular for decorating.

Hazel said that the supply of Welsh quilts had dried up, as people were no longer bringing them in to sell as before, although two good ones had come in that week (and were to be added to the collection). In addition, many of the auction houses have now closed, and this used to be a good source of quilts. The shop used to have lots of patchwork quilts; now only one or two. The red paisley quilts were also popular and the shop had just one or two damaged quilts on sale. However, there are two caravans full of Welsh quilts ready to be washed and repaired ( a slow business) so stock for the coming years will be available.

I have noticed that the best Welsh quilts that I used to buy are no longer available; also that the prices in Jens' shop have really shot up! I guess that it was a good thing that I started to collect some ten years ago, when these were still available.....I wouldn't be able to afford them now.