Stratford Show
We had a very enjoyable few days away incorporating the Stratford Bear fair, setting off on the Wednesday before the show we drove down to Corton village, which is 3 miles from Lowestoft and around 9 miles from Great Yarmouth and a little further to Norwich. Our daughter is based in Corton at the moment so we stayed in a hotel near there and she joined us for days out in the area, we had a day in Lowestoft which is a small seaside place with docks, a nice beach and shopping area.
The weather was fantastic and we had a day in Norwich which is fantastic with a beautiful castle and cathedral to visit, the shopping centre is one of the best I have ever seen, and we were extra pleased to fall upon the Norwich Bear Shop, we spent quite a while in there as Charlotte is just as keen as me to talk bears, and as well as the usual manufactured bears I was pleased to see a good amount of artist bears in there too, I was espcially pleased to see Laurie Lou bears there, Laurie and I chat on line sometimes but havent met, if I had more time there I would have loved to arrange to meet up for a coffee, her bears are so cute and even cuter in the fur. There were also Bisson Bears, Blee Bears, Hoblins and many more.
On Saturday we said our goodbyes and drove from Corton up to Stratford where we stayed in a hotel not far from the fair, we had a lovely afternoon and night in Stratford, it's a gorgeous town, plenty of shops and spoilt for choice of places to eat. Sunday was the Stratford Bear Fair which was held in the Civic Hall, I have to say it was one of the best bear fairs I have ever exhibited at, a great party atmospere, lots of visitors came through the door and lots of bears found new homes. I spent the whole day chatting with visitors and artists. I hope to do this fair again next year and perhaps see a little more of the Stratford area.
The weather was fantastic and we had a day in Norwich which is fantastic with a beautiful castle and cathedral to visit, the shopping centre is one of the best I have ever seen, and we were extra pleased to fall upon the Norwich Bear Shop, we spent quite a while in there as Charlotte is just as keen as me to talk bears, and as well as the usual manufactured bears I was pleased to see a good amount of artist bears in there too, I was espcially pleased to see Laurie Lou bears there, Laurie and I chat on line sometimes but havent met, if I had more time there I would have loved to arrange to meet up for a coffee, her bears are so cute and even cuter in the fur. There were also Bisson Bears, Blee Bears, Hoblins and many more.
On Saturday we said our goodbyes and drove from Corton up to Stratford where we stayed in a hotel not far from the fair, we had a lovely afternoon and night in Stratford, it's a gorgeous town, plenty of shops and spoilt for choice of places to eat. Sunday was the Stratford Bear Fair which was held in the Civic Hall, I have to say it was one of the best bear fairs I have ever exhibited at, a great party atmospere, lots of visitors came through the door and lots of bears found new homes. I spent the whole day chatting with visitors and artists. I hope to do this fair again next year and perhaps see a little more of the Stratford area.
