The location was quite stunning, it was held in the grounds of the beautiful Herstmonceux Castle, along with an antique fair and a boot fair. Hmm. I did love having a bootfair to quickly stroll through after setting up, but............... I really don't think that particular arrangement worked for the crafters. Yes, there were loads of people, who took a very quick stroll through the craft marquee and then went back to the huge boot fair, without spending much. It was a long and pretty frustrating day, happily I was one of the few lucky people who did at least have a reasonable amount of sales. And Suzanne, the lovely girl with the gorgeous handmade handbags, whom I had met at a previous craft fair, was there, so at last we could natter when the going was dead slow.
This is the beautiful castle
I love the reflection of the arches in the water
The moat with beautiful water lilies
One one side of the castle was this row of the most amazing ancient sweet chestnuts. I got a bit carried away snapping pics with my little camera, for my son, really, who is a tree surgeon. Just look at the size of these trees, I wonder just how many hundreds of years old they are -
just click on the pics to see them full size, and really appreciate the beauty of the giants.
As I said earlier, I did manage a superquick sprint through the bootfair, while my darling son looked after the stand, and this is what I found -
A nice sized bunch of bits of old broderie anglaise and a good sized piece of very pretty dainty wide lace
I also found this dinky little flower brooch
and then there was this little copper kettle, which needs a LOT of elbow grease to make it all nice and shiny, but I don't care, its so cute
Oh, and I got a couple of tins as well
Ooh, oh, and I nearly forgot my 25p find, lol, this handbag, not very well made at all, but I loved the old wooden handles, and I am sure the quilted fabric, which is quite pretty, can be used for something as well -
I really did have a terrific headache at the end of the day, not a hangover I hasten to add, cyberdrinking doesn't usually have that effect, lol. I was sick as a dog, managed a quick bath when I got home, fell asleep on the settee as soon as I sat down, and was woken up very gently by my darling husband when it was time to go to bed.
What a weekend, eh?
