Imagine all the things you’ve missed most in lockdown – friends, eating out, shopping… in one event… for a fiver. Drumroll… we’ve nailed it! Come June, in the sumptuous surroundings of a glorious country house, you could be sipping Prosecco with your besties and pottering around gorgeous stalls selling homewares and gifts.

The Humble Country Summer Fayre is taking place in the walled garden of Buckinghamshire’s stonkingly gorgeous Claydon Estate, on June 18 and 19. There are 70 plus stores, all boutique brands, most of which normally only sell online. So between sips of coffee/gin/chosen tipple and a good old catch up with your pals, you’ll be able to look AND touch. It’s shopping IRL, ladies.

This is a big old step up from your local car boot/village fete set-up. Expect all the kinds of goodies that will have you reaching for the plastic – artisan baskets, pretty throws, colour pop cushions, bud vases, vintage clutch bags, rustic candlesticks, cosy socks. It’s your entire year’s gift list sorted as well as plenty of treats for yours truly, because frankly, you’ve earnt it.

Stallholders include Jules Hogan, the Reading-based handcrafted knitwear brand; Reversible Robin, quirky jewellery from Oxfordshire and Somerset’s Settlers Stores, British made luxury tweed for men and women, as well as Insta-beloved brands like Claudia de Yong’s Little Garden Shop. There are too many to name, but it’s a cracking line up.

Previous Humble Country fayres have taken place as part of the Thame Food Festival, Hampton Court Festive Fayre and Bradford on Avon Food & Drink Festival. This is the inaugural stand-alone event at Claydon, and perfect for combining with a visit to the adjacent National Trust property, Claydon House, which will be open on the day (click here for opening times). The fayre ticket gives you a three-hour slot at the event on the Friday or Saturday, then it’s worth booking ahead if you want to combine with a potter round the National Trust property. Claydon House is famed as a favourite retreat of Florence Nightingale, who was a regular guest at the house when visiting her sister, Lady Verney.

Alongside the shopping there’s wood-fired pizza, good coffee, pastries and cakes, South African street food and a Champagne and wine bar. There will also be demonstrations throughout the day including sourdough bread making, if you failed to nail that during lockdown, how to create a perfume, how to weave a willow plant support and how to arm knit, which certainly has us scratching our heads…

Tickets cost £5 for adults and kids under 16 go free. The three-hour slots on the Friday 18 and Saturday 19 are 11am-2pm and 2pm-5pm, plus on Friday there’s a post work 5pm-8pm slot – what a perfect end to the week! Refunds or transfers to a new date will be offered in the event of cancellation. The organisers are inviting people to book in advance to secure a ticket for their preferred time slot and avoid disappointment on the day.

PLUS win a bundle of goodies from Humble Country Summer Fayre exhibitors, worth £320, over in Reader Treats.

Photos by @debporterphotography

Country house gardens + boutique shopping + great food = happy times

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