From an early age, Rosie Allerhand was captivated by the ‘olden days’, spending weekends happily wandering antiques fairs, flea markets and vintage shops. By the age of 11, she had transformed her bedroom into her own Wunderkammer – a walk-in cabinet of curiosities brimming with vintage finds, fossils, shells and other natural history treasures.
Growing up in 1980s Bath (then one ofBritain’s most celebrated antiques meccas), Rosie was surrounded by inspiration. The city’s labyrinth of antiques centres and shops, the legendary Walcot Reclamation, and the bustling Walcot Street Market – still going strong today, albeit on a smaller scale – provided endless fascination.
‘Saturdays would see me spending my pocket money on vintage cigarette lighters and amber-encased beetles. I loved the excitement of finding a one-off piece and imagining its history and origin,’ she recalls.
These were golden days for collectors of all kinds and ages, remembered fondly by many who experienced Bath’s rich antique scene: a time when every corner held the promise of discovery.
While living in London, Rosie, an actor and co-founder of Really Truly Theatre Company, met her husband Dan McAllister, a writer and creative director. After starting a family, they felt the need for more space. ‘It was time to come home, but Bath seemed to have lost some of the free-spirited, creative vibe I remember growing up around,’ she says.
‘Then we discovered Frome, and haven’t looked back. We love the creative community and all the amazing independent shops and artisan workshops.’ What’s more, the area has an abundance of vintage markets, shops and reclamation yards – perfect for Rosie to indulge in her love of seeking out pieces to collect, use and cherish.
The house that made Frome truly feel like home is a c1780s weaver’s cottage – originally two small two-up, two-down cottages joined to another building, believed to have once been a shop. ‘The unusual thing about the property is that it came with over an acre of land, almost unheard of in central Frome,’ says Rosie.
‘At first, I wasn’t sure about the small, ramshackle cottage in such a dilapidated state, but I was eventually won over by Dan, who keenly pitched his vision of what it could become.’
Moving in during 2014, the couple embarked on a full renovation and added a larch-clad, two-storey extension to house the kitchen and a bedroom above. ‘As soon as we got the keys, Dan began ripping out old carpets and taking up tiles,’ recalls Rosie. ‘He was delighted to discover original Blue Lias limestone flagstones on the ground floor, which he painstakingly uncovered.’
For areas that needed new flooring, they sourced beautiful old wide wooden boards from Frome Reclamation. ‘They’re actually shelving from an old Somerset cheese factory,’ Rosie explains. ‘When you look closely, you can still see the faint circular outlines of the cheeses.’
The colourful interior of the home is largely furnished and decorated with vintage and antique items collected over the years. ‘Dan loves a mid-century look, while I’ve always had a more maximalist and kitsch approach with a nod to pop art,’ says Rosie.
What they both bring to the interior, however, is a shared love of nature. ‘Dan grows the most amazing flowers, so in the summer we have endless vases of blooms everywhere, and in the autumn and winter, seedheads, ornamental gourds and dried flowers from the garden.’
With this in mind, it’s no surprise to discover that Rosie collects vases. Having collected everything from 1970s Tupperware and Bakelite ornaments to ceramic swans and embroidered table linen – often in generous quantities – Rosie’s tastes have evolved, and so has her approach.
‘My collecting style used to involve amassing lots of one thing,’ she explains, ‘whereas now I prefer to buy one or two really good pieces of art, furniture or lighting to add to the overall look and feel of our home. That’s not to say all my past collections have disappeared – the French crockery I gathered when we had a stint of living in France still comes out of the dresser for dinner parties.’
With her eye drawn to colour and pattern, one of Rosie’s favourite finds is an embroidery featuring poodles, bought at Portobello Market when she was 24 – not something Dan was keen to live with at the time. ‘We had only recently got together, and he thought it was dreadful,’ she laughs. ‘The stallholder told me not to marry him because of this, but I ignored her – and Dan did eventually come around to the poodles!
