Do your home or gardens need a lift you haven’t achieved? Hollyhock Cottage’s owner, Mary Beckley, can assist you with a solution when your ideas won’t let you accomplish more. Beckley, greets everyone cheerfully when they enter the cottage. If she has a customer, she’ll help you as soon as possible. But you can keep busy browsing while you wait, and may have ideas of your own by the time she is free. 

     To reach Hollyhock Cottage from Main Street in Mathews, turn onto the road between Dollar General and Sibley’s General Store, which is Maple Avenue. On the left a Victorian lady stands with her sign, “HOLLYHOCK COTTAGE IS OPEN” except on Sunday. Another sign hangs in a decorative frame behind the picket fence with an open gate, welcoming you to enter on the brick walkway. The steps to the white cottage with pale green roof and trim are on the left, leading to a porch with a window box and dark green iron porch furniture with cushions. You will find chairs, plants, garden statues and more along the path and on the porch that you may purchase. As spring approaches, there will be more live plants and garden decor.

     Inside the door you wonder which way to turn to look first. Vintage jewelry dating to the 1800’s, linens, baby dresses, vanity sets, dolls, china, lamps and furniture include a bit of the old. Hand paintings adorn the walls and over the doors from which you may choose. A display on the fireplace tells you it isn’t the real thing, but a Faux finish, which deceives with the gas heat, burning brightly. Maybe this would enhance your den or living room.

     The shop offers many scents of potpourri, goat’s milk lotions by Sassy Spring Farm and a large selection of herbal vinegars. There are silk flowers, natural wreaths, bird houses, potted plants and more. Later in the spring, there will be garden plants with free instructions as to where to plant them and the attention they need.
Hollyhock Cottage offers window treatments, slip covers and upholstery, using fabric from Beckley’s sample books. She will not only plan your interior but also your gardens for you. Hollyhock Cottage’s gardens will grow as we go into summer, not only with new plantings of old fashioned flowers, but tables and chairs among the trees which will be planted. Fountains add life to a garden and will be available. Could you ask for a more pleasant place to shop? Beckley’s motto is, “Affordable and Beautiful Gardens and Interiors at a reasonable price.”

     Classes in faux finishing, stenciling and home crafts are offered for $25. Beckley will also offer a number of free classes and discussions on gardening and decorating.

     Mary Beckley and her husband moved to Mathews from California 15 years ago. They restored an older home in which Beckley used many of the techniques she will now be teaching others. She found that she had more things than she needed. And although she sold her herbal products and other natural items at the Farmers Market in summer, she felt need for a full time outlet. She had a start on her inventory before she invested more capital. Come visit Hollyhock Cottage and learn for yourself the great offers. Hours Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

See our ad located in the Mathews Virginia Shopping section of ChesapeakeStyle.com

© 2001 Catherine C. Brooks All rights reserved.