Christmas Fayre in Bury St. Edmunds

Today we drove to nearby Bury St. Edmunds to see their Christmas Fayre market. It was much more fun than last weekend's trip to Lowestoft.

We'd hardly arrived, and Margo was ensconced in a Body Shop store, when I stepped outside to wait and saw something unusual. I whipped out our camera and got a few snaps of some of the running Santas.



It seems every time we visit Bury St. Edmunds, the weather is rubbish. Today was no exception.



Sarah had her umbrella, Margo had my umbrella, and I had none. The life of an umbrella in Margo's care is a short, unhappy one. I don't think her umbrellas are lost so much as they flee.

We made our way indoors to a large hall to see some arts and crafts.



Then we went outside to take in the stalls. There were over forty stalls from France alone, selling wines, cheeses and sausages. Margo got us a few.



There were also lots of foods being made freshly, including bratwurst and sausages, fried potato dishes, fried donuts, and Gluwhein mulled wine.



There was also a music stage; when we passed we were serenaded with opera selections performed by the Suffolk Opera.

There were of course a few rides. One of the rides Sarah enjoyed was the carousel.



We'd planned to eat in a pub at the end of our visit. Margo had been telling me about a seasonal winter ale brewed by the Old Cannon Brewery (I might not have come otherwise!). Unfortunately, children were not allowed inside. So naturally, I downed a hasty pint of their winter ale ("St. Edmund's Head") while they waited outside. No, I'm only kidding; they started walking and I caught up with them on their way to our fallback pub, The Grapes, a Greene King pub, being appropriate as the Greene King brewery is also in Bury St. Edmunds.

Whilst waiting for our food, Sarah had us pulling faces.





And then we went home and had naps.