Floral Fringe Fair this weekend

Entry is £6.50 per person(or £5.50 each for the first two occupants of a pre-1975 vehicle) Classic and vintage vehicles will have a specially allocated parking area. If in such a vehicle, dressing in appropriate fashion is especially welcome. Even better, bring your picnic gear and buy all the ingredients at the fair, from our local producers, all of whom come from Sussex, Surrey and Kent, for a picnic by the beautiful lake.

Children under 14 free. Well-behaved dogs on leads.

Knepp Castle is the subject of an unusual and nationally important re-wilding project and there will be the chance to learn more about this at the fair. Wildlife safaris have recently been launched on the estate. Find out more and also directions to the fair at www.knepp.co.uk

The overall theme of the fair is our native wildlife and how to encourage it into the garden but it’s also about celebrating the outdoors, talented craftspeople and our small local food producers.

We have over 100 stalls of specialist nurseries, experts on butterflies, honeybees, bumblebees, birds and bats as well as contemporary crafts, woodland products, a bespoke treehouse, a custom-made cinema in a shepherd’s hut and a vintage caravan. Also many local food producers and vintage collectibles. The fair is all about everything that is outdoors, health-giving and green.

Words used by visitors to describe our fair last year were ‘Quirky, Quality, Informative and Friendly’.

The beautiful gardens at Knepp Castle, designed by Georgia Langton, will be especially open during the fair.

On Saturday 31st May we have dance demonstrations by Jive 92 and the folk and ceilidh group Threepenny Bit. Mythago Morris will be performing on Sunday 1st June, as will the Chichester-based barbershop group ‘On that Note’ who will sing traditional barbershop, beatboxing and Disney. The vintage jazz singer Kerry Le Bern will be singing both days in Splendid Occasions pop-up vintage tearoom. Home Front History will also be in attendance.

There will be a wide range of food to suit everyone and plenty of places to sit…Splendid Occasions pop-up vintage tearooms, local ale tent, gourmet fishfinger sandwiches, crepes and galettes, ‘Wild Range’ English longhorn steak burgers, venison burgers, an unusual french potato stir-fry, freshly baked wood-fired oven pizzas, cooked as you wait vegetarian organic bhajis and pakoras, fruit smoothies, coffee, teas, cakes, marshmallows, chocolate, Pimms, strawberries and cream, local icecream and many interesting food stalls from which to buy a picnic such as scotch eggs, quiches, pies, bread, smoked meats and cheeses to eat by the beautiful lake.

All of our stallholders are independent, small businesses and not all of them have card machine facilities so please remember to bring lots of cash to the fair.

Visit www.floralfringefair.co.uk, see Facebook Floral Fringe Fair for more details or Twitter @floralfringe