I LOVE a Christmas market. Do you???
If you fancy a run out on your sleigh before Christmas, we would love to meet you, and you can pick up your favourite chocolate brownies and blondies made freshly for our festive brownies market stalls. (It will save you on a brownies delivery) and I am sure you will have a great day at our local markets where there is so much to see and do for the whole family, so please have a look at the markets where I shall be between this weekend and Christmas, to see if our brownies stalls are near you on the run up to Christmas
So much goes into the planning of the markets, and there is often a hidden army of volunteers and people from the communities who give up so much of their time to put on some truly great events, plus, behind every market stall is often a small local family business.
For the first of the Christmas markets I have devised a brand new range of triple chocolate brownies in a bottle, this is such fun to bake to either bake the brownies yourself or get the children involved. It makes the ultimate brownies gift and a great secret Santa or Corporate brownies gift. I will have a supply of Brownies in a Bottle gifts at the Bakewell Christmas Market this weekend, so come along and say Hi.
First up for me there is the baking of the brownies – sounds simple, I am a self-taught baker – but remember, I do all the brownie baking myself and I must bake at least 6000 brownies and blondies just to cover the markets in this busy period, as well as separately baking my gorgeous range of Gluten free and Vegan brownies and blondies, it really does takes some organising, plus I need to keep up with my orders from my customers who are buying brownies online, all these need arranging, and then sending out the brownies by post and couriers to all parts of the UK, plus keeping an eye on each and every delivery. That means I basically do not sleep until 20th December.
Why do you do it, you ask? I LOVE IT!!! I love brownies and I love baking, plus I love Christmas, so I turn up Alexa, have some all night baking sessions and make sure I have plenty of coffee on tap. As I write this, it is the 17th November, I have my Christmas plan together. Bake, Eat, Sleep, Repeat and somewhere between have some festive fun!!!
This Christmas is going to be oh so much better than last year, and the organisers of the Christmas markets are really pulling out all the stops, there seems to be so much more than normal arranged at each of the markets, I truly think this year will help make up for last year.
Bakewell is the first Christmas market, Bakewell must be the quintessential High Peak village. I have always loved Bakewell, and when I was younger I used to visit regularly. As a child I remember playing in the main playground as we visited my Nan Freda’s close friend Phyllis.
Bakewell Christmas market will be held in the town's centre on Saturday, November 20 and Sunday, November 21 from 9am to 5pm each day. Stalls will populate Market Street, Granby Road and Riverside Crescent, and admission to the annual event is free. Visitors can expect over 100 stalls and gazebos, which includes some of the vendors that frequent Bakewell's famous Monday market days, as well as sellers from all across Derbyshire. The stalls on offer will be of a festive theme, selling Christmas treats including mulled wine, baubles and other decorations. There will also be a visit from both Santa and the Grinch, with other characters such as Elf on a shelf and Minnie and Mickey making an appearance.
Guests can enjoy performances from Rachel Magical entertainment, the Salvation Army, Matlock Tuneless community choir and Sheffield Steel City Concert Band. The market is full of festive cheer. There will be plenty of mulled wine to keep you warm, music, Santa, entertainment, decorations, baubles, lights, festive gifts and a varied selection of stalls for everyone, not to mention Scrumptious brownies. Bakewell looks so good at market time.
The following weekend on Sunday 28th November I am again back in Bakewell for the brand new local market The Bakewell Sparkle All the traders here are local and there really are some great local business attending. This market is held at the Cattle market, which is only a few minutes walk from the market place, and is all about supporting local businesses.
It will be a great day out for the family with lots of activities on offer throughout the day, cake decorating demos, as well as professionally run craft sessions and face painting for children and lets not forget your chance to meet Santa and his reindeer! There will be musical entertainment courtesy of the Bakewell Silver Band and Peak Performance Choir. I am looking forward to a day of festive cheer, I love the Christmas lights, brass bands and mulled wine! This is what the Gingerbread brownie was created for.
Matlock Victorian Market is the 3rd -5th December in Hall Leys Park in the centre of town. There will be over 250 stalls selling a wide range of seasonal food and gifts, along with Sheffield premier brownies baker, Scrumptious by Lucy. For the family there is a funfair, music, entertainment and lets not forget Santa's grotto!!
On Saturday 4th December, the Christmas Lights are switched on, and the next day Sunday 5th December at 5.30pm, a spectacular finale fireworks display for all to enjoy I am excited to bring the boys along for this one. I have fond memories visiting Matlock to watch the illuminations every year with my family.
Belper Christmas Market on the 5th December is next up! We thoroughly enjoyed attending the really popular Belper Food Festival in September and are looking forward to return. A town full of history and heritage and lots of great local independent businesses that will also be open, I also love the way the Town Mayor spends so much time meeting and greeting, wandering around the stalls and businesses and the fabulous organisers go out of their way to make sure everything runs smoothly. So why not wrap up warm and come and see what the Belper Winter Market has to offer.
Sharrow Vale is our home and local quarterly market in Sheffield based on Sharrow Vale Road on the 12th December. we were last there on Sunday 18th July for the summer food festival. The market will be full of festive treats and fun! There will be festive entertainment and music and such a great community atmosphere, so come along and say Hi and spread the cheer, Christmas is almost here.
Matlock Christmas Market is our final market of the festive season covering the weekend of Saturday 18th, and Sunday 19th December in Hall Leys Park, right in the centre of town alongside the river Derwent, There will be Santa’s Grotto, brass bands, a fun fair, super heroes, a Christingle Service, stilt walkers and a radio roadshow. Be sure to wear your winter warmers so you can enjoy a fun filled festive day, as we approach Christmas Day!
I really do hope you can make it to one of the events, but remember don't worry if you can't, as I will still be baking your brownie orders for you to buy online up to midnight on the 20th December and the final brownie orders will be packaged in their letterbox brownie gift boxes and sent by post on the 21st ready to be delivered to your letterbox by the 22nd December when the festivities can truly start, and don't forget you can now order my latest brownies creations, the Festive Brownies box which contain three brand new flavours for the Festive period, as well as the classic Christmas flavour of my Terry's chocolate orange brownie
Merry Christmas!
Lucy x