Thursday 24 November 2016

Country Lifestyle Luxury Gift Fair in Uckfield - review by Bex

I went along to a new Christmas Fair at East Sussex National in Uckfield today and found so many lovely stalls!  I managed to get around a fair few before the twins were fed up and we had to scarper mid-meltdown from K!  Before that however, I sampled some lovely produce, saw some beautiful jewellery, gorgeous clothing, plenty of cute Christmas decorations and a lot of local makers and sellers.  The fair is also on tomorrow from 10am - 4pm so if you have any Christmas shopping to get or just fancy a nice stroll around seeing what's on offer, I would definitely recommend it.  It's £4 entry on the door and you can enter a prize draw to win £50 in vouchers.

There were 67 exhibitors in all and I took a few photos of things that caught my eye but there were plenty more I was interested in so I hope to go back tomorrow morning if the twins are in a better mood!  If you can't make it along, they will be back next year in Tunbridge Wells on Fri 10th and Sat 11th November and back in Uckfield on Fri 24th and Sat 25th which will certainly make it easier for me to attend as I can leave the kids with Nik on the Saturday!

Lucy Bradshaw's pretty jewellery table was right outside the lift.

It was well organised with plenty of space, I had no problem getting the double buggy around.  The foodie stalls were all at one end with clothing and jewellery at the other and various gifts and Christmassy bits in between.  It certainly makes it easier if you're after something specific.

Clockwise from left: decorations from Katie's Originals, Natalia from Mols & Tati-Lois,
Clothing from a lovely stall the twins rushed me past, Funky bags from another stall I was unable to stop at.

You can see the nice wide aisles.

One of the produce stalls, Krissy of Sussex had a huge array of at least 50 different preserves and sauces of which I sampled quite a few!  They were lovely and all home-made in East Sussex using not just local ingredients but home-grown fruits and vegetables as well.  They also had a pretty punchy chilli oil!

Just a few of Krissy of Sussex's lovely preserves.

I also sampled some ginger wine which was nicely spicy, the twins enjoyed a cheese twist from Heathfield based Bay Tree Foods (after K calmed down!) and I saw plenty of other interesting food & drink items and my favourite local cheese man, Martin, was there from Cheese Etc... with some lovely cheeses including an interesting black cheese!

Clockwise from left: Ginger wine from Cheese Bomb Gifts, Wine Tasting kit from Drinks in a Tube,
Mince Pies and Cheese Straws from Bay Tree Foods, Fudge from Mini Mouthfuls
Martin from Cheese Etc...

One of the jewellery stalls I loved was cpinksilver by Christina Pyemont.  She makes her beautiful leaf shaped jewellery from real leaves which are painted with layers of sterling silver.  And another pretty stall was Mols & Tati-Lois with statement necklaces, beautiful decorations and funky lampshades.  There were also a very eclectic stall called Maven with both modern and vintage ranges from various designers including Fairtrade jewellery made by social enterprises in Africa.

Clockwise from top left: Leaf necklaces from cpinksilver, jewellery from Mols & Tati-Lois,
fashion necklaces and vintage brooches from Maven, fine jewellery from Lucy Bradshaw.

I also loved these gorgeous handmade bright felt kids costumes from tiredbear.  They had very well made dinosaur and unicorn tails, angel and butterfly wings, whale tails and dragon costumes.  I definitely want to head back for a closer look as I think the twins would love them!

Kids' costumes from tiredbear

Swann Forge had something a bit different on offer.

I love the ethos of the fairs, they only have high quality items that the organisers love and include plenty of local sellers so each fair is different.  They like to keep them spaced out so they're easy to get around and ensure you can really enjoy the experience.  I certainly did.

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