Christmas Craft Market at Belfrey Hall off Stonegate

Whilst the weather outside may be frightful, the ambience in Belfrey Hall is so delightful with artists and craft makers setting up for a special Christmas market right in the city centre.

The annual event, which is held just off Stonegate, is open from 10.15 to 4.15 today and has around 14 different stalls – showcasing a variety of crafts from glass making to drawing.

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According to organiser Kevin Townson, who has been running craft markets in the city for 35 years through his organisation Heritage Promotions, the event celebrates the best of local artists and gives them a chance to showcase their work.

He said: “The event is held as a showcase for local craft people who show off their wares and showcase their skills. We try to put a wide variety of products and crafters in, we don’t duplicate, so they’ve all got a fair chance.

“Coming out in weather like this, we hope people are going to visit today – we’ve put all the signs up to encourage them to come in and make some money for Christmas to encourage the vendors to return next year.”

For many of the sellers, many of whom also exhibit on online marketplace Etsy, the market was a new experience to showcase their work.

Vikki's stand for Delightful Plum - who sells on Etsy under the same name (Image: Alice Kavanagh) One of these artists was Vikki Bloor, owner of Delightful Plum, who had previously sold her jewellery and dream catchers in craft markets but hadn't done so for a number of years. She said: “This is my first market back for a few years – I took a hiatus from selling to figure out my style. I love dark stuff but I also love crystals and flowers.”

Another newcomer was Becca Williams who creates custom pet portraits and ornaments. She explained: “I’ve only been doing this for half a year, so this is my first ever stall. I was just doing it for family friends and then I set up an Instagram and it took off, so I thought I’d give it a go.

“Art is passion of mine, so it’s really nice to make some money off it too.”

Becca's stall - her portraits can be commissioned at @drawings_beccaw (Image: Alice Kavanagh) Also, at the Belfrey was Joan Hunt, who runs York Studio Glass. Whilst this was her third sale of her work, it was the first ‘public expose’ – something that was nerve wracking but rewarding with one product, her glass seagulls, already selling out.

Behind Joan was Betsy, who runs The Nook Club, who offer a ‘blind date with a book’ – an experience where books are wrapped in brown paper with only a short description attached, forcing readers to take a chance and try a novel they may not have otherwise picked up.

Betsy has brought The Nook Club to the fair (Image: Alice Kavanagh) In addition to the books on her stall, Betsy was offering preorders on her book advent calendar – a product that had been very successful online. She said: “I’ve done quite a few stalls but most of my sales are on Etsy, the advent calendar has been really popular this year.”

Other stall owners, such as Barbara Munley from Forever Giving and Nick Horner – the ‘N’ in J and N Glass – have returned to the annual event year upon year, sharing their plans to hopefully return in future too.