Sasha Wilkins - LLG

Does anybody else feel that they don’t get enough done in a day? Even when I’m running around ticking things off my to do list, it never feels like I’ve done enough because my list is never ending. To try to combat my feeling of impotent frustration at not getting ALL OF THE THINGS done, each evening in bed I’ve started a habit of saying out loud everything that I’ve done during the day. Take yesterday – Saturday. By 9 am I was in Cirencester collecting a roof rack for the new car from Facebook Marketplace. Then I came home with @lovelylettice for boiled eggs, toast and extremely strong coffee whilst I read the papers. (I subscribe to The Sunday Times, New York Times, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail. I think it’s important to see what everybody is thinking.). Afterwards I changed my sheets, and tidied and dusted my bedroom, before taking a series of interiors pics for Instagram, and doing a cursory kitchen tidy, loading the dishwasher and hand washing the boxes of china and glass I had bought for @foundbysashawilkins over the last week. I spent an hour so photographing and measuring it all, and packing the re-filled boxes into the car. Heading to Gloucester to pick up some auction wins, we visited a dealer from whom I buy a lot of stock and emerged successfully with some beautiful early 19thC china. After leaving the auction house, I did my weekly shop in Aldi, and visited six or seven secondhand warehouses, charity shops, community depots, and antique centres hunting for new stock before heading to the FOUND barn to fit the new roof rails, unload the car and inventory all the new stock. I spent a few hours putting stock on shelves and packing parcels before it got too cold to remain. I got home around 8pm and ate beans on buttery toast in bed, reading the new Karen Swan @swannywrites novel (throughly enjoying it). And fin. I bet I’m not the only person who thinks I don’t get enough done – I highly recommend telling yourself what you’ve done in a day and giving yourself a pat on the back .

At the end of April, I pressed send on a tweet, which read: “During lockdown I set up an antiques business. My 79yr father was thrilled, wanted to help so taught himself to French polish via YouTube. Fast forward 2yrs and he now does all my restoration. We are closer than ever, speak almost every day & I keep multiple items out of landfill” A few hours later The Daily Telegraph got in touch to ask if we’d like to be included in their Father’s Day feature. (I was asked if I’d like to write the piece myself, but I think it’s hard to be objective about your own relationships.) A couple of weeks ago we had the best day in the cottage and at the @foundbysashawilkins barn being interviewed by the delightful @tjedoyle and photographed by Andrew Crowley. When I first pitched the idea to my father, I said: look at the very least I hope we’ll get a lovely portrait of the two of us together. Well, we didn’t just get one beautiful portrait, we got a whole clutch of them, but the thing that was so wonderful was that Jess got our relationship perfectly, not glossing over the bumpy bits over the years, and highlighting how well we work together now. I couldn’t be happier with how it all turned out. As some of you will know, I went into hospital a fortnight ago for a major operation. I was given the date two days after the shoot, and it was quite the panic to get ready in time. It happened so quickly because my father offered to pay for me to go privately when I discovered that the waiting list was 12 - 18 months. I think what he actually said was: I’ve got some savings, and I think you are a better investment than a new car or a holiday. I was blown away by his generosity and kindness. He has also driven me to and from the hospitals and from my mother’s to my cottage over the past fortnight. I would never have asked him to pay for the operation, not in a million years; I am so enormously grateful that he offered and saved me a year or so of daily pain. Over the years, and during my parent’s divorce, we haven’t always seen eye to eye, but I am so thankful that the pandemic and my business have brought us closer together than ever. Thank you, Pops, for everything

Here I am celebrating the end of my post-op convalescence in the doorway of the cottage yesterday with both of the sausages, and wearing the gorgeous new block-printed frock that my friends at @pink_city_prints have given me from their high summer collection Overall, I’d say I’m operating at about 85% of normal capacity: driving is absolutely fine, walking around the house and the shops is okay, and I can finally pick things up from the floor, but I get tired very, very quickly and I can’t stand for long. My tummy is sore and bloated, and I still have a nagging ache, a bit like period pain. I’ve been so desperate to get back to work - apart from the cabin fever of being stuck at home, being off work for six weeks is no joke when you’re self-employed, but it turns out that two days in the barn hosting the @foundbysashawilkins open weekend were too much for me so I spent Monday pretty much completely asleep and in quite a lot of pain. I completely underestimated the serious nature of a radical hysterectomy, in terms of procedure and recovery, but I have zero regrets and I know that, once healed, it really will have been life-changing. One glorious side-effect is that I have lost a substantial amount of weight. I don’t own scales but I’ve gone down a full dress size: the shape of my torso has changed completely (well, they did remove nearly a kilo of fibroids etc), my face is sharper, my double chin has disappeared, and I’m wearing clothes that I haven’t fitted into for some five or six years. I cannot tell you how cheering it is to be able to shop in your own wardrobe! Prepare yourselves for lots of dress spam… And, yet again, I want to finish by saying, thank you: the advice, support, kindness, compassion and love that I have received has so extraordinarily uplifting, especially because I have frequently been so unutterably miserable, lonely, scared, and in such pain. Frankly, you are all amazing.

