So where did the name Merry Walk come from (and no, I'm not Mary Walker, as many people have assumed over the years)? Back in the dim mists of time, I lived in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and after a trip to England, decided my area needed a bed-and-breakfast. (This, unfortunately, was long before the concept had caught on in this country). Looking for a catchy name for the place, I remembered seeing a sign in a lttle town in England, the entrance to a mews: "Merry Walk". It sounded happy and enticing, just what I had in mind for my place...and so I borrowed it. The bed-and-breakfast did not fly at that time (Joan Datesman learns about zoning is a whole other story, one I'd just as soon forget!) But the name Merry Walk stuck, and so I have Merry Walk Antiques, Merry Walk Publishing (for my book "Collecting Quimper") and, ultimately, I did indeed have a Merry Walk bed-and-breakfast when I first came to Annapolis. In between and around, I had a catering business, and always and forever, I renovate old houses.
But my overriding interest for many, many years has been the pottery of Quimper. And how fortunate I have been to have turned that interest into a career! It has given me wonderful travel to France for buying, and a much broader view of these United States as I have exhibited in antiques shows around the country. Now that I have given up the show circuit, my business will rest on my website www.merrywalk.com, and the collectors who live near enough to come visit, lunch, and shop here at home in Annapolis, Maryland.
I shall be travelling to France soon, and as always, in addition to the pottery, I'll be looking for interesting textiles, small paintings, bits of folk art.
So my next post will recount adventures in France! Stay tuned!
Joan Datesman
