Tracy Spiers dons her Santa hat to get in the Christmas spirit ahead of Chipping Campden’s festive celebrations
‘Have you got a Santa hat?’ I asked one of my twin daughters. She didn’t even ask why. She knows me well. Well, why wouldn’t her mother want a red hat with the familiar white trim in mid-September? I like to be authentic, and I felt armed as I drove through countryside to the beautiful town of Chipping Campden to report on its festive activities.
No one minded my impish appearance, and I even found a large nutcracker, several snowmen, snow robins, a Christmas tree, and a gingerbread wreath. In a few weeks’ time this quintessentially English town, known for its shin-kicking antics, rich Arts and Crafts heritage, and start and end point of the 102-mile Cotswold Way, walked and run by thousands every year, will be adorned with its famous Christmas lights.
The message of Christmas is of course one of hope and as nights draw in, the spectacle of twinkling lights in Chipping Campden’s main High Street lifts hearts and minds, as in any town. The familiar sights, sounds and smells of Christmas unite us and embrace us with its special atmosphere. In Chipping Campden, I have always found a welcome and warmth, and whilst I am here in a professional capacity, I can’t help but feel at home. This town embodies a quiet confidence and exuberates colour and creativity that I so enjoy. It also evokes a tremendous sense of history. The fabric of the town, notably its beautiful honey-coloured buildings, some dating back to the 14th century and its landmarks and features, have such rich stories to tell. As I walk over the uneven cobbled stone-paved floor under the arches of the stunning 1627 market hall, I can’t help but think of unknown figures who would have traded goods like cheese, butter, and poultry years ago.
Known for its long and wide main street, once the heart of the local wool trade, the town’s name Chipping Campden derives from ‘Chipping’ which in Old English is ‘cēping’, meaning ‘a market, a market-place’. Today it is a popular tourist destination, and just as I arrive, a coach pulls up with visitors.
Christmas market
But whilst the marketplace may not have the characters of yesteryear, it is still a hive of activity. Every second Saturday and Sunday each month, Chipping Campden Market is full of crafts, gifts, cakes, and other handmade products.
Saturday, December 3 is the special Christmas market which will help kick-start the festive season. The monthly market organisers join forces with Make Campden Sparkle to create a special event, which transforms the town into a festive wonderland. Chipping Campden’s Rotary Tree of Light and the town lights will be switched on at 4.30pm and Father Christmas will also make an appearance.
The High Street is closed to traffic from early morning and the Street market opens at midday, offering an exciting array of goods and attractions. In all there will be over 50 stalls which include food stalls, selling festive food and drinks in the Market Square and indoor market on both floors of the Town Hall. The market opens on Saturday and celebrations continue throughout the afternoon until 5pm, whilst the inside market in the Town Hall continues Sunday.
‘If the event last year is anything to go by it should be brilliant, and this year we are fortunate to have entertainment again, having not been able to do so during Covid,’ says market organiser Alyson Jessopp.
For traders on the High Street, the lights add to the festive mood. Lisa Powell from Dove Country Lifestyle opened her delightful two-storey shop in the charming Grade II listed Hook House, in late 2020. She says Dove leans towards British designed and produced gifts, and she supports many local designers and artisan producers which ensures there is something quirky and different for shoppers to buy.
‘This is our third Christmas, but probably the first we have had with zero restrictions. I have enjoyed seeing all the visitors and meeting new people, but I have been well supported by the local community. A lot of people supported us when tourists couldn’t,’ recalls Lisa.
‘I love the Christmas atmosphere and once the lights are on, they stay on for the whole of December and into January. The lights are put up by the local firefighters and make the town look so pretty and there is a buzz about the place. My Christmas wish is that people come and stay, and that hotels and restaurants return to how it was pre-Covid,’ she adds.
The desire to bring cheer and uplift those who live and visit, especially in the current climate, is very much central to the work at 18th-century Court Barn, a Museum of Craft & Design. It celebrates the legacy of the craftspeople, designers and artists working in the north Cotswolds from 1900 to the present day. It begins with C.R. Ashbee and continues with former members of Ashbee’s Guild who remained working in Chipping Campden following the dissolution of the Guild of Handicraft in 1908. But it is refreshingly balanced with handcrafted work Ashbee would have approved, with an ever-changing display of work by those continuing those masterful crafts. The Museum also has an online shop, mirroring its physical shop which displays handmade items, featuring exclusive commissions and limited-edition pieces, crafted to a high standard by skilled designer-makers.
This place really is an oasis, and it is easy to get deliciously lost in wonder as eyes are drawn to the wonderful talent and craftsmanship that is still very much alive in the town, as it was in Ashbee’s day.
Christmas delights
The day I visit, I enjoy a fascinating exhibition of shoes and hats, entitled Craft, Fashion and Fantasy, by Caroline Groves and Louise Pocock, two of the UK’s leading designer-makers who both work locally. This exhibition, which runs until Sunday, November 13, includes sources of inspiration, tools, materials, and equipment to illustrate the process of making, as well as finished pieces.
For years I have been visiting Chipping Campden and have often walked past milliner Louise Pocock’s studio, hoping to meet her. Having just witnessed her work on display at Court Barn, I spot her pouring over a sketchbook with one of her students. I tap on the door and apologise for interrupting. I watch her doing what she does best, encouraging others.
‘As well as showing my work, I do a lot of workshops because that is a really good way of showing people the skills and it keeps the tradition going,’ she tells me.
Louise and Caroline’s exhibition makes way for Christmas Delights which opens on Saturday, November 19. This is an ever-popular festive selling exhibition full of handmade gifts made by specialist designer-makers. Items will include jewellery, ceramics, glass, textiles, books, and paper, including a reproduction, vintage paper theatre that children, or the young at heart, can assemble and then stage their own play. Demonstrations will also take place during the exhibition by highly skilled makers. This exhibition runs throughout the Christmas season and New Year until Sunday, January 8, 2023. (Opening times: Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-4pm).
‘We are part of the community. What we specialise in is locally crafted handmade items that will bring people joy,’ says Court Barn’s Administrator Barbara Alderton. ‘We want our Christmas Delights exhibition to be uplifting. What we saw during Covid is that Court Barn was a safe place for people, and that same thing applies for Christmas. Whatever is happening in the world, we hope locals and visitors alike, can walk into Court Barn and be uplifted and feel the joy of Christmas.’
Whilst Ashbee’s life is celebrated here, his former workshop in the Old Silk Mill is now home to a co-operative of more than 20 artists and artisans, who moved in to create The Gallery at the Guild some 17 years ago to bring their contemporary and traditional crafts to a place steeped in Arts and Craft history.
Christmas exhibition
The Gallery at the Guild’s Christmas Exhibition ’Reflection’ opens on Friday, November 18 and runs until Christmas Eve. It is full of eye-catching pieces such as paintings, sculptures, glasswork, and textiles. Some are quirky, some serious, some contemplative and some demand a laugh-out-loud reaction.
‘We always look forward to our Christmas Exhibition. It’s such a vibrant time in the gallery and is a point in the year when the co-operative nature of our gallery really comes to the fore,’ says Anna Pike, gallery manager and participating artist.
‘Our 26 artists support each other and come together for a mixed exhibition, welcoming new and returning visitors alike. A true celebration of the thriving arts and crafts movement in Chipping Campden that began in the wonderful building in which we are housed.’
It is always a privilege to meet the artists who create the work, and on this occasion at The Gallery at the Guild, I chat with award-winning painter Don Mason, who creates painstakingly detailed pencil drawings as well as moving acrylