The festival began as a fair 5 years ago and this year, it brought together an inspiring collection of creative people, makers and a celebration of all things handmade. There were hands on workshops being held to learn skills in Pottery, Macrame, Watercolour Painting and Crocheting to name just a few. 

Hobbycraft were on hand to talk about how to create a handmade Christmas, from stockings and advent calenders to knit your own jumpers. Visit the online shop* at hobbycraft.pxf.io/mvrVX. The fabulous Mollie Makes (www.molliemakes.co.uk) spoke about how to start crafts and covered how to find your audience to marketing and pricing. Kirstie Allsop held a variety of talks including ‘using chalk paint at home’ with the expert in this area, Annie Sloan (www.anniesloan.com) . On Sunday, Liz Earle MBE shared her invaluable advice on how to look and feel great during our mid-life years. I could have done with listening to this! In the afternoon, the winner of The Great British Bake Off, Rahul Mandal talked about the science of baking and made something delicious for Liz Earle on stage. I wish I saw this too.

Aside from all the workshops, demonstrations and talks, there was a Gin tent, numerous food and drink stalls and over 200 makers to shop from. Plenty to keep you entertained all day. I had the pleasure of showcasing some of my products on the Heartizan (www.heartizan.uk.com) stand, which is the home of the handmade marketplace. It was founded by Chrissie Lowery, who after being rejected to sell on a well known marketplace, decided to launch her own platform to bring together crafters to sell on Heartizan and who would all support each other. Heartizan is also a social media awards winner like myself, having being crowned ‘Queen of Handmade Marketplace’ and one of Theo Paphitis’ SBS winners.