1. xx I SALISBURY LIFE I www.mediaclash.co.uk www.mediaclash.co.uk I SALISBURY LIFE I 63
SPECIAL SHOPS
SHOPPING
I
t has been decided in our house (not
by me) that should another piece of
furniture cross the threshold, we won’t
actually be able to move anymore. We
will have to dig down and tunnel out,
apparently, although I have a hunch
this is an exaggeration. So it’s with
trepidation that I announce a visit
to Beulah’s Vintage Attic in Shipton Bellinger,
nervously sharing the tantalizing website with
the man of the house…
He looks at me in a way that he will describe
later as caring but I take to be the way you look
at a person fresh out of detox who suggests a
whisky-tasting course. I’m a vintage furniture
junkie and he’s peeved. The chaise longue, the
chinese cupboard, the dressing table, the hooks,
shelves, pictures, bowls and endless, endless
blankets. Not to mention the line-up of ‘one-off’
glasses – whisky, sherry, hi-ball, vino, cut-glass,
cocktail – that fill a shelf. He loves them all but
enough is enough. No room at the inn. Ça suffit!
I petulantly play my trump card – “It’s for
work, OK?” – and press Go on the sat nav.
Clanking up the wrought-iron steps and
pushing through the pink door, it’s a bit like
going home. It feels like the covered markets
of the 1990s, where vintage clothes sellers
squeeze in with antique dealers, where real
collectors hum and haw alongside anyone else
Sometimes saying what something
isn’t is the perfect way to describe what
it is. So if Beulah’s isn’t a shop, what
is it? A treasure trove? Emporium?
Market? No – as Biba Fry discovers
when she visits – it’s a magical attic
JUST A SHOP
IT IS NOT
JULIE’S ATTIC
IS STOCKED
WITH RETRO,
RUSTICAND
REVAMPED
VINTAGE
HOMEWARES
who likes a bit of quirk. Julie’s attic is stocked
with a selection of retro, rustic and revamped
vintage homewares, antiques and furniture from
15 regular sellers and a few choice items from
people who drop by on the off-chance.
“Ever since I’ve been here,” says Julie, “I’ve
always kept the stock fresh. I don’t want it to
be stagnant. You see, people have to drive here
and I don’t want anyone making all that effort,
then coming in and thinking they’ve seen it all
before.” Julie really cares about her customers
Above: Rustic products
have always been popular
with Beulah’s customers
but now they are stocking
more retro goodies, like
this immaculate Ercol table
and the quirky orange cake
stand, front of shot


2. 64 I SALISBURY LIFE I www.mediaclash.co.uk
and as we sit down for coffee and cake (giant
rounds of sponge cake ensconced in vintage
glass domes) in the café, she seems to have an
inexhaustible number of ideas for Beulah’s to
keep them coming.
Workshops in calligraphy, needle-felted
figures, Christmas wreaths and sewing are on
the schedule for November and December. Julie
works with upscale Merchant and Mills for
dressmaking classes and has recently decided to
turn some space in the attic permanently over
to workshops.
The stuff in the shop – like the classes –
is well priced compared to town and Julie
confesses they often get dealers picking bits up
here and marking them up for resale in bigger
places nearby. While we take a tour of the shop,
Julie points out a few bits – an upcycled grey-
painted kitchen stool with upbeat Tube-line
fabric for £20 (a steal), an elegant dining chair
with footstool that has been re-upsholstered
in high-quality navy tartan (so tempting, so
tempting), a long dining table with two long
benches aside (oh, why didn’t we extend our
kitchen when we had the money?).
“Our ethos is to sell nice things at good
prices,” she says simply. (Oh my goodness, it’s
like torture.) “Rustic stuff sells better than
anything else at the moment - upcycled,
quirky in some way. But we’re seeing a change
now, we’re seeing more interest in retro – the
Swedish, quiet, blond woods. Just simple good
design coming back in.” As she says this, we pass
a flawless square Ercol table.
“We’re sensitively talking to a retro seller
now. That’s the direction we’re going to go I
think.” As well as furniture, there’s crockery,
books, vinyl, toys, clothes and accessories. And
vintage crockery hire. And coffee and cake. Did I
mention the coffee and cake?
SHOPPING
SPECIAL SHOPS
BEULAHIS
THE NAME OF A
MYSTICAL
PLACE,
SOMEWHERE
BETWEEN
EARTH AND
HEAVEN.
THAT FIGURES
Above and right: Julie works hard to keep
stock fresh and moving. Her café (right) is
a haven of warmth, chat and good cake
HEAVEN AWAITS
Julie is surrounded by creative sellers and
craftspeople who work with her to find the very
best bits for her attic. Her daughter Hannah’s
genius in styling (she’s the calligraphy master
too), Emmie Finn’s wonderful photography and
her husband who is brilliant at ‘building things’
[sic] combine. And she has her own ability to
spot what people want and move with trends.
So what about the name Beulah? I ask
Julie before I leave and she says it was a
commonplace name for girls in 1920s America
and that she always really loved it. After the
tiniest bit more research I find that Beulah
has been used in literature – notably Bunyon’s
Pilgrim’s Progress – as the name of a mystical
place, somewhere between earth and heaven.
That figures. Climb the steps to Beulah’s Vintage
Attic – heaven awaits.
Beulah’s Vintage Attic, Toogood & May Auctioneers,
Salisbury Rd, Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, SP9 7UN.
Opening hours: Winter hours 10.30-4pm. Closed on
Wednesdays. Open on Sundays when possible. Check
Beulah’s Facebook page for up-to-date information.