HELP! I have been given two months notice to leave my rented cottage near Rendcomb as it’s needed for the owner’s carer. I can’t say I’m wholly sad, given that it currently looks like an apocalyptic landscape as a massive walnut tree fell on my doorstep last week, I’ve had a disgusting rat infestation for over four months*, the landlord cancelled the gardener - which we pay for - so my lawn is a meadow, the bathroom is an icehouse, and the broadband rarely works. ANYWAY. This means that myself and the teeny sausage dog need a new home somewhere around Cirencester, and preferably within ten miles of the FOUND barn in Winstone. If anybody has any leads, please send me a DM. I’m looking for a pet-friendly property with 2+ bedrooms, a garden, and parking (as my car is often full of antiques). I’m a lovely quiet tenant who is always at work; I just need somewhere safe, clean, and rat-free to make my home. * Lettice killed a rat in my bedroom at 6am the week before I left for France. Happy days

Watch until the end for the star guest! All the outfit details at the end ⬇️. Which one is your favourite? Two weeks based on my friends’ farm in very rural France sourcing for my antiques business. I didn’t buy anything new new before my trip: I shopped my wardrobe, filled in a few gaps via @vinted, and picked up some inexpensive sunhats, straw bags & leather sandals in the local markets and French supermarket during my stay. The only PR items are the new Air & Grace raffia sandals. Although if we are talking about the things I haven’t paid for – let’s thank my stylish mother for passing on her Miu Miu straw bag, and the Liberty print dress my paternal grandmother made for her when she was pregnant with me! Lipstick throughout: either @bobbibown Poppy or @merit Vermillion Denim shorts: @laredouteuk (past season). White blouse: vintage @ghostfashion. Bag: vintage. Hat: French market. Sunglasses: @lespecs Navy dress: @karenmillen (twelve years old). Bag: @miumiu. Sandals: @airandgrace {AD/PR}. Hat: @lidlgb. Sunglasses: @lespecs Green & white sundress: Tesco @fandfclothing SS25. Sandals: French supermarket @leclerc. Bag: vintage. Hat: French market. Sunglasses: @thisiswhistles Blue kaftan: @debbiekatzofficial via @vinted. Sandals: @zara. Hat: @lidlgb. Sunglasses: @sundaysomewhere Green dress: @finerylondon via @vinted. Black bag: 5€ French market. Black sandals: @cosstores(past season). Sunglasses: @lespecs Blue & white dress: @hillhousehome (past season). Sandals: Sandals: @airandgrace {AD/PR}. Straw bag: French market. Sunglasses: @sundaysomewhere Pale blue & white striped dress: @Monsoon (past season). Bag: @accessorize (past season.) Hat: @snooksthehatters @libertylondon print Tana lawn dress: vintage (made by my grandma for my mother in the 70s). Hat: @snooksthehatters. Sandals: @leclerc. Bag: as before. Sunglasses: @sundaysomewhere

{swipe the pics through for the lowdown}. The house party is sixteen strong (plus Margot the beagle and @lovelylettice) here at the rambling old farmhouse deep in the French countryside, owing to a slight miscalculation regarding arrivals and departures on our wonderful and long-suffering hostess’s part but, apart from a more military approach to catering, the house seems to absorb everyone and it never feels too much. The only time it feels like a logistics operation is when we leave en masse for an outing. Yesterday the easy destination consensus was Château d’Ussé, 90 minutes north deep in the Touraine, and famous for being, allegedly, the inspiration for Charles Perrault’s fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. Rather impressively all the cars made it on time to lunch at Bistro Le Jeanne d’Arc in Huismes, a few kilometres from the chateau, where we ate variously faux-filets and enormous slightly odd salads (crispy onions, burrata, raw carrot batons & sunblush tomatoes). It’s an excellent local pick, and avoids the tourist bun fight in Rigny-Ussé, the village surrounding the chateau. We were delighted to discover that the Château was very dog friendly; altho you do have to carry your dogs indoors which led to the amusing sight of some very large animals being hefted up and down the grand escalier and the vertiginous winding spirals of the turret staircases. The crepuscular wax work dioramas which tell the story of Sleeping Beauty in one of the towers are somewhat disconcerting but the beautiful chapel and the chateau’s state rooms are glorious, and don’t miss the young girl’s bedroom at the very top of the château which is extremely pretty. The main building is still being restored and I gather more work is being done continuously. If you’re used to the National Trust, it’s a little ramshackle but this privately owned château has an enormous amount of charm, and isn’t too overwhelming for a large group, or for children. Style notes: Dress: @monsoon Straw bag: @miumiu Straw hat: via @snooksthehatters in Bridport Sunglasses: @lespecs via @vinted Brown leather sandals: French supermarket (@leclerc) Lettice’s stripy lead: @lish_uk {AD/PR}

