History

I joined my father in the family antique business in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, where the shop stocked mahogany, walnut and oak furniture, together with longcase clocks, which were a particular favourite of my father's.

I soon found I had a natural feel for early furniture, understanding its construction and how the early carpenters and turners developed furniture making from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century – the 200 years that is called ‘The Age of Oak’.

I grew up in the town of Worksop, which together with the surrounding villages, was the home of Windsor chair-making in the early to mid-nineteenth century. These beautifully proportioned chairs, made in highly figured ash or burr yew wood, fascinated me and my passion has led me to researching both the regional style, together with the history of the chair-making families, building up a substantial stock (or collection!) along the way.

I moved to a larger shop in nearby Bawtry, Yorkshire, which was once an eighteenth century merchant’s house, together with the adjoining coach house. I meticulously restored the two properties which were featured in the publication ‘Period Home Magazine’, together with furniture of the period.

In 2015 I was fortunate enough to be able to acquire Wysdom Hall on Burford High Street, a shop I first visited with my father in the mid-1970s, when he came to visit Roger Warner, the renowned antique dealer.

After 5 years at Wysdom Hall, an opportunity arose to open showrooms in a lovely Queen Anne manor house on the Rutland/Northamptonshire border, where I continue to deal and enjoy finding unusual and rare early oak, metalware, tapestries and pictures.