Medieval

At the beginning of the summer 2002, I was given the opportunity of attending a Christmas craft fayre inside Ludlow Castle in Shropshire, a 12 century medieval castle. Its about a hours journey from my house and while I usually only attend small village events with my silk embroidery and crafts, I decided to take the plunge and go for this prestigious event and asked my friend Margaret, if she would be interested in sharing a stall with me.

The Christmas Fayre at Ludlow has been running for 5 years now and is proving to be a very popular, so much so, there is a waiting list for people wishing to attend, when told in August we had been accepted, we were thrilled to be given the opportunity of attending what turned out to be a well organised event. We were told all stall holders must dress in medieval costume and on this they were very strict, so Margaret and I set too and made our own costumes. My husband Nigel agreed he would come along and so that was another costume to make, but we were really grateful for the extra help and support he gave us, driving us there, offloading and helping with all the lifting and of course topping us up with an occasional brandy in our coffee, to help keep us warm on this cold, damp, wet, UK winters day, in the confines of a medieval castle..

On day two, Sunday morning going through the main castle gates in the outer court yard, just image the scene, the morning sunshine glistening on the castle walls, a hint of mist mixed with the cool damp air, stall holders opening their tents all dressed in medieval costume, the occasional dog running around over the damp straw and in the background the faint sound of medieval bagpipes drifting across the courtyard, were we on a film set!!!.

We had a really lovely time all weekend, sold lots of things, far more than we ever imagined, and the atmosphere, well, it was like stepping back in time, it will remain a very special moment in our lives, not only was it fun, but we made a profit over the weekend which exceeded our expectations.

I hope you will enjoy the photos and I would like to thank my friend Mandy for the excellent pictures she provided, we were so busy, we didn't get a lot of time to wonder around ourselves. If you ever get a chance do visit Ludlow, there are many events going on through the year, visit www.ludlow.org.uk for more information.

Ludlow castle	Ludlow castle	Outer Court Yard	Inner Court Yard
Margaret and I	My stall	Margaret's stall	Medieval Jeweler
Nigel and me	A local	His wife	Mandy and her new boyfriend!!!!!!

	The Leather man	The Spoon man