Here’s a snapshot of my week in eleven pics. Mainly I’ve been at work from about 8 am till 10 pm most days. Partly because I’ve got a lot to do, and partly because there are rats in my cottage, the estate are not dealing to my satisfaction, and frankly I’d rather be working in the lovely @foundbysashawilkins barn and eating my supper perched on a Georgian oak chair than on my cottage sofa listening for rats…mind you, @lovelylettice did kill one on Thursday. Although I would’ve preferred it if it hadn’t been at 6 am. In my bedroom. Living in the Cotswolds is really such a joy at all times. I’m trying not to buy any new clothes so I’ve been shopping in my wardrobe, (hello Zara dress from 2007) and poking around the local charity shops and online. Was particularly delighted by the arrival of a brand-new Banana Republic navy T-shirt via @shopwithsueryder for three quid, @lespecs sunglasses for a tenner, and a Preen dress I’d always admired for £15 on @vinted. Of course it does help the budgeting if people give you nice things to wear so thank you to @airandgrace for the much-admired lovely new raffia sandals. Thankfully I booked into @margaret_dabbs_london in Cheltenham on Weds for my first pedicure of the year so at least my toenails look pretty. (We shall draw a veil over the current state of my fingernails.) We’ve been taking breaks from antique fettling to walk in the beautiful churchyard next to the barn. I say walk but, at the age of 12, Lettice likes to sniff more than she does actual exercise. I don’t mind so much because it gives me an opportunity to stuff handfuls of blackberries straight from the hedgerow into my mouth. I still can’t quite believe they were fully ripe at the end of July. Global warming is a thing, people.

Snapshots from the last fortnight: there hasn’t been much self care or time off because this is peak holiday time in the Cotswolds, so I’ve been opening the @foundbysashawilkins antiques barn each day for private appointments and every weekend for drop in visits. It’s also peak insect season so there’s been a lot of cottage cleaning to keep on top of the spiderwebs 1: the 1950s dressing table in my bedroom (DM if you’re looking for one as I do have another one in stock) 2: I’ve pretty much given up on my cottage garden as I’m always at work so I’ve taken all the pot plants and put them on the steps up to the barn, so they get watered regularly 3: 35C. The Wimbledon finals weekend was unbearable at work. On the Sunday, a client found me napping on a rug underneath an umbrella in the lea of the barn because I was so exhausted by the heat. 4: @lovelylettice in her happy place 5: I have been rearranging the barn, which gives me enormous pleasure. And biceps of steel from moving those bookcases around on my own 6: also enormous pleasure has been derived from seeing Lettice make friends. Here she is allowing @worldofnatashakennerley to hold her puppacino. Hard to believe this is the scared little rescue dog that couldn’t tolerate any other humans when she first came to live with me. 7: All cooks say the same thing: there is nothing like other people cooking for you. @hlidesign made delicious mushroom baos, sticky rice & nori, and miso, shitake & tofu broth for our supper on Wednesday 8: spent two nights with my mother to get my car door mended by her garage, and take her to hospital for the consultant follow-up after her accident. Her Annabelle hydrangeas are glorious 9: Mouse likes to wake me up with her meerdog impression 10: all my family have these trolleys now – when you can’t park outside your front door, they are an absolute godsend 11: lovely Janet gave my mother a big bag of homegrown courgettes so my mother cooked this umami-packed pasta supper for us, full of green herbs and a cloud of Pecorino

It’s always so lovely when friends drop in to say hello at work. I was beyond delighted to see p@jojoglynnsmith & @jonathanglynnsmith last weekend at the FOUND antiques studio barn here in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds. They timed it beautifully before the hoards descended, keeping me and Lettice amused and happy all morning. Plus Jonathan took this lovely portrait of me and Jo. You may remember that I was a guest on Jo’s brilliant and inspirational podcast The Mid-Life Entrepreneur at the beginning of the year – I cannot recommend her show more highly, whether you are thinking about changing your career trajectory in midlife, or are already deep in the weeds of running your own business as a female entrepreneur. Jo is such a generous AND incisive interviewer, always extracting thoughtful insights and genuinely helpful advice from her guests - I’m forever making mental notes when I listen. You can find TMLE wherever you listen to your podcasts, and ’m going to pop a link to our episode over on my Stories, (I’m also urging you to like, comment and subscribe to TMLE because it makes such an enormous difference to a podcast’s reach - we should all be supporting our fellow entrepreneurs!) Meanwhile, if you’d like to come to say hello, the barn is open this l on Friday through Sunday, 1030 to 430, and always during the week by appointment – just drop me a DM x Wearing: the brilliant wide legged jeans recommended a while back by @annagmurphy from @fandfclothing, a @jamesperse vest, an old @uniqloeurope navy cardigan, @lespecs sunnies, and a hat from the Lidl middle last week (!) @lidlgb. All bought not PR.q

