Hatfield House..Living Craft Fair..May 11, 2008

What a wonderful sunny day it was! After last year's fiasco with me almost passing out after 20 minutes of walking around, if that, today was a pleasure. Why?? Many many thanks to Three Counties Mobility from St. Albans who provided free electric scooters and wheelchairs to the visitors. They were friendly and helpful and a laugh. See you next year!!

So there I was in a 4 wheel electric scooter going around the craft fair which was bigger than last's. It felt a bit dicey at times, like I was going to tip over but it was great fun.




This handsome fellow greeted everyone as they came into the craft fair. He is made of horse shoes. More of these shapes were found in front of a tent, such as:
















There were more tents this year and more exhibitors. What was nice for the children and adults were tents offering hands on experiences, pottery throwing, drawing, painting a plate or cup. There were also lectures given.

Plus the Morris Men!! This group is the St Albans Morris Men. They were founded in 1930 and have been dancing in and around the city ever since.

I'm not sure if this was the 'Fool'. He did call out the dances.















Then fair is fair and there was a ladies group of Morris dancers, I believe from Bedfordshire. The leader of that group had pink hair and lots of pink on.

















What was nice about both groups was there were all ages in them. There were ladies and men who were middle-aged or older while there ware some youngsters too, which shows that Morris Dancing will go on for a very long time.

We had an ice cream while watching the men dance. It got really hot and the sun was burning, but it was a welcome change to the weather we have been having.

One of the stalls had us asking ourselves if we have fairies at the bottom of our gardens. Here were homes fit for them.





I always love seeing how people use wood to make things. Here's some tables.




Here are some chairs made from wood, most looked very uncomfortable but cute since some of the backs were made from cricket bats or gold clubs. The next photo is a wonderful wizard.







There was also an Owl Society there to make people aware of the owls that are disappearing from the countryside.







And we had steam engines


Kathy stoking a donkey while insisting it was the heat that made the donkey 'happy to see her'

A thatcher who would make a small summer home for you on wheels so you can always face the sun. Cool idea.


And singers to entertain us.



So that's how I spent American Mother's Day. It was a great day. Full of sunshine and temptations. I can't understand why Kathy calls me a handbag addict just because I kept drooling when I saw the bags. *sigh* Just looked and didn't buy.

There was also a food tent where you could taste and then buy, which I did. I was very happy to see there, after a couple of year's absence, Sauces of Choice.

I love their 'Coconut, Lime & Coriander' sauce which is so great when cooked with Quorn. They now have new sauces for the gourmet. I stuck to the vegan ones. lol I also bought a sachet of their 'Sweet and Sour' sauce to try. Their products weren't in jars but in an easy open pouch which made less of a clink clank.

If you live in the UK, have a look at their site,
http://www.saucesofchoice.co.uk

I also gave in at the THORNCROFT CORDIALS' table. Great prezzies when going overseas on holiday to show the colonies what is in the Mother Country. They can be found at: http://www.thorncroftdrinks.co.uk

I wasn't too impressed with the curry stand and the dip people were, well the dip people, nothing new and exciting there for me.



Happy Mother's Day to all!!