Christmas at Doddington Hall

A couple of weeks ago my mother and I popped along to Doddington Hall, the stately home just outside Lincoln to visit their christmas craft fair. We have been told to visit the hall so many times by friends as they know we would enjoy it, but we had never ventured further than the farm shop. The Christmas craft fair was the perfect excuse to spend a few hours there admiring the wares of the stall holders and visiting Doddington's own shops.



The house itself is a family residence so isn't always open to visitors but the grounds we did take a peek at were beautiful. These garden sculptures made me chuckle, but they are very in keeping with the aesthetic of the Hall which seems to be homemade country estate wares, with local produce and good quality homewares and clothing.



The stall holders were selling some beautiful items.



Strawberry Glass Stained Glass pieces and workshops




Cute felt tree decorations and bits and bobs from Heart Felt & Homely



These willow heart wreaths by Sarah Hommel were so pretty and customisable, I wish she had a website, but I have her card for if we decide to get one this year.



I thought these Jig-Sak's were a great idea, especially for christmas presents for grandparents and we may have to place an order.



Buttercup Lane personalised all manner of little signs there and then for you, both christmas themed and not.



These beautiful tree decorations are made from fused glass, Donna Evans had these along with other fused glass items for sale, including some lovely jewellery.



L & S Interiors had some very nice fabric items, I was particularly taken with the door stops but until we have a house with doors to stop I refrained from buying one and instead admired the little items.



After browsing the items available we picked up a few for ourselves. I went for tree decorations mainly, because I love quirky ones and these were all so lovely, but I also picked up some hand stamped present tags too. My mum also had a "Santa stop here" sign personalised for my cousins, it is so cute and I think personalised presents are always a little bit special.





After making our purchases we wandered into Doddington's own stores. Our first stop is nearly always the Farm Shop!




After admiring the lovely grub and picking up some speciality items (local drinks, biscuits and a few bits of veg) we popped into the famous Bauble Barn, which unfortunately was far too crowded to start snapping pictures. This is basically a grotto filled with a wonderful array of christmas decorations at a range of prices, I was really very tempted by some Gisela Graham ones but was restrained as we don't yet have a big tree to be filling with decorations.

Finally we stopped in at the India Jane interiors store and the Doddington country clothing store. India Jane was full of lovely items, though all quite expensive, and again I felt not really the sort of place I could pull out my camera, but there were some really beautiful pieces that would add an elegant touch to any home. The next time we need to buy picture frames we know where to go! They had some lovely ones which would make perfect gift items.

The country clothing store stocks a range of brands, Musto, Barbour and the like, and I may just have purchased something I have had my eye on for a while.



Oops!