I had such a nice floaty outfit planned to wear to the @foundbysashawilkins antique open day today and it’s now a little bit chilly and raining. Boo. Given that I spend most of the winter wearing moth-eaten cashmere sweaters, heavy boots and jeans, for both warmth and practicality, I love my summer open long weekends because I have three days in which I can pull out lovely things from my wardrobe and waft around feeling put together and pretty, as opposed to shuffling around in a puffer-coat with a bobble hat topper, watching my breath hang in the air like Puff the Magic Dragon Of course this won’t be news to anyone else who lives in the depths of rural England – whilst summers are generally a delight - I often stay working in the barn till 9 or 10 at night because I love my job and it’s a pleasure to be able to get things done in daylight, winters are cold, long, dark and muddy. In the depths of midwinter, I leave work around 430, because there’s no heating in the barn and it’s just not physically possible to stay there after the sun goes down, I’m in bed by 5:30 most evenings working on my computer and eating supper on a tray with Lettice because it’s the only warm place in the cottage, thanks to a tried and tested sandwich of electric blanket and vintage silk eiderdown Anyway, I’m off to come up with a more suitable damp weather outfit. But please don’t let the weather stop you visiting the barn here in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds today and tomorrow – we are open from 1030 to 430 each day and again next weekend. All details & directions on the pinned post on @foundbysashawilkins Frock: @wiggykit. Espadrilles: @castanerofficial. Hat: @lidlgb

What I wore to frazzle in the heat at work in the @foundbysashawilkins barn last week. I’ve been ferreting about in the bags of clothes that I stored in the attic in my mother’s cottage when I left London in 2020, so I’ve revamped my wardrobe this summer by shopping within it… Green washed silk shirt dress by Desa (2011). Tan slides: Zara (2018) White broderie dress @cosstores (2019). Bronze sandals: @lkbennett (2016) Sky blue shirt dress @amazonfashioneu Belt: vintage. Tan sandals: @marksandspencerstyle (2023) Blue denim skirt @marksandspencerstyle via @vinted. Shirt: @sferaofficial (2015). Hat: @lidlgb (in the middle last week!). Sandals @marksandspencerstyle (2024) Skirt: blue denim as before. Grey T-shirt: @lnaclothing (2010). Striped espadrilles: a French market Dress: navy poplin @nicolefarhi via @tkmaxxuk (2025). Slides: @ancientgreeksandals (2015) Dress: White embroidered @pink_city_prints (AD/PR - 2022) Tan slides: @zara (2018) Shorts: @jbrandjeans. Black T-shirt: @lnaclothing (both 2010). Sandals: @marksandspencerstyle (last summer)

A few months ago, whilst out sourcing stock for @foundbysashawilkins, I came across a pair of early 20thC French mother of pearl folding opera glasses by La Monte of Paris. They would make a perfect 80th birthday present for my mama so I promptly bought them. It wasn’t until I got home that I realised that one can’t really give somebody a pair of opera glasses without an accompanying pair of tickets for the theatre. Happily, she lives not far from Stratford upon Avon and I was able to secure stalls tickets a fortnight ago for the revival of Somerset Maugham’s The Constant Wife, starring Rose Leslie, at RSC The Swan Sometimes evenings just run perfectly, – we found a parking space opposite the theatre, there was time to eat ice creams before the show, our pre-ordered interval Kirs Royale were waiting on their coasters, and, obviously best of all, the production was glorious. Period drawing room pieces can sometimes feel dated, - The Constant Wife first premiered in 1926, but Somerset Maugham’s tale of a wife whose unconventional reaction to marital infidelity has echoes of A Doll’s House in showing us how a woman can take control of her own destiny by turning the conventional expectations of family and friends on their head Even though she was suffering from a migraine on the night, forcing her to wear a darling pair of 1920s round sunglasses throughout the performance, Rose Leslie’s performance on stage was a revelation. Her comedic timing is impeccable, she is generous with her fellow cast members, never upstaging or playing to the gallery and, when a vital door stuck fast in the set, her ad libs and reactions were apposite and very funny. Likewise, Mark Meadows playing Bentley the butler who, providing both the humour and the heart of the play, managed to finesse his entrances via the wings instead of said door, much to the audience’s delight. The Constant Wife by Laura Wade, based on W. Somerset Maugham’s play, is at RSC The Swan until 02 August @thersc I’m wearing: dress by @hillhousehome, shoes by @marksandspencersstyle, (all past season), and a French market straw bag