The Good Shepherd of Sand

Today was, basically, a day spent looking for pink accessories for the Old Rose Room. Mirinda was very successful with sheets, pillow slips and curtains but that was about it.

We’ve decided to tart up the pine chest of drawers. The first thought was to distress it but, for various reasons, we’ve decided on a two tone effect in raspberry and white. Possibly the most striking bit will be the ten different handles we want to put on the drawers.

The reasons why they are to be different is two fold. Firstly because I really dislike symmetry, preferring the chaos embodied in a seemingly random spread. For this reason we wanted some old, Victorian style handles. We found the perfect thing on ebay but, of course, we’ll have to wait to win them, and have them delivered. Not being particularly patient, we decided to try the architectural reclamation yard in Hindhead.

Except the architectural reclamation yard in Hindhead is no longer there.

Since the A3 was diverted underground and the Devil’s Punchbowl gradually became one with nature, the businesses scattered along the old stretch of highway, are changing. Most obvious are the new groups of houses. And, clearly, the owners of the old architectural reclamation yard were offered a swag of money they just couldn’t refuse. There are to be another load of houses on the site. They are slowly growing behind a big hoarding.

Disappointed with the absence of a well known shop, we headed for the Packhouse, a rambling old building in Runfold, where lots of bits and bobs were once available. They used to be all antiques and general second hand goods. Over the years they have started giving space to reproduction and design sellers. And now, they seem to have taken over.

So, no antique drawer handles; no antique anything much. Our next stop was Homebase.

Forget the handles in Homebase. All new and shiny and totally wrong for what we want. So, back to ebay.

The other thing we wanted to get in Homebase was paint, brushes and a wallpaper border. The borders they had were awful and just not right so we’ll have to rethink that. The paint was fine and we dutifully lined up at the cash desks. Except the cash desks were not working.

To be more accurate, the tills weren’t working which meant each transaction had to be accomplished by hand and, while this would have been easy enough once upon a time, these days the junior staff members have difficulty knowing what pen and paper are. So much so that it took two staff per register to take money.

We stood for a bit then decided we had better things to do on our Saturday than stand around waiting for…whatever. I dumped the paint and brushes on a handy shelf and we left.

A lot more successful was our trip to the pet shop to buy Day-z a new bed. You see, she’s completely destroyed her old one. We figured she was expressing her opinion so bought her a bright pink bed with matching fleece.

As we roamed around the countryside, looking for the Packhouse, we almost passed by this gorgous little church in a place called Sand, that we’d never heard of.

Church of the Good Shepherd

It didn’t start life as a church. It was built in 1875 by public subscription, to serve as a school. It cost £500.00. These days, it’s a chapel which serves as a daughter church to the nearby church at Seale.

As I was taking the photo above, a couple stopped their car by Mirinda and asked her for directions to Portsmouth. She told them to take the first left (about 30 feet away). After a few more details they thanked her and drove off. They didn’t turn left.

While that was very odd, my question was how the hell they managed to get where they were if they were headed for Portsmouth.