Winterborne Whitechurch

  • THIS is the ninth and final year for the Real Christmas Craft Fair in Winterbourne Whitechurch.

As ever there’s a wonderful selection of stallholders; ranging from stained glass & hand thrown and handpainted painted pottery, oil paintings, textiles, hand-made cards and home baked goodies.

The buzz at the fair is wonderful with crowds thronging through the beautifully decorated village hall and school sports hall.

If you’ve not been before, it really is worth a visit with a chance to buy some original and beautiful gifts for your family…. or better still treat yourself, then stay for a cuppa and a slice of homemade cake!

The organisers adorn the archways and halls with fairy lights, paper chains, ivy and branches of crab apples with the atmosphere enhanced by the music and the stallholders beautifully decorated stands.

Jo Burnell and Bridget Townsend have organised the fair for the last eight years and raised well over £3,000 for Julia’s House Hospice.

It all started after they had displayed and sold at other local fairs and were disappointed at the lack of ‘real’ craft some of these fairs exhibited.

Thinking it would be a wonderful chance to get together with other local artists and raise money for a local charity, they organised a Christmas fair in the village hall.

After that first fair they were inundated with crafters wanting to join the fair.

So much time is taken reviewing peoples work before they can join, to keep a fair balance of crafts and ensure everything is handmade or ‘crafted’.

They pay their stall fees and take nothing for all their organisation of the fair; rather they’d like all the money to go to their chosen charity.

The fair has grown so much over the last years, Bridget says, ‘it’s been such fun and a really great experience, but we simply can’t carry on; we both have growing families and businesses so we had to make the decision to finish.”

Why not go along and see for yourself the wonderful talent we have in Dorset, it’s your last chance!

The Real Christmas Craft Fair is at the village hall in Winterborne Whitechurch on Sunday, November 21, 10am – 4pm.

All profits from door (adults entrance donation) and stall funds goes to Julia’s House Hospice.

You can also find them on Facebook: ‘The Real Craft Christmas Fair’ for more information.