Festive markets
Alex Middleton discovers what the seasonal markets, held across the country each year, offer groups during the Christmas period.
Britain’s annual Christmas markets are a great way to stock up on gifts and locally produced foods. Various cities, towns and villages will be holding Christmas markets from November onwards, providing groups with a great range of locations and choice. The second part of our Christmas shopping feature looks at some of the options.
A UK selection
Selkirk, in Scotland, will be holding a Victorian Christmas market as part of its annual Christmas Ceilidh on 30th November. This age old Scottish festival will also feature traditional music and dancing and will usher in a weekend of events known as Scott’s Selkirk. As the name indicates, the weekend will be themed around Sir Walter Scott, the town’s most famous former resident. His world will be brought to life with Victorian market stalls, a literary celebration of the great man in the County Hotel, a torchlight procession on Saturday evening and a Saturday night carol concert. Group members will be able to enjoy a ride in a period carriage or sedan chair and 18th and 19th century characters will be strolling the streets and the weekend will end with a fireworks display.
In Carlisle, the week-long Christmas Market will take place from 1st to 9th December. The indoor Victorian Market Hall in the city centre will also flood out onto the streets with over 80 stalls selling gifts from the Continent and local specialities. Free overnight coach parking will be available a short stroll from the Market Hall.
Durham’s pretty cobbled market square will be the venue for the city’s annual Christmas Festival and Victorian Market from 1st to 2nd December. Groups will be able to stroll around the market stalls, which will extend throughout the city streets and even across some of the more scenic bridges, selling local produce and gifts. Many traders will be in period costume and period entertainments, such as brass bands and carollers will entertain the crowds. Coach parking will be available.
Nearby, North Shields’ Victorian Market will run from 8th to 9th December in Northumberland Square. Characters from the 19th century will invade the town and performers and musicians will roam the streets. There will be over 100 stalls, selling traditional goods and specialist foods. Groups will be able to enjoy Christmas songs performed from the bandstand and carollers out in the streets. There is a coach drop-off point and all day coach parking is available nearby.
Bolton, just north of Manchester, will be hosting a Continental Christmas Market from 30th November to 1st December in Victoria Square, featuring stalls selling continental produce such as French cheeses. There is free coach parking and groups can book a familiarisation tour of the town where they will receive free shopping guides and maps.
Manchester itself will be hosting five Christmas markets in the city centre, all running from 15th November to 19th December. In Albert Square there will be a European Christmas Market, featuring stalls selling goods from across the Continent, in St Ann’s Square there will be a German Christmas Market, where groups will be able to purchase traditional German gifts and foods and Exchange Street will host a Christmas Arts and Crafts Market, with stalls selling hand-made gifts and original work from various artists. For groups looking for a more traditional market, New Cathedral Street will be home to a British Christmas Market, selling local produce and gifts and for those seeking the exotic, a World Christmas Market will be held in Brazennose Street, selling items from around the globe, such as asian foods and spices. The markets will be home to new features this year, such as a German Wolhnachtspyrymide, a six-metre high pyramid decorated with scenes from the Nativity. Coach parking is available in the city centre, but groups are advised to check before visiting.
Staying in the north west, Blackpool will be hosting a Continental Christmas Market, featuring stalls selling goods from across Europe, as part of its Christmas Lights Switch on 17th November.
Across the Pennines, the scenic market town of Knaresborough, near Harrogate, will hold an Edwardian Weekend on 1st and 2nd December to mark the switching on of the lights. The market square and castle yard will be filled with traders, many in period costume, selling gifts and food ranging from meats and pies to ethnic jewellery and accessories.
York will be holding a selection of Christmas fairs this year, from November until Christmas, as it comes alive with the festive spirit. The St Nicholas Fayre, from 29th November to 2nd December, will see markets held in Parliament Street, Sampson Square, Kings Square, Coppergate Square and a medieval market at the ancient Barley Hall. The markets will bring in both local farmers, selling traditional produce such as venison, turkeys and Christmas puddings, and producers from further afield selling items such as kangaroo, ostrich. Painted glass and handmade jewellery will also be on sale along with a wide range of Christmas gifts. As the venues are all located a short distance from each other in the city centre, groups will have no problems in getting from one to the other. Meanwhile, taking place from 6th to 23rd December, the German Christkindlesmarkt will feature authentic German stalls, which will bring traditional German arts and crafts to the city. Groups can stop here to sample Teutonic delicacies such as wurst or strudel, washed down with German beer or wine before moving on to the Made in Yorkshire Craft Fair, from 6th to 16th December, with stalls selling a range of arts and crafts from across the region.
Leeds, one of Yorkshire’s other major cities will be throwing a German Christkindelmarkt from the 16th to 20th December, which will feature traditional german stalls selling beers, food and a range of arts and crafts ideal for stocking filling.
