Secret Craft Fair & Garden Party

We held a Secret Craft Fair and Garden Party to celebrate the launch of The Refectory Table a few weeks ago. Pete and I set out to create a unique event that would fill our house and garden with some of our favourite makers and do’ers, plus foodies, friends and visitors that we thought would enjoy it all.

The plan paid off – the sun came out and we were able to show everyone’s work throughout the house and garden, give people tasty things to eat (one of our signature ambitions – bringing creative people, quality work, good conversation together around lovely food) and enjoy the work and the informal networking that just bubbled up from the lovely mix of ingredients.

Aside from the sheer enjoyment of seeing and buying great work, we wanted to find out if mixing people, work and conversation in the setting of our lovely garden would spark off ideas, useful connections and perhaps create a model to work with for future events. The feedback has been great, we’ve had some lovely responses from a variety of bloggers (do see the links below), and it’s given us the confidence to start making plans for something similar in the not too distant future.

Thanks again to all the lovely artists and makers who brought their work, to the members of the Clandestine Cake Club – including Lynn Hill, the founder, and to everyone who came along, without whom it simply wouldn’t have worked. We’re looking forward to the next one already.

NEWS – Secret Craft Fair & Open Garden 2013 – 15th & 16th June. Contact me or check back for details!

2012 Event Blogs 

See how Julie made her ‘Damien Hirst Battenberg’

Kay van-Bellen blog
makedoandspend blog
thinkingofthedays blog
Sue Bulmer blog

Participating Artists & Makers links

Kay van-Bellen        Sue Bulmer      Martin Currie     Mik Godley     Maxine Greer     Nita Nathwani   Nicolette Potton     Helen Rhodes     Rachel Wood