My First European Fair Trip.....Apeldoorn, Holland

Sometimes I really don't know where the days disappear too, I can't believe it is a month since I last posted but I have been to far flung parts.....well Holland! I have visited my first European fair and had a fabulous time. It was in Apeldoorn and is the biggest annual fair in the Netherlands. I persuaded my better half that it would be a lovely way to spend my birthday and we would get a whole weekend together. Amazingly he agreed to drive through the Chunnel stopping in Gent on the way and visiting our Dutch friends in Rotterdam on the way back.

I am a huge Tripadvisor fan and after looking through the reviews decided to stay somewhere completely different, and B&B called the Pegasus Hotel that was described as being very quirky and out of the ordinary. Well, it was definitely quirky. A Victorian house absolutely stuffed full of the owners treasured antiques and collections of all things Victoriana. It was completely different to the usual places we stay, I admit to being a bit of a boutique hotel with power shower girlie, and it was an experience I am glad we tried. My husband really liked it but I think that was because of the price!!

As you can see the B&B was in an absolutely stunning building and more or less completely original inside. There were a lot of these houses in Apeldoorn that I drooled over during our visit. 

The fair was very close by and was held over two days but I only attended on the Saturday as we were going to Rotterdam on the Sunday.

The fair was probably the same sort of size as Minatura in Birmingham with the same variety of stands. The difference I noticed almost at once were the amount of dogs at the show. They were in smart buggies, specially converted zimmers/walkers, on leads and in bags!! In fact wherever we went in Holland was exceptionally dog friendly unlike the UK where taking your dog into public places is practically impossible. 

There were also far more stands that sold furniture and accessories in kit form than I have found at UK shows. This certainly made items a lot cheaper to buy and there was quite a variety. I was hoping to buy a small house/shop kit in a Dutch style specifically for a future Christmas project and fell in love with this kit.

This of course is the finished article and I hope I can create something as equally stunning. I loved the shape of the roof and the fact that all the pieces fit snuggly into a bag you take away with you. This lady makes a variety of kits all of which you can see on her stand and when I tell you that this kit was 37.50 euros you can understand that it was a must buy item!! 

This will be a definite project for 2014 and will be filled with all things Santa, as I am a big Santa fan.

As you can see her stand was very busy and I had to wait awhile to get close enough to buy my kit.

 This was her Snow White kit.....

.......and her cottage in 1/24th scale. 

I was really, really tempted to bring another one home but I think my old man would have started to ask awkward questions as I had already sent him back to the car with these....

......come on, 10 euros each how is a girl supposed to resist such bargains!! More Christmas projects for 2014!!

The final purchase I am going to post today is this fabulous stack of cauldrons made by one of my favourite artisans Georgia Marfels. I had seen some in her Etsy shop so made my way to her stand hoping that I had found and answer to my Potage's Cauldron Shop problem. How fabulous are these? I couldn't have asked for a more perfect stack to sit outside the shop. They are all individually made so you can have a stack of any size. I think they sold very well so I was lucky to be able to get the height I wanted in a variety of sizes.

I am off to Olympia tomorrow for Spirit of Christmas Fair, ostensibly for present shopping but I will be on the look out for any tiny decorations that will find their way into my newly opened Christmas stash.