To recover from all the bagging, tagging, and saying goodbye to my things I took a trip to St. Keverne in Cornwall. I stayed in a cottage on Well Lane.

On the other side of the road there was a ‘shop’ where a man was selling off all kinds of junk (pottery beer tankards, ornamental garden frogs, a train station weighing scales) in his back garden.

It wasn’t your typical shop, things for sale seemed to be mixed up with his work tools and personal belongings. There were quirky hand-written labels, with descriptions of the objects : “Nice heavy claret jug”, and “Interesting station platform scales with nice brass face. Unusual.”

I followed a sign which said “More items in shed”. Inside he had a notice on the wall: “This shed warmth laughter light happiness sunshine open”. It felt like he was giving people a narrative for what they should be experiencing.

But then there were the things he didn’t tell.

Were the two ancient tubs of flea powder for sale or still in use? Who was the girl in the photograph? Which beer tankard should I buy?

I never got answers that day because I couldn’t find anyone to ask or give my money to. The owner didn’t favour the hard sell and it seemed like he wanted to keep some mystery. If you are ever in St. Keverne see if you can find him and ask him some questions for me… Click here to see the shop.