One man and his snow shovel

 Last Sunday saw the first Castlefield Artisan Market of 2012 and the week of winter sunshine promised the ideal weather but as Saturday progressed, and the snow fell heavier, the cobbles at Castlefield looked like a winter wonderland and the Sunday market seemed very unlikely.  Come 6am though, it was different story, the market was on!  Asif and Jodie had been there since 3.30am and by the time we all arrived the cobbles were clear!  It did mean that some of the stallholders who came from areas badly hit by the snow were unable to get there but there was still a great turnout and everyone was eager to make the day a success. 

Castlefield Artisan is situated underneath the railway arches near Dukes92 and we shared our arch with some old friends and new faces.  Our lovely friend Cornelius Potts and Uncle Monty aka Gina was there

with her stall looking as beautiful as ever.  I bought this gorgeous card for a friend's birthday coming up soon!

We were also pleased to see Mark Hobbs back with his cards and prints from his own photos as he'd taken a break from the market for the last couple of months.  My humble photos don't do his justice but you get the idea and I just love his prints!

 I particularly love the idea of this emergency card kit complete with 1st class stamps!






It was also good to see Clare of DesignSixty4 at Castlefield for the first time.  We first met Clare at the fab Altrincham Vintage and Craft Market so it was great to see her here too with her personalised and place name mugs.

Also here for the first time were The Flat Basket Company and CocoByPost .  The Flat Basket Company make amazing collapsing spiral cut wooden baskets which fold completely flat when not in use.  They have to be seen, they're fascinating!  







Sarah's luxury brownies were amazing and her stall looked so pretty with everything beautifully presented and packaged.  I loved the stamped tags and little stickers but then I am a bit of a geek when it comes to design and presentation.

Form an orderly queue please - plenty of jewellery for
everyone!

No-one could deny it was a freezing cold day and we were all well and truly shivering by the end of it but, as usual, there was a brilliant atmosphere and the market was extrememly well supported by local residents and those travelling from further afield who came out and braved the cold with us!













The atmosphere was well and truly enhanced when the fabulous Cotton Town Hot Club arrived, a little earlier than usual, to get the party started! Their fabulous swing music and accompanying dancing always gets everyone's feet tapping and brings a smile to faces and the braver of the visitors even get involved and join in the dance! Overcoats were well and truly on earlier in the day last week so I'll have to get over with my camera when the weather's a little warmer to get some photos of them all resplendent in their wonderful outfits.

One new stall who had a great view of the entertainment was Spotty Dotty Delights who specialises in "all things quirky" including her lovely bake mixes in a jar which include everything you need to make perfect cookies!  Again another very pretty stall perfectly pandering to Jacy & Jools' love of everything pink and pastel! How's that for aliteration! :)

I can't sign off without including this fab picture of Mama K's homemade salsa and tortilla stand.  It has to win the award of most vibrant photo of the day. The salsas are as delicious as the colours are bright and the stall most definitely brightened up a snowy corner of the cobbles.

 

So, despite the weather trying its best to ruin things again, another successful market.  Huge thanks once again to the lovely Asif and Jodie for all their efforts to make the market what it is.  It's going from strength to strength and by the time the weather gods finally shine down on us with sunshine again it's going to be even more bustling and vibrant than it already is!  I had my 'busy body' hat on Sunday and coaxed, bullied and charmed the stallholders to fill out my little form to compile a directory of the stalls with Twitter names, blogs, Facebook pages and other details so we can all get to know each other, chat between markets and promote and encourage each other's businesses and, of course, the fabulous Castlefield Artisan Market  I'll be doing the same again next month when hopefully the snow is gone and the market is back to full strength to include the stalls who couldn't make it this time but in the meantime look out in the next couple of weeks for my Castlefield Directory Part 1 blog.

x