It’s only a couple of weeks away now and at Previous, our thoughts are turning to red, hearts, love – and a bit of Barry White. We have a great range of Valentine’s cards, from the funny, the glamorous, the hand-made and the simply stylish, so if you’re looking for something different, you know where to come.

That also goes for our unusual gifts, from £4.95, both new and vintage – choose for example, from ‘Blush’ scanties in wonderful colours, red rose vintage china, beautiful vintage oil paintings, heart shaped carnival lights, lip gloss (salted caramel, gin and tonic, mohito…), new ranges of Priddy Essentials hand-made bath and beauty for men and women, Moroccan Rose essential oil candles and diffusers, super-stylish silver and gold jewellery – including hearts of course, not to mention quirky ideas such as a naked lady bottle opener, saucy 50s playing cards and vintage 3D letters.

So whether you want to say ‘You Sexy Thing’, ‘Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Baby’, or ‘I Love You Just the Way You Are’, (thank you, Barry), we’ve got it covered.

It’s been very lively at Previous this month, with lots of visitors of all ages. We were a bit low on stock after Christmas, so we’ve reordered some of the most popular ranges and have sought out some new ones too – we are now the local stockists for the lovely Bath House bath and beauty products, with the gin and tonic lip balm the most sought after element so far… Also new are gorgeous Katie Leamon hand-printed cards and stationary, very funky with pineapples, dragonflies, flamingoes and bees; the foiled ones are everso glamorous.

We also have quite a few really interesting vintage pieces in, though they are selling fast: fab mid-century lamps, planes, boats, glasses, 50s china, flags, botanical book plates and great small furniture, but my favourite, the ‘Mangling Done Here’ sign, is already sold. Some things are hard to let go!

We are very eagerly anticipating the arrival of paintings by the wonderfully named Victor Moody, but in the meantime we’ve been to London to find more lovely new things and there are forthcoming deliveries from several exciting new stockists, so watch this space.

But you know what they say about all work and dull boys, so we treated ourselves to a meal at the new ‘Mutha’ restaurant further along Corsham High Street and can report a wonderful evening with old friends and really good, tasty Italian fare, including a spot of Prosecco, octopus, pizza, aubergine parmigiana, tiramisu AND fresh doughnuts. All excellent, with a great atmosphere – top marks. The pizza oven there is quite a thing, cooking the pizzas in about a minute.  And now I need a little lie down.

It’s back to work week, the decs are down and it’s stopped raining at last, hurrah! Wonderful to see the sun and all sorts of new (and familiar) faces in the shop this week. We have a few items in our mini-sale: some cushions, owl money-boxes, red-spot purses and hand-crocheted baby boots, but they’re going fast.

Mostly this week I have been selling furniture; perhaps everyone feels like sprucing up their home once the tree goes and it suddenly looks much larger. We’ve had lots of new vintage items in this week too from flags to Concorde – I think my current favourites are the fab 50s gold plates at £2.50 each. And as for the ‘Mark and Moody’ sign, what can I say? – perfect for above someone’s bed? Coincidentally, we have also bought several wonderful mid century oil paintings by listed RA artist Victor Hume Moody, (no relation), which I’m really thrilled about. They are currently with the framer/restorer, so watch this space.

New in this week are more cashmere items (we need cosy at this time of year and they’re so reasonably priced, you know it makes sense!), gorgeous cards and little suede notebooks (£3.50 each!). We have also begun ordering from the new spring ranges, so all sorts of goodies are on their way – perfect for presents and treats – which we probably need more at this time of year than any other.