Festival of Thrift

Guys this is probably my last ever weekend in York! It's all steam ahead for the move to Cornwall and we are just awaiting a move-in date. More details about our unconventional choice of abode in a later blog as I'm still in York at the moment.

Today I went to Darlington with Ryan to visit their Festival of Thrift and take part in some workshops. I heard about the festival last year in Simple Things Magazine and went with Sam for her birthday weekend (I wrote about it all here). Ryan was busy and couldn't make it last year so he was excited to get stuck in today. We signed up for workshops in tapestry and cheese making just to have a go at something new, plus they were reasonably priced!

After a frustrating start (for Ryan) we managed to make a mini-tapestry in the hour that we had and learned a few bits of terminology and skills. We're not sure what to do with them now as they aren't exactly a work of art or an effective wall covering! Cheese making was less hands-on and I drifted off into a daydream a couple of times, however I was surprised how easy it is to make your own ricotta cheese.

 

 The festival was full of quirky individuals selling all sorts of stuff! There were some familiar faces from last year but still loads of new things to see and do. Ryan enjoyed stalking the goats in the petting farm... he has a goat obsession lately. I liked all the hand-made homey things like cute bunting and cross-stitched animal cushions. As usual the food looked and smelled delicious - we tucked into a hand-made, freshly cooked pizza for our lunch. If you live in the North I definitely recommend that you go next year!

Feeling Thrifty and oh so Vintage

 Last weekend I was blabbering on about all my exciting plans to visit the York Vintage Fair and the Thrift Festival in Darlington. Well I have had a fabulous time at both of them so my weekends were very enjoyable!

I spent the day in York with Ryan last Sunday and we popped along to the Vintage fair to check out what they had to offer. There were all sorts of retro clothing but I spent most of my time eyeing up Levis shorts and some jumpers for Sam's birthday. I did get myself some lovely new shorts and chose a cute knitted jumper for Sam that she seemed to be happy with this morning. We spent the rest of the afternoon casually strolling through York and had lunch at Pitcher and Piano. I was very cheeky on Sunday and also went out for a carvery with Sofia, but shhhh it's the weekend!

This weekend I spent time in Yarm as it was Sam's birthday today. We went out for a lovely meal where I had a cauldron of Thai Green curry (which everyone at the table stared at) before heading to Yarm High Street for a few drinks. Yarm is always an experience, lets just put it that way!! Then this morning, after re-fuelling with tea and croissants, we drove to Darlington for the Thrift Festival. It was free entry and sooooo worth it! We spent ages walking around and looking at all the cute things the stalls had to offer.

There were loads of different crafty type stalls selling their goods; even a woman who made jewellery out of spoons! I learnt all about brownie box cameras from the guy on the camera stall, might have got caught by the Look North camera man, drooled over fresh bread and yummy cakes, got all geeky about Harry Potter quote necklaces and was very excited about all the hula-hooping and hippy vans.

 

For lunch there was a lot of choice. You could book a table to dine in a themed hippy van (bizarre but really cool) or grab something from the street food stalls or cafe. We opted for a Moroccan style falafel flatbread with chopped salad and hummus, YUM!

It's a shame that Ryan couldn't come with us as he would have enjoyed all of the upcycling goodness and would have definitely stuck around for the talks. I also spied a veg box scheme and some 'help yourself' veg plots that would have made him really happy :) I know he had a nice day at the York Food Festival though so I don't feel too guilty.

 I have really enjoyed spending my time shopping in these alternative places. It was so refreshing to experience something different to High Street shops. Please let me know if you hear of future events that are similar because I will definitely want to go! :)