Kirstie Allsopp set to get crafty in the Midlands

TV presenter and craft connoisseur Kirstie Allsopp is set to bring her talents to Warwickshire this month.

Kirstie Allsopp is best known for her co-presenter role alongside Phil Spencer on Location, Location, Location and her own craft based shows including Kirstie’s Handmade Home and Kirstie’s Handmade Britain.

The successful TV presenter is set to host The Handmade Fair at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire from Friday May 12 until Sunday May 14 and will see Britain’s very best craft retailers and artisan designers take to the stage in a bid to encourage locals to get crafty.

The local venue has been chosen to host the event after The Handmade Fair has already seen huge success at Hampton Court Palace over the last three years.

Both craft enthusiasts and newbies will be able to put their creative skills to the test and the event will include live ‘craft-offs’, Q&As and demonstrations from over 150 hand-picked exhibitors and some of the country’s best-known makers and designers.

There will also be a series of hands-on workshops over the weekend where visitors can learn new skills from willow weaving, upholstery and calligraphy.

For Kirstie, the most exciting thing about the event is heading to a new venue. She said: “I am looking forward to introducing the event to new people who may not have been able to come to one of our events before. I will be in the super theatre throughout the day where I will be giving talks and answering questions.

“I have been involved with the event from the start and have had a say in every single detail.”

Kirstie has been interested in arts and crafts since a young age thanks to her parents, who both worked in design. She said: “As I got older, I worked for Country Living Magazine and started to become interested in how things were made. Then when I went on to work on Location, Location, Location, I developed a love for design after spending so much time in other people’s homes.”

Kirstie Allsopp will top the bill on the Friday, before handing over the reins to Liz Earle, skincare specialist and founder of the multi-award winning Fairtrade jewellery range, and Patrick Grant, British designer and judge on The Great British Sewing Bee.

Kirstie thinks that events like The Handmade Fair, as well as taking time out to enjoy being creative, are incredibly important. She said: “I think we are becoming more aware of the fact that we are losing the link between our brain and our hands and it is damaging to our mental health.

“We also need to be able to mend things without a problem, from simple tasks to sewing a button back on to fixing a chair, it is important that we know how to do these things.

“We all have such busy lives, but to be able to go home at the end of the day, sit down and make something whilst watching the TV is so much fun. It is vital that we give ourselves the time to do these things. That learning process is incredibly important.”

The Handmade Fair takes place Friday May 12 – Sunday May 14 from 9.30am – 6pm. The event will also return to Hampton Court Palace in September.