market

Recently I bought some standup teapot shapes made from MDF. I was thinking how I could decorate them when I came up with the bright idea of making one side a blackboard. Once I had bought the blackboard paint I was contemplating what else I could paint with it. Well on Wednesday Alice and I were in the market and saw cherries being sold from little wooden boxes, they were so cute. We asked the stall holder if we could have the boxes he said yes, take whatever you want. Alice liked her boxes with the cherries on but I had blackboard paint and I was going to use it!

Yesterday we went to the St Albans Festival of Food & Drink held in St Peter's Street and Market Place. This outdoor street festival had local restaurants serving and sampling food, chef demonstrations, foodie activities, Farmer's Markets and 2 live music stages. It was really enjoyable and the general consensus was this kind of event should be staged more often in St Albans.

Look who I found lurking in my bag of tomatoes, its Tarquin tomato! I don't like to mention it but I can't help but stare at his pimple!

It's been a busy week hardly time to blog! On Tuesday and Thursday my friend Sue and I went to a couple of wool/haberdashery shops both were Aladdin's caves stuffed to their rafters with all things crafty, never a cheap place to visit just too tempting!

On Friday Angie and I had a day in Hichin, bought another glass cake stand, a classic T. G. Green mixing bowl, to replace the one I broke and fabric from the market.

My friend and I have been toying with the idea of having a stall, again, at the flea market in St Albans. We want to do it before Easter, but we don't have enough stock. Yesterday we decided to go to Hitchin to see if we could find interesting pieces we could resell. The problem is I only buy pieces I like and I like them too much! My favourite buy was an art deco green glass bowl with a glass serving spoon, it's beautiful. Can I bear to part with it?

On Friday before the extended Christmas break came to an end we had a family trip to Hitchin. It was a bitterly cold day, but the site of the 'Lego' washing machine at the Flea market cheered us all up. This colourful washing machine was made by Siemens in 1998 and called the Harlequin (I looked that up when I got home). Friday is Flea market day in Hitchin. We had a good morning shopping and coffee in Caffe Nero warmed us all up. Alice was very pleased with an original Lloyd Loom linen basket she bought for £2 and two pairs of brogue shoes. I bought some ceramics.

Today was the launch of a new venture at St Albans Town Hall, a Flea Market. The market is up stairs at the Town Hall.  There was a mixture of stalls selling vintage and retro stuff but also artists and crafts people selling handmade items. Lots of lovely things to catch the eye. It is well worth a look, a good place to find unusual gifts. The next market will be on the 16 October 9 am - 3 pm. I bought some vintage knitting patterns, amongst other things.

*An exception to the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month will be NOVEMBER when it will be Tuesdays 4th and 25th. 

As well as the usual Saturday market in St Albans there was the added bonus of an Italian market. Here are photos of some of the produce they were purveying, a little taste of Italy.

A little bit about where I live, St Albans is 22 miles north of London and on a good day it takes only 20 minutes by train to get into central London. It is steeped in history, it was once a Roman settlement called Verulamium and it has a cathedral but these are subjects for another day (St.Albans Website). The place I want to show you now is the market, if you visit St Albans make sure it's a market day Wednesday or Saturday because you will enjoy the diversity of goods on offer, here is a taster.