Dorset Team Winter and Christmas Fairs 2024

 

As the festive season approaches, Dorset comes alive with a variety of Christmas fairs that capture the magic of the holidays and encourage people to shop small. For those looking to support local businesses, find unique gifts, and immerse themselves in a festive atmosphere, there are three must-attend events: The Dorset Team Winter Fair, The Dorset Team Christmas Fair, and A Dorset Christmas Fair. These events are ideal for families, friends, and anyone eager to get into the Christmas spirit.

Dorset Team Winter Fair 

Date: Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd November 2024

Location: Allendale Centre in Wimborne, Dorset

Details: This winter fair kicks off the season with a celebration of local Dorset artists, artisans, makers and creatives. It is the perfect opportunity to shop for early Christmas presents or just enjoy a day out. The fair features a wide array of handmade gifts with everything from a hand forged poker to Christmas cards by local artists! It is the ideal place to come for those who appreciate quality, creativity and are looking for some unique gifts which you won't find on the highstreet. 

Why Visit: Start your Christmas shopping early and enjoy a more relaxed way to shop. Discover amazing local makers and a festive atmosphere. There is an on-site cafe serving food and drink all day and dogs are welcome in all of the venue. 

Seller Highlights include:

- Jacqui Fairweather - Selling beautiful handmade ceramics from mugs to trivets 

- Strings and Things - Macrame homewares and accessories in unique and beautiful colours. Everything from your more traditional macrame plant hangers to Christmas ornaments. 

- PeggyRae - Run by Angie selling soy wax candles and melts with a mixture of new and vintage vessels these make fantastic gifts for the home. 

A Dorset Christmas Fair 

Date: Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th November 

Location: Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset

Details: Set in the unique surroundings of the Tank Museum, A Dorset Christmas Fair promises two days of festive fun. With 100 stalls offering a wide variety of locally made products, visitors can enjoy live entertainment and festive treats. For a truly unique experience, Santa will arrive on an armoured vehicle and will be doing laps of the tank arena! Tickets are available through the Tank Museum. Free entry to the event if you have a year pass. 

Why Visit: A fantastic festive event in a really unique setting, with live entertainment, Santa’s special appearance, and plenty of local stalls offering something for everyone. It’s the ideal way to start your Christmas shopping while enjoying a unique day out. You can explore the whole of the Tank Museum and its amazing collection as well as enjoy the festive atmosphere. A perfect day out for all the family! 

Dorset Team Christmas Fair 2024

Date: Saturday 30th November and Sunday 1st December 

Location: Allendale Centre, Wimborne, Dorset

Details: As Christmas draws near, The Dorset Team Christmas Fair is a great way to get some unique gifts for everyone on your list. From handmade Christmas decorations to bespoke jewellery, it is the perfect place to shop small and local and pick up those unique gifts. 

Why Visit: Meet talented local makers and shop small. It is more important than ever. You will love the fun, festive atmosphere and there is something for everyone and every budget. 

Why These Fairs Should Be in Your 2024 Diary

These Christmas fairs offer more than just shopping; they are a chance to support local makers and creatives. Shop small, local and buy something meaningful this Christmas. From handmade ceramics to artisan hampers, you’ll find thoughtful, one-of-a-kind gifts for everyone on your list.

Dorset Team 

The Dorset Team a group of local makers, artisans and creatives based in Dorset. The group is run by Rachel from The Dorothy Days who is a knitwear designer and maker. We organise craft fairs and markets as well as having an active online community where makers can come for advice and peer support. 

Through the Dorset Team fairs we hope to introduce the public to a wide range of talented local makers and encourage them to shop small and local and support the local maker community. 

Find more about us https://www.instagram.com/dorsetteam/ and https://www.facebook.com/dorsetteam

Dorset Team Spring Fair - Made by Swimmer

This week we are continuing our featured stallholders series by sharing another stall who will be joining us for the Dorset Team Spring Fair. 

This week the stall is Made by Swimmer which is run by Sue and Jo Thomas, two sisters based in Bournemouth who sell quirky soft toys and cushions. 

“We are two sisters who work collaboratively to design and make a range of unique and original soft animal toys and animal inspired cushions. We pride ourselves on using as much recycled fabrics in our work.”

Three things you should know about Sue and Jo in their own words:

“Our animals make people laugh”

“Neither of us are very good swimmers”

 “We have a dog called Elsie and a cat called Aggie”

Please put Saturday 5th May in your diary and head down to Wimborne for our Dorset Team Spring Fair where you can meet Sue and Jo and see their unique creations. There will also be 60+ other stalls by local designer-makers and sellers. 

More information about the event can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/282450382285845/

Date for your diary: Dorset Team Spring Fair 2018

The Dorset Team will be heading to Wimborne on Saturday 5th may 2018 for their Dorset Team Spring Fair. 

It is going to be a fantastic day with 60+ local designer-makers, vintage sellers and craft suppliers selling at the event and a great way to 'shop small', meet local creatives in person and pick up some unique items and gifts. 

There will be something for everyone and every budget and a huge range of different products on display.

Dorset Team Spring Fair 2018Saturday 5th May 201810am - 4pmAllendale Centre - WimborneBH21 1AS

FREE ENTRY

You can find more information about our event over on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/events/282450382285845/

We hope to see you there!

