Christmas Craft Fair at Kilver Court

I did a stall at this craft fair in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, with my pyrography and this is my review for the benefit of other crafters and also visitors. I haven’t done many craft fairs – in fact this was probably my first proper big one, but with nothing to compare it too, I still felt this was really good. The organisers kept in touch and were available and helpful on the phone. When I arrived in the morning there were people, handily wearing bright yellow t-shirts, helping to show me where to park the car and set up a stall. They were flexible and when people turned up with a stall unsuitable for their given position, they were moved. The craft fair was well advertised with fluorescent posters in the local area and in the papers. Best of all, the pitch fee was £20, which I thought was very reasonable. I suspect this will go up next year now that they know it was successful. On the down side, I heard many a grumble from sellers that were upstairs. Well, first of all they had to lug their stuff upstairs, and then they missed out on a lot of footfall because people just didn’t realise they were up there; or as many of the visitors were elderly, weren’t able to manage them. The fair was from 10 till 4, so a good full day and all day there were people walking past – I rarely had chance to make a phone call. I did pretty well, but that was mainly down to the lady who came along as I was packing up at the end and bought three higher priced items. Thank you nice lady! Reactions from sellers around me were mixed. I heard a couple of people saying that the November fair wasn’t so good and if they hadn’t paid for both fairs up front, they wouldn’t have bothered coming back! The person selling handmade soap almost completely sold out and did brilliantly. The person to my right selling embroidered blankets and baby grows did reasonably well, but the person to my left selling ceramics that you decorate yourself and put in the oven didn’t do well at all. It just goes to show that craft fairs are a risky business. Hence my new shop on Etsy! If you like craft fairs, or even if you don’t, I would recommend this one. It was only £1 entrance and it was a good size. I was impressed with the quality of the crafts on offer, and the organisers at Kilver Court had obviously put a lot of effort into making sure there was a wide variety of crafts on offer. Prices people were charging were reasonable too – especially the lady to my right, from whom I bought a lovely blanket for my niece for her Christmas present. There was live music to keep you entertained and refreshments available, but as I mentioned earlier, there are stairs.