Last weekend saw the now annual Christmas Market take place in Hawkshead. The Beatrix Potter Gallery is now closed until February but was open as part of the Market, welcoming people to come in and look at the stalls and visit that someone special.
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| A man who needs no introduction |
A lot of preparation goes into building a grotto for Santa and our team of volunteers came in the week before to assemble the structure and hang and pin fabric - transforming an ordinary room into a magical place for children to tell Santa what they want for Christmas. The Gallery was decorated, trees installed and lights hung. All very festive.
And in case people couldn't find their way to the man in the red suit - another man in a red suit - Kendal's Town Crier Richard Mathews rang his bell and cried the familar 'Oyez Oyez'. |
| OYEZ! |
The weather was absolutely perfect - cold enough to appreciate mulled wine - but dry and bright. We have had some extreme weather in previous years - 8 inches of snow one year and last year very icy conditions. The Gallery is an historic building with beautiful wooden floors dating from the 17th century and last year after the Market the floors were white with grit and salt and took much TLC to restore to their usual polished state. No such problems this year though, just a quick hoover and things were back to normal.
Some families come to see our Santa year after year and have photos of their child from each year - lovely to see how they grow up! We had a multitude of Christmas jumpers worn, featuring Santa himself or Rudolph. Also a wide selection of Christmas hats worn by the children (and a few adults!) People most definitely enter into the sprirt of things!
Saturday saw a Lantern Parade - lighting up the sky as it went dark. The children had made the lanterns and were very proud to carry them aloft to the 'oohs' and 'ahs' of the crowd. And the lack of wind was totally appreciated too.
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| Lanterns Ahoy! |