SHOP OF THE MONTH Baileys Home in Ross-on-Wye

Trailblazers of the modern rustic aesthetic, husbandand-wife duo Mark and Sally Bailey have been running Ross-on-Wye’s iconic store, Baileys Home, since the late 1970s. We spoke to Sally to find out more…

TELL US HOW IT ALL BEGAN…

Mark and I were bidding against each other at an auction house in the Welsh Valleys when we first met. At the time, he had a shop selling good quality used household items and antiques. We opened our first shop together – selling architectural fittings and salvage – in south Wales in the late 1970s. During that period, we’d been trying to restore our home and were finding it difficult to buy usable old fixtures and fittings. As newlyweds, we relocated to Herefordshire and started selling from our outbuildings.

HOW DID YOU COME ACROSS THE BARNS THAT

NOW HOUSE YOUR BUSINESS?

We were on the lookout for a plot with more space when we drove past Whitecross Farm near the village of Bridstow, just outside Ross-on-Wye. The barns were in poor condition, but we chose to restore them with minimal environmental impact and maximum consideration. We kept the finishes simple throughout, using lime plaster, sheep wool insulation, raw concrete and uncoated steel. It took about two years, and it cost us our home and all our savings. WHAT MAKES BAILEYS HOME UNIQUE?

Our intention was to move away from imported and massproduced goods and provide like-minded people with a considered and honest offering of products: plain, simple and useful.

CAN YOU RECOUNT YOUR MOST MEMORABLE

MOMENT AS SHOPKEEPERS?

When we first started the business, Mark and I visited The Conran Shop. It had a wonderful garden department and we decided then and there that one day we wanted to have something stocked there. We noticed they had plenty of hurricane lamps, but no lamp oil.

There was our opportunity. We started researching lamp oil, found a supplier, a great glass bottle and designed a really simple label ‘lamp oil (for oil lamps)’ in a hand-written font (which hadn’t been done before). At Conran they loved it, and it went on to sell thousands of bottles across their stores, including in Japan!

AND WHAT ABOUT YOUR TEAROOM?

The Tin Tabernacle – now home to our tearoom – came to us from the Museum of Rural Life nearby, which was closing. The tabernacle itself was originally from the Welsh Valleys, and we totally rebuilt it to sit within in our walled garden. It’s open at weekends, serving tea, sandwiches and homemade cakes.

Find out more at baileyshome.com