Whilst visiting friends in Upton this weekend, I finally get to Parsonage Farm where Farm Fest 2014 is taking place. Upton is a pretty hamlet in Hampshire, north of Andover, with the River Swift a winterbourne (a river that usually only flows after wet weather) running through it. With the continuing balmy weather (how we are loving this summer!), my friend and I leave the seven children, ranging in ages from 3 to 12, under the supervision of the two fathers….
Walking into the Farm Fest site we are met with live music and various stalls selling local produce and crafts. It looks terribly pretty, straight out of the pages of Country Living! There is bunting everywhere, spinning flags flying
high in the sky and children happily running around barefoot as parents browse the merchandise. My girlfriend stocks up on her favourite chilli sauce from Anna Valley Chillies whilst I spend some time smelling the various
skincare products made by Jill Cockerton of Doozle. Jill makes her skin products with 100% natural ingredients, primarily organic and fairly traded. I decide to buy the nourishing facial serum (10ml £7.75) which has a heavenly scent reminding me of the New Zealand made Trilogy serum. I also purchase a tiny tin of Bite Bliss (£5.50) – ‘first aid kit in a tin!’. It is supposed to fix mosquito bites, nettle stings and pretty much any scrapes that are a daily occurrence in our household.
Returning to the house, Bite Bliss has a chance to be tested, as we find the fathers watching television whilst three children have sneaked across into Farm Fest, the Littlest is running around naked looking for Mummy and Gerald Durrell is sporting a welt like wound from a ping pong ball (pretty impressive it is too!). The balm is applied to her skin and my friend and I decide that it might be wisest to gather up all the children and take them back to the farm.
We make our way to the Arty Party Studio stand, a creative company run by Jo Davis and Becky Wilkinson; my friend has used them for art and craft parties for her children and thinks they are fantastic! At the stall, children can
decorate small heart shaped hanging frames, with mosaic pieces – all our girls, except the Littlest, are thrilled to be able to do something creative. They leave with some very pretty mosaic hearts. Meanwhile the two boys are running around, more interested in finding ice cream! Before leaving, the two older girls spend some time watching Simon Sensing of Art Ink doing some beautiful calligraphy work. He has
handmade cards and small carved pebbles as well as calligraphy for sale. At his studio in Woolton Hill he holds calligraphy workshops for beginners and up. One day I will have the time to do these wonderfully creative things.
We leave Parsonage Farm behind but I will definitely return to buy from The Meat Room, their shop which is open on the last Friday and Saturday of the month from 10am to 1pm. It’s a great place for the children as well. They also have cured meats at the farm and I did notice some perfectly formed small salamis hanging up in a row before we left, so they will be on my shopping list too!
Bundling the exhausted but happy Tribe into the car in the early evening, we leave just as the skies are turning dark – I hope that the torrential rain that we drive into didn’t make it to this very lovely part of Hampshire. Thank you to our Upton friends!
www.parsonage-farm.co.uk
www.doozle.biz
www.artypartystudio.co.uk
www.simonsonsino.com
