North of Aberdeen - somewhat belatedly!

A recent May weekend saw Rural Reads & thReads at a new venue – new to me, and possibly to vintage fairs – but a very traditional village hall in a small town, North of Aberdeen. I grew up in Aberdeen and  on Deeside, but very rarely ventured North - only really for Sunday school picnics, so first, Echt (scene of picnic in public park and hall when it rained) and now Pitmedden, are adventures for me, and all in the space of three months. 

The stalls were mixed craft and vintage and most of the vintage stalls were familiar to me and some of the crafts were too, some from Ministry of Crafts – including Code Naturel, a talented lady who can melt glass and knit socks, and the Front Cupboard, another talented lady with the artist’s outlook that goes beyond that of the masses – her handmade figures, toadstools and even flower bulbs tell of a unique imagination.

Amongst the usual vintage stalls, I met Evelyn Treasure Finder for the first time since her Christmas trip to Oz,

Arlene Allsorts

and Carrie Encore, both of whom I last saw at Edzell. 

The ubiquitous and far travelled vintage crafter, Laurie of Storm in a Vintage Teacup was there with her highly decorative teacup pincushions and some new treats added since the last time I saw her at Banchory.

Timbertop pen man, Andrew had travelled from Brechin and local-ish Rhinturk (Preserves?) purveyor of breads, cakes, jams and relishes whose enormous banana bread I shared and enjoyed after Echt did a roaring trade

Other stallholders had mixed fortunes, some ‘ticked away nicely’ others had a quieter time of it although there was a steady stream of visitors. Some seemed to be locals, while others had definitely travelled to attend. One woman said she had come from Peterhead, attracted by advertising.

I met a lovely new stallholder, from that same direction – lovely stall, lovely stallholder! Maureen of East Coast Living makes pictures from shells, sea glass and pottery and ‘sparkles’ and constructs the most  vivid bags that go well beyond patchwork or applique into collage or painting with fabric.

It was an enjoyable day, if not as busy as I would have liked, but after a horrendous pain came on in one foot as I started packing up, and lasted till 10 pm, I was ‘hors de combat’ next day and unfit for further foraying into decluttering, that day.