Plain Goods: New Preston, Connecticut

Inside an austerely lovely white sprawler surrounded by flowers you will find vintage French tea towels, grosgrain-tied bundles of silver spoons, Japanese canvas sneakers, enviable straw hats, and rack after rack of fabulous clothes: I especially liked a pair of duck-yellow Orslow jeans and a breezy dress by Injiri with white-on-white floral embroidery and handmade ivory-glazed, Delft-tinged ceramic buttons. There's another location in Wicasset, ME, and a v. excellent website; it's where I order Bible of British Taste magazine.