Ruby's Second Chance Christmas Fair.

Tis the season for Christmas markets, and aside from my recent trip to Bath decent pickings are seem to be slim, especially in Newbury.


Despite picking up a couple of pretty decent things when we went last year, Moon and I were overall pretty disappointed with Ruby's Vintage Fair and hadn't returned since. It was an easy way to fill part of the afternoon when our friends Dan and Kirstin came to stay though so we took a drive (in Moon's flash new car) up to their new location and were actually pretty impressed.



They definitely made the most of the space, if we hadn't been looking for a more substantial lunch it would have been nice to stop for tea at the tearooms they'd set up.



I'm not sure if it was because of Christmas, but there was a pretty wide collection of stalls and all with such varied selection at reasonable prices. I failed massively on the Christmas shopping front again but I made a great fuchsia cardigan and cute cat & mouse brooch mine so that's alright.

Even though we used Kirstin and Dan's visit as an excuse, I'm glad we went and the £1 entry fee didn't seem like a rip-off this time around. I'd definitely be interested in going again and have already recommended it to Catherine from Isobelle's Pantry (you should look at her crochet holly garlands, they're so cute(!)) as a great place in Berkshire to have a stall.

It certainly made a nice change from the regular traditonal Christmas markets we've been to and I haven't been to a decent vintage fair in ages. Thinking back about this now I can't wait to get back over to 'basically London' and have a proper mooch.

Have you been making the most of Christmas markets near you?

Festive Little Sunday.

Even though the weather's been a total misery lately, and it seems like autumn completely rushed by me, winter being well and truly on its way means that Christmas is coming and that's pretty brilliant.
On Sunday, Moon and I leisurely went over to a couple of Christmas fairs just outside of Newbury, neither of them ended up being any good, but it got us out the house for a bit and I did manage to get a couple of goodies.

Our first stop was St Gabriel's Christmas Fair, it's quite a nice school and I did actually manage to pick up a few things but I don't think it was worth the £4 car parking we paid considering it was really just a school thing. We felt a bit weird because it wasn't like we were parents or anything...

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Our second stop was Ruby's Vintage Fair at New Greenham Arts Centre, an event that would have been great if it has just been bigger, and taken advantage of the time of year and been a little bit more Christmassy. It was full of pretty ladies with victory rolls and cool artwork though so it at least had that going for it.

Simultaneously the best and most hilarious 'vintage' find ever, a framed photo of Kevin McCloud for £1.

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Lunch was a Boxing Day pasty from the West Cornwall Pasty Company in town, a Christmas dinner in a pasty doesn't sound great but it really was probably one of the tastiest pasties I've ever had.

The West Cornwall Pasty shop in Newbury is so neat, it's all exposed walls and wooden floors and the basement floor has window seats right next the canal, which was really high thanks to the freaky weather. It all felt really cosy sipping hot chocolate while the water rushed past.

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This was one of my finds from Ruby's, an educational fish poster, there were so many other nice ones but I thought this one would be perfect for the bathroom - which I'm trying to do up bit by bit.

I thought this was pretty good find for a school fair, especially seeing as I can never have enough places to put tealights ♥

And of course, I couldn't resist these adorable kitty honey beeswax candles, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to bring myself to use them, but that's why I got two. :3

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Are there any fun crafty/vintage fairs popping up near you? They seem to be really trendy at this time of year. I don't usually find anything but was pleased to this time rather than just window-shop.

Soundtrack to the day:

Dawes - 'North Hills' & Michael Bublé - 'Christmas'
♥