Antiques In The West of England & Wales. The West of England and Wales have been favourite stopovers with professional antique buyers and private collectors in the USA for many years, but few realise the full potential this region offers.
News-Antique.com - Nov 30,-0001 - The West of England and Wales have been favourite stopovers with professional antique buyers and private collectors in the USA for many years, but whilst many visitors have their regular contacts and usually include the area as part of an antiques buying visit in Great Britain few realise the full potential the region offers, and subsequently miss many of the quality resources available.
What makes the area even more appealing is that it is accessible in less than seven hours via Bristol International (BIA), from Newark Airport, New York. Add these direct flights to an extensive network of connecting domestic services in the USA by carrier Continental Airlines and the result is an easy gateway to an enormous antiques resource.
Within eighty miles or about two hours drive from Bristol (BIA), buyers will have at their disposal what is possibly the most concentrated and varied source of quality antiques services that Britain has to offer and presenting them with little, if any need to venture further afield. Northerly the Cotswolds is home to dozens of reputable antiques specialists in the beautiful towns of Tetbury, which is fast becoming an antiques town in it’s own right, Stow on the Wold, Moreton in Marsh and Burford are some to name just a few and are complimented by an established antiques market every Friday in Cirencester.
Journeying southerly from BIA, perhaps your first stop would be at the Monday antiques market in Taunton before continuing to the small market town of Honiton, Devon where the visitor will find a varied selection of no less than 29 antique dealers of furniture, art and second-hand books, with many others to be found in nearby villages, thereby extending the region southerly past Exeter and south easterly into the county of Dorset.
Due east from the airport and within just 15 miles lies the world heritage city of Bath which has it's own very active antique dealers association, BABAADA. The Bath and Bradford on Avon Antique Dealers Association not only provides a network of more than 50 members but is also well qualified to assist on all antiques matters, from sourcing to shipping. Gail McLeod secretary of BABAADA says, "Many of our members already have established clients in the USA who rely on our expertise and integrity when visiting the West of England”.
www.babaada.com
Continuing easterly and still within easy reach, buyers will find a further extensive selection of quality antiques in the picturesque town of Hungerford. With two antique centres together with fifteen other general and specialist dealers, not forgetting a regular fair, the town is perhaps one of the best-kept antiques secrets in the UK!
Throughout south and mid Wales visitors will find some exceptional examples of fine Welsh antique furniture including dressers and decorative items from various specialist dealers and several auction rooms including a weekly Sunday sale near Newport. The area extends as far as the tiny Welsh border town of Hay on Wye, renowned for it’s seemingly endless supply of antiquarian bookshops,