Please help us to spread the word about the event by inviting anyone to the Facebook page who you think might be interested in coming along. 

Meet The Seller - Dorset Team Christmas Fair - Sally from AtticLightHome

Name: Sally
Shop Name: AtticLightHome
Shop Link: AtticLightHome.etsy.com
Located in: Dorset
Sells: Clocks, chalk boards, coasters, greetings cards and fine art prints of my art work.

Maker's Story: Attic Light came about in June 2015 when Sally Davies and her daughter Erika Morgan began working together. Sally is a designer and artist who had been working on her photographic art since 2006 following a career in fashion design. However, Sally was becoming increasingly frustrated with juggling creating art and trying to keep the admin going. Erika has a 20 years experience in running events, marketing, intellectual property and web design so Sally enlisted her help. Together, they formed Attic Light and set about organising Sally's work and making it visible to a wider audience.

Dorset Team Christmas Fair: Sally will be selling Clocks and other goodies at the Dorset Team Christmas Fair on Saturday 3rd December at the Allendale Centre in Wimborne.

Please come along, meet Sally and our other makers and sellers.

Doors open at 10am and close at 4pm and it is free entry.

For more information please see our Facebook event page or blog post

Upcoming Event:

  

Go big

Christmas fair inspiration tip

Go big

If you have a specific type of product or a very strong brand, don't be afraid to go all-out on your stall.

The example below shows how a table has been transformed into a mini shopfront. It is incredibly eye-catching and no doubt attracts a lot of potential customers.

The beauty is that once you start dissecting how it has been put together, there is nothing too intimidating.

Look at the stall top. While the suitcases are lovely, there isn't anything particularly revolutionary. The genius comes with the simple frame that holds what looks like a curtain rod, which in turns holds the fabric backdrop and string lights.

There is a little bit of room to the left of the stall, so the owner can be seen, but the main focus is all on the products.

To see the original pin, plus view some extra inspiration examples, head on over to here.

Let your sign be seen

Christmas fair inspiration tip 

Let your sign be seen

Do you remember our tip about making sure your shop name sign stood out on your stall? Look at what these clever people did!

Despite the sign being quite large, because it has been raised up there is still plenty of room for stock.  And by placing it to the side, it means the stall holders can still be seen!

For the original pin of this, as well as more ideas, head over to here.

Inspiration for customising display props

Christmas fair countdown inspiration

Customising display props

Now all of the organising is hopefully out of the way, we're going to have a look at some examples of some of the suggestions made. Pinterest is teaming with boards and we have one with all of our featured examples, plus more, from here.

Today's inspiration highlights how you can have fun with colour. The smallholder has used baskets of different colours, but because they are the same style and size, they still work together.

These baskets look as though they may have been bought like this, but it would be easy enough to paint plain baskets using emulsion. Either go for different colours as in the example, or visit B&Q or Homebase, pick a colour swatch from the mix your own section and get a tester pot of each colour on the swatch. That way you know all the colours will work together and you can get a lovely ombre effect!

Meet the Dorset Team Christmas Fair Stallholders - Jill from Trawler Studio

Hello everyone,

Thank you so much for reading our Dorset Team blog. We hope that you are enjoying the blog posts.

It has been wonderful to see over the last few weeks our Dorset Team Christmas Fair stallholders getting ready for the fair and the new products they have been making. 

One of the sellers who will be at the fair is Jill who runs a successful Etsy shop, Jilly Bird but has also launched her brand new company Trawler Studio this month and has already been featured in Country Living magazine! What an amazing start.

Meet the seller:

This is Jill, she lives in Bournemouth and her work is inspired by the beautiful Dorset coastline.

Trawler Studio: 

Trawler Studio is a beautiful online shop which sells sells homeware, clothing and prints. 

In Jill's words....

"Trawler is a lifestyle brand with one foot on the beach and the other in the sea. I’ve always lived on the coast so it seemed a logical step to make an Etsy store that reflected this and so Trawler was born. I love using natural materials like linen, wool, denim and cotton and enjoy the way they all improve with time. Trawler also allows me to skip from one discipline to another, one minute I’m printing mugs or drawing in my sketch book and the next I’ll be hand stitching or taking photographs. The Etsy platform is a perfect professional way for me to reach a global audience and at the same time stay connected to the other makers like me."

Jill will be selling her wares at the Dorset Team Christmas Handmade and Vintage Fair in Wimborne on Saturday 6th December. Entry to the fair is FREE. Please click the link above to find more information. There will be 80 stallholders and the fair is the first fair in Dorset to be sponsored by the global online marketplace Etsy.com so is going to be a good one and the perfect place to pick up unique Christmas gifts.

By coming to the fair you are supporting local independent businesses who take pride in their products and they are beautifully made and high quality. You also can chat away to the maker and find out more about their process and find out about how they got started.

Jill made this wonderful video showing the final stages of putting together her cushion covers:



Please be sure to take a look at Trawler Studio on Etsy which can be found HERE!
All information about our Christmas Fair is located HERE

Hope to see you at the Dorset Team Christmas Fair!