In North Wales, Wrexham will hold its Victorian Christmas Market on 13th December. Groups will be able to enjoy over 40 stalls, selling everything from locally brewed beer and organic food to toys and decorations. Barrel organs and period musicians will complete the atmosphere and traditional foods such as roast chestnuts and roasted hog will be offered by street vendors.
Warwick will hold its Victorian Christmas Fair as part of the celebrations for switching on the Christmas lights on 29th November. There will be over 50 stalls selling crafts, gifts and food and performers including a barber shop quartet and Can Can dancers will move through the streets. Weary group members can also take advantage of horse drawn carriages that will be available for hire. The evening will be rounded off with a carol concert in the 14th century St Mary’s Collegiate Church.
The ancient city of Lincoln will hold its 26th annual Christmas Market between the 6th and 9th December. This year will be the biggest they have yet held, with over 300 stalls for groups to enjoy. Set in the streets around the medieval cathedral and castle, the market will be broken into zones, such as the Lincolnshire Larder, which will stock local produce, and the Perfect Present Marquee which, with a wide variety of gift ideas, is designed for husbands and fathers looking to complete their shopping in one go. Due to the narrowness of the streets, the city operates a coach drop off scheme a short walk from the Christmas market, which must be booked in advance.
Birmingham’s famous Frankfurt Market will run from 15th November to 23rd December and will be selling everything from German meats and beers to handmade gifts and decorations. Meanwhile, the nearby Craft Market, running from 22nd November to 23rd December, will be selling arts and crafts from across the globe. A meet and greet scheme for coaches can be booked in advance.
In the west country, Bath will be holding its Christmas Market from 29th November to 9th December. There will be 117 chalets, selling local produce such as the many ciders for which the area is famous, decorations and toys, which will sit in the shadow of the Abbey and Roman Baths. The Guildhall Market, also located in the city centre, will also be holding a Christmas market from 29th November until 9th December featuring produce from local farmers and hand-made gifts. A short walk from here, at the Jane Austen Centre on Gay Street, there will be a Regency Christmas Market throughout November, featuring period items and food and drink. During the festive period, Bath Abbey will be holding short carol services for shoppers. There is a coach drop off point a short distance from all of the venues.
In London, Covent Garden is still completing the planning for its Christmas Market, but has announced that it will run from late November until Christmas Eve and will feature more stalls than ever before, along with street entertainers, carollers and a range of street vendors offering traditional fayre such as roast chestnuts. In north west London, Camden boasts four markets which will all be dressed for the festive period and, in Notting Hill, Portobello Road Market is open daily and is a great place for groups looking to buy antique gifts and traditional and exotic food and drink. For something a bit different, groups could head to the Christmas Market at the Swedish Church in Marylebone. Running on 22nd, 24th and 25th November, the market will stock everything from hand made wooden tree decorations to Swedish beers. Likewise, the Finnish Church in Southwark will be holding its Christmas Market at a date yet to be set at the end of November. Selling mainly Finnish confectionary and foods such as reindeer, groups will also be able to purchase hand-made Scandinavian decorations and gifts.
For groups looking to head to East Anglia this festive season, Norwich Market will be holding its newly branded Christmas fair, Norwichristmas, from 28th November until 5th December. Stalls will be selling regional produce as well as exotic items from further afield and the area around the Market will host an ice rink, from 10th November to 6th January, with overhead Christmas illuminations.
Meanwhile, in Kent, The Hop Farm at the Kentish Oast Village will feature a Christmas Gift Fair on 10th and 11th November. Stalls will be selling crafts such as handmade jewellery, bags, decorations and preserves. The event will feature carollers and seasonal music from bands and will be rounded off with a torchlight procession. Group members will also be able to enjoy rides around the grounds in husky dog-drawn sleds.
In Hampshire, the Winchester cathedral Christmas Market will run from 30th November until 16th December. It will take place in the ancient city streets around the Cathedral and will feature over 100 stalls in 75 timber chalets selling arts, crafts and speciality Christmas food from home and abroad. The Cathedral Close will feature an ice rink, acrobats and musicians will perform in the streets and carol services, which groups are invited to attend, will be held in the Cathedral. There is a coach drop off point at the Broadway, which is a short walk from the Cathedral and coach parking is available at Worthy Lane near the railway station.
For groups looking for a continental flavour this Christmas, Chichester, in West Sussex, will be holding a French Christmas Market on 25th November, selling arts, crafts and French delicacies, and a broader Continental Market from 26th to 28th November.
Slightly further south, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard will be holding a Victorian Festival of Christmas from 30th November until 2nd December. The market will be held on the quay alongside the Dockyard’s historic ships, which groups are welcome to tour, and will feature stalls selling arts and crafts and food and drink from local producers and the continent. ‘Fagin’s Tavern’, a Victorian music hall, situated within the dockyard, will provide period entertainment and outside there will be carollers and a traditional Victorian fairground, featuring carousels and a big wheel. Groups of 15 or more who book before 30th September will receive a 15% discount on entrance and those who book before the end of October will receive a 10% discount.