After an incident two years ago when this wall got demolished by a delivery lorry, it has been given added protection in 2010 for the Craft Fair .
Abingdon Autumn Craft Fair takes place over two long weekends in October (Thursday 21 – Sunday 24 and Thursday 28 – Sunday 31 ). It is at Abingdon’s medieval Abbey buildings…
a place much loved by pigeons. These two were engaged in a lot of heavy pecking and amorous fluttering, quite unconcerned by the crowds milling between the food halls below.
Inside the main hall there were many new and well known stalls.
Very familiar and in his usual position, Mr Kemp offered passers by some of his fine Sloe Gin. Sloes are not the sort of fruit easily cultivated, but are generally harvested from the hedgerows – often by people looking to supplement pensions.
Quite a few new stalls this year – but lots of the old favourites as well. I had thought that there hadn’t been as much publicity as usual, but judging by the numbers of people who had come from far afield I guess they may have prioritised their advertising over a wider area – good news for the town which was looking and feeling good this weekend. Lets hope the second week is as lively.
wonder what they do for the few days in the middle…
as a kid this fair always meant that xmas was almost on it’s way – you could taste the excitement!
haven’t been for years… maybe i should.
there was always a guy giving out slides for projectors – but i haven’t a clue what they were.
…do you need to pay for entry for this one like the craft fair in the spring?
Price of Entry:
Entrance fee: £3.85
Concessions: £2.85
Children: £2.20.
Thanks for the price list. I’m afraid I think that that is prohibitively expensive. What are you paying for – do you know? What is inside? I’d like to go….but I can’t stretch to £10 (or more) for the family…just to get in!
you’re paying to… buy stuff!
crazy but there you go – i assume enough people go to make it worth the charge.
It does seem a lot, but having seen something of the organisation that goes into it I can sort of see why.. The organisers – a commercial company – have to pay for all the publiciity, for the general running of the show and for things like security (keeping all that lot safe at night in those buildings is a serious undertaking). They also of course pay rent for the use of the buildings – that goes to Friends of Abingdon and is a major factor in enabling FoA to keep the medieval buildings in a usable state,
Obviously the stallholders pay for their “pitches” but I guess the organisers have to get the balance right to attract the right number and quality – hence the need to charge us as well.
I agree that it is prohibitive for families – but to be fair it isn’t a family-type event anyway. Most children would hate it and it is completely impossible for buggies. I can remember a good many years when we took it in turns to go for just that reason. The alternative is to persuade a friend or relative to take the little ones to the nearby Abbey Meadows – let me know if you want a babysitter, Doozer!
Thanks Hester for the explanation. I thought it would be to go towards ‘costs’. My family has been involved in running ‘events’ for many years…I haven’t taken over the famiIy reins…but it feels expensive. I wonder if one day they did a far smaller, nominal charge and see (with adequat advertising – by that…I only mean a banner accross the outside of the county hall) if more peolpe go…and therefore buy more?
I still think, the best part of £4 just to get in is still steep. I’d far rather look for my ‘local piece of craftwork’ from Local Roots…and spend that £4 on a coffee and a piece of cake with Chris. Maybe one day I’ll have a look through the window and see if it looks worth me saving up. Disappointingly, a friend of mine went on Sunday…the people ‘on the door’ happily took her money and then watched her go through pushing her pushchair….no word of any stairs or tight spaces… I’ll let you know when I need that sitter, Hester.
We haven’t been for the past two years, simply because we can’t get the pushchair round. My daughter loves going to craft fairs (she’s 5), but my son is better contained in a pushchair – he’s 18 months!
I’m sure it cost more to get in when I went last (from memory I think it was £5 per adult). Which is a bit steep if you don’t actually find anything you want to buy…
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