The Handmade Fair at Bowood

On a unusually hot sunny Sunday the Handmade Fair was in full swing.  Beneath several white marquees doted in the stunning grounds of beautiful Bowood House there was a hive of activity.  There were opportunities to take part in a workshops to create macrame plant holders, try your hand at modern calligraphy, do paper cutting or screen printing.  In the larger marquees you could take part in the Grand Make which included Indian block printing, tassel key rings or origami trinket boxes.  Meanwhile in the Super Theatre tents, you could listen to Liz Earle share her wellbeing wisdom or Annie Sloan provide an insight into her incredible chalk paints.

Feeling somewhat overwhelmed by all these options, I decided not to prebook anything and just see what was available on the day.

We arrived a little after 10 just after the gates had opened and was surprised how many people were already milling around.  We had a wander around the marquees and food stalls that were there just to get an idea of what was going on before having a very British cup of tea.  Knowing that the weather was going to heat up as the day progressed we headed straight to the Artisan Market marquee.

There were SO many different artisan producers in there it was difficult to know what to look at first!  It was great however to see lovely local lady Hayley from GeoAttic!  I ended up buying some new dog collars however as it turns out, Connie’s doesn’t fit but Rebecca from Two Dogs & Co has been brilliant in sorting out a replacement for me.  A candle also fell into my possession from House of BlueBelle…

We then headed over to the food market where you could sample everything from cheese and chocolate to gin and MORE gin!  Needless to say this was high our agenda!  Again, a few goodies fell into my hands including some Gin Jam from Pinkster and some vegan chocolate for JB from Seed & Bean.

In all honesty, we didn’t make it to any craft sessions – by the time we’d done the above and had some light lunchtime refreshment it was 2pm!

With a variety of tickets available, there really is an option for everyone.  You can still get tickets for the Hampton Court event later in the year here.

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