Christmas Fair Haul - Living North Newcastle Racecourse

At last weekend's Living North Christmas Fair I made a few purchase both foodie and Christmas related. I wanted to show you what I picked up and maybe introduce you to some local companies you might want to look into.

First off is CAKE! The Pudding Parlour had an amazing selection of cakes on offer including rainbow cake, marshmallow fluff cups and mint aero slices. I chose I piece of chocolate Ferrero rocher cake and ate it when I got home. Well I only ate half as the slice I got was so big, I had to eat it in two sittings. The cake was lovely and fluffy with thick chocolatey icing. You could definitely taste in the icing that it was meant to be Ferrero rocher as it was distinctively nutty. I've been looking at their website to see where I can get my next fix and it seems that they work on orders but also have a concession in Fenwick in Hexham!

Next up is some fudge I picked up in the food hall. Forever Fudge's stall was packed full of tonnes of different flavoured fudges. I had to come home with some chocolate for me and some vanilla for the boyfriend. Yet to try this but I'm sure it will be yummy!

I picked these two little cheeky chappies up to fuel my gingerbread obsession and continue on with my Christmas tree decoration shopping. Not sure which stall it was but they were £4.00 each and such good quality. I can't wait until they can take pride of place on the tree!

I came across this amazing business called Magnificent Marshmallow Company who sold a range of gourmet marshmallows. They come in many flavours including coconut, raspberry, cherry, blueberry, elderflower, banana, orange, lemon and peppermint. They are fat-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, gluten-free and additive-free. The packaging is so creative, I love how they have branded their marshmallows. I picked up a pack of strawberry which was a little expensive at £3.50 but I think they are worth it for the quality.

Last but not least is the two bits I picked up from a local small business based in Middlesbrough, Lots of Loveliness. The stall had a great range of different candle scents from Pintail Candles which come in these cute little paint pots. I picked up the spiced apple compote ready for Christmas and also some little gingerbread people Christmas tags. I'm a little obsessed, what can I say?

Have you been to any Christmas fairs recently? What did you pick up? Link to any posts below!

Living North Christmas Fair at Newcastle Racecourse

When Halloween and Bonfire night are out of the way, it is time to focus on the build-up to Christmas. Recently I've seen upcoming Christmas Fair events popping up here there and everywhere. It seems that everyone with a decent venue wants to get in on the festive spirit. When I was browsing twitter one day I came across a link for Living North's Christmas Fair at Newcastle Racecourse. Although it cost £8 for a ticket (or £6 if you order online before) I thought this would be a good event to attend as it is a well-known magazine that is organising it.

We arrived at about 10.30am on Saturday and it was already starting to get really busy. There was a map in the guide so that you could find out what was available to see and where it was. In the racecourse building, there were many sections such as the food hall and floors of stalls for Christmas shopping. Lots of great small companies had piled into the fair to sell what they had on offer and promote the great businesses in the North. I even found Middlesbrough's own Lots of Loveliness with a stall packed full of people! They were loving her stock, so was I, I picked up a candle and some gingerbread men present tags. In the food hall, there were lots of lovely local food producers selling everything from pies, chutneys and bread, to flavoured fortune cookies, gourmet marshmallows and massive slabs of cake. I love finding local foodies that I can promote through my blog as I love showing off the North of England and the amazing businesses here on our doorstep. Overall the event was good, packed with stalls and small businesses but I had two gripes about the day. Firstly there wasn't enough good quality food to eat on the day. Considering the amazing local businesses they had drafted in for the other parts of the day it would have been nice to see some local food vendors. The only food was available from the racecourse itself which was expensive and didn't look appetising. Then there was the amount of people. Now don't get me wrong I know I probably went on the busiest day but I almost feel there should have been a cap on the number of people that were allowed in. It was so hard to look at anything in the stalls for the number of people already crammed into it. Then there was the hassle of trying to walk through the aisles, you either got stuck behind someone in the middle of the aisle trying to look at a stall or people just stopping to have a general chat. I get very raged in these situations so I can tell you I wasn't very happy. One more thing that bugged me on the day was that when I got my email through for the tickets it said that because the weekend would be so busy, pushchairs and buggies wouldn't be allowed in and yet I saw plenty of people with these on the day. It reduces the space in the aisles more and then I felt bad for the people who'd obviously got this memo and were carrying around their young babies. They may as well have brought their buggy! This was a great event with some amazing things to buy. I picked up quite a bit of stuff, that I plan to put in a separate post, so I was very happy that I went because I discovered more local shops that I'd love to visit in the future. If Living North could just have a look at food and the number of people I'd definitely be grappling to get back next year. P.s the York version of this is on 14th-16th November at York Racecourse.