Wealden Times Midsummer Fair

When Rosie (from Cider with Rosie emailed me to let me know I was one of the winners of her competition for tickets to the Wealden Times Midsummer Fair, I was pretty darn pleased. If you've followed me for a while, or even if you haven't, you'll probably be aware that fairs are pretty much my bag - I love testing samples in food tents, eyeing up fancy crafts and of course, if it's a good fair, dog spotting.

Not only was it a chance to spend a day at a fair anyway, but it was in a pretty beautiful part of the country too. My sister is actually at university in Canterbury but I've only been to visit her a couple of times and not for long enough to really appreciate the Garden of England. It's probably the former that made her seem like a pretty good choice as my guest, plus she has to fill her days with something now she's lounging around having 'summer holidays'.




I can't go to a fair, farmer's market or farm shop without coming away with tasty juice and with Kent being where everything (trust me) grows, the Wealden Times Midsummer Fair was probably the best place to pick something up. I couldn't help myself with Brogdale Juices' Heritage Selection, I mean, it was all presented in such a satisfying way. I came away with a bottle of their apple & rhubarb and their apple & blackcurrant, both delicious!


My sister and I are both Masterchef fans so when we saw Dhruv Baker was presenting in the Burlanes Chef's Theatre, that was the first place we headed to set up base. He made a spiced pea purée with pigeon and duck...
I don't think I like pigeon all that much.



Definitely watched the Amazing Spaces with Crystal Vintage, it's definitely more impressive in real life.




Lunch was Spade and Spoon's Pulled Pork Bap. May have been the best one I've had yet, probably because each one was so carefully (and lovingly) put together, which explains the crazy queue (which we managed to beat).






The Arty Crafty Place had the nicest stall - as well as their blockcraft fabric and paper printing, they also had a great choice of decopatch items, all done to your liking!








Making a couple of friends.

The fair itself was quite small but really made the most of the space, and the stalls were full of so many fun things to look at my sister and I easily spent a few hours just pottering. Hole Park Gardens was a lovely setting and a beautiful spot for afternoon tea should I ever be in the area again. It was such a great way to spend the day and I'm so pleased that the sun decided to shine for us after driving all the way down in the pouring rain.


How great is Pollyfields' lavender Great Dane? Not only is he lifesize, but he also totally smells of lavender. Pollyfields' creations are really quite something, gorillas and parakeets aren't exactly what spring to mind when you think of potpourri.






The gardens felt like a real secret as most people were there to busy themselves with the fair instead - but the ticket did include Hole Park Gardens too so we figured it was only polite to make the most of it!





Not quite appreciating how spikey what we just climbed through was...







Unfortunately even though Rosie and I went to the fair on the same day, I didn't get to meet her, but it's okay because I wouldn't have been able to help but gush, hers is one of my absolute favourite reads! You can see the first half of her photos from the fair over on Cider with Rosie now. Thanks you for picking me, Rosie, I had such a wonderful day! ♥



I definitely took far more photographs of flowers than is considered acceptable.


... but so did my sister.





I'm forever finding it hard to narrow those photos down and I know there's a lot here already but there's more over on Flickr if you're that way inclined.