Farmfest 2014

FARMFEST 2013

This year we attended Farmfest festival as traders.

We decided after closing the shop in Holsworthy, that we wanted to reach more people with our work with different back grounds, it is all very well attending craft fairs with our "crafts" but they do only bring a certain type of person and we want our work to be seen by so many more people than that.

So this year we are attending music festivals, with Tiverton Balloon Festival under our belt our next was Farmfest in Bruton, Somerset this weekend. A slightly bigger festival than Tiverton, with lots of well known local bands, the festival has been running for 8 years now and is run as a non profit making festival which raises money for various charities.

We arrived on the Thursday evening to set up our stand, there was a hive of activity, with different trade stands getting ready for the morning and the event organisers doing final preperations, but we had plenty of time, we even had time to take in the enormity of the event.

For the first time ever we watched the sun go down and then the moon go up! We cant believe we have never done it!! We sat in the empty campsite, glass in hand and looked over the valley as the sun slowly emerged out the clouds to dip behind the hills, we then took our chairs and our glasses of wine and sat in front of our stand to watch the moon slowly rise up from the horizon. Beautiful.

We are not seasoned campers (having not camped for 20 years!) so despite our air bed it wasn't the most restful sleep, but then what do you expect, we were at a music festival! But we woke early to a foggy morning, and after having a hearty breakfast of porridge we were raring to go and soon set up.

Friday was a slow start, as the public were not alowed in until 12pm and then there first priority was to get their tents pitched, therefore it was gone 3 before people started milling about the festival site and trade stands.

Saturday was another early morning (and another bowl of porridge to set us up for the day) with again not alot of sleep, we were wearing ear plugs, but another trader gave us a spot of advice - wear ear defenders too! So they are packed and ready for our next festival at the end of August!!  Saturday was a much busier day with more people walking round the trade stands.

Mark had set him self up with an easel and a painting in working progress of "The Green Man" over the two days, this created some curiosity and much to our amusement Mark was called "magical" - he's never been called that before! I think the general consensus was that Mark had to be taking some of the best stuff to be able to create his paintings, but truth be told he wasn't even drinking!!  Its all his imagination!  We had many people keep coming back to see the progress of the painting, so much so we have decided he will do this much more at the different events we attend.

His plan was to finish the Greenman whilst at the Festival and with any luck sell it on the last day. However after a beautiful morning on Saturday (where Mark burnt his knees) the heavens decided to open at 3pm and they never closed again after that.  We did stick it out for as long as we possibly could, but the gazebo will only take so much rain before it starts to drip inside and it got to a point unfortunately at 9pm that we decided to call it a day.  So we apologise to all those who were watching the progress of the Green man and missed the finished painting.  So here it is in all its glory.

We knew (as in our opinion its one of Marks best) that this painting wouldn't grace our walls for long and as soon as it was posted online on Monday morning it was sold.  For all those that are gutted to hear this news, all is not lost as prints and greeting cards are available. Plus this is not the end of the Green man for Mark, he has vowed that he will paint one for each letter of the Alphabet. So you have met "Arthur" now look out for "Bruce"!

Despite the rain and having to call it a day earlier than we intended we still had a very good (and profitable) weekend, I made lots of jewellery sales, Mark sold 4 prints of other paintings as well as numerous cards, so we went home happy bunnies if not a little tired and damp.