The wonderings, ponderings and other 'ings' of me. Lifestyle, review, news and opinion posts. Chic with a hint of sarcasm... hopefully!

Sunday 31 May 2015

Ethel Who? - The Ely Craft and Food Fair

So yesterday I ventured to Ely (again) to another fair. This one named after a saint I believed to be called Ethel Drader. What Ethel did to deserve a sainthood I'm not sure.  Maybe she made baby grows for blind one legged orphaned elyites before making the ultimate sacrifice and throwing herself on a knitting needle in an act of penance.... or something.

Or not.  Turns out it's not Ethel Drader at all it's Æthelthryth.  According to Wikipedia it's the name for the Anglo-Saxon saint known, particularly in a religious context, as Etheldreda or Audrey. I prefer Audrey, more 5th Avenue less Eastenders.  Seems she was an East Anglian princess - think I know a few of those, myself included - Fenland and Northumbrian queen and Abbess of Ely.   Either way she's the reason a whole heap of indie food and craft people gathered together outside Ely Cathedral this weekend to sell wares of various quality and usefulness. 

One stall full of beautiful paintings was ideally placed in the sunshine.  Bearing the type of images you have to look twice at to make sure they're not photos, they wonderfully captured the cathedral, woodland walks and Narnian street lighting. They were truly special, unfortunately my morning Jassercise class had clouded my vocab somewhat and therefore I voiced these thoughts with the inimitable phrase "I like lampposts".   Its a good job my chosen past time doesn't rely on being able to string a sentence together, painting an eloquent picture to properly describe what I've seen....Anyway!  Sustenance was required and I knew exactly where to go, the Gourmet Brownie Co.  

One brownie down and we had time to pootle the garden paraphernalia and were my extremeties even vaguely green I'd have spent a fair amount of cash here.  As I kill more than a cultivate we headed towards the great number of jewellery stalls instead.  Tom Foolery Costume Jewellery, Little Tinkers and one selling natural english sea glass jewellery were all present. Their items ranged from cute and quirky to beautiful but out of our price range.  


 

Other stands included those selling silk scarves and bags as well as the ever-so-English tombola and coconut shy.  Here I pay homage to @GirlRunningLate's killer aim and arm for winning a coconut and thank her for donating it to me.  Some stalls were more difficult to categorise.  Like Stuff (guess what they sell?) and after a while we felt 'the pull' otherwise known as a desire to visit Cherry Hill Chocolates.  Now also home to the one and only Jacks Gelato, GirlRunningLate proved her worth again by buying me an ice cream.

Now that's a good friend!


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4 comments

Life At Victoria House said...

This looks like so much fun! :) Wish I could have gone along with you! xxx

Claireabellemakes said...

Looks like a great day and perfect weather for an outdoor event too :)

TmS said...

It was lovely. There will be others though I'm sure!

TmS said...

Think we got lucky as there was a big cloud looming!

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