Ardingly Antique Fairs...

Our stay in the UK is partly structured around attending the Ardingly Antique Fair which is held several times a year for 2 days at a time. On the first day we are off early to beat the rush and are parked waiting for the gates to open at 9.00am in plenty of time. The weather is cool and cloudy but it doesn't really look like rain.

Avenue upon avenue of open air stalls....

And then there are the acres and acres uncover.....

We have been to Ardingly before and so thankfully know what to expect. After the first hour and a half of walking and concentrating looking for that sparkle of glass that Jenelle collects, we don't have very high hopes as it is becoming harder to find and we have no purchases yet.

At last Jenelle finds a stall that holds a lot of the special pieces that is run by people we have met and dealt with before. We purchase one special (but pricey) piece from them.

Chis and Martin's stall is Jenelle's glass nirvana...

After that we seem to hit a patch of the fair that is full of glass and several more purchases made. John is the bag carrier and it is back and forward to the car for him. After lunch he then sits out the rest of the time while Jenelle combs the lanes expectantly looking for more bargains.

It is really hard to take in the full extent of the Antiques and Bric a Brac. The beautiful furniture and china is unlimited. There is also a lot of replica antiques like this magnificent old world luggage.

Then there is the really weird and wacky stuff.

A Bison skull...

Parts of the "Harry Potter" movie set....

The are people here from all over the world. Having said that we saw very few Asian buyers or heard many American accents. One lady we spoke to while we queued for lunch said she had driven overnight from Paris to be here today.

We constantly ran into the TV cameras filming the Bargain Hunt show. The red team and blue team buy at fairs to see who can make the most profit at an Auction. We think several teams were on the go at the same time as they seemed to be everywhere. We are probably (hopefully) background people in a couple of shots.

The Bargain Hunt Red Team...

And in this corner is the Blue Team...

Jenelle walked for nearly four hours almost non-stop and felt she had covered the Fair reasonably well. That gives you an idea of the scale of the event .

We decide to come back on the second day (free entry for day 1 tickets holders) and find that there are more stalls, some remote sections we missed and more pieces put out than the first day. Also because it is pack up day for the sellers they are inclined to take a lot less than the asking price. On the second day because we were not really looking for anything in particular it is easier to admire the vast range of goods on display.

Now the fun is over and the endless wrapping in bubble wrap and packing begin. Then weighing the boxes trying to keep them under the 2kg which is reasonable postage. As soon as you go over 2kg it becomes very expensive to post. As we are continuing to travel it is impossible to carry anything extra with us and so this year the Royal Mail is making a fortune from us.

The posting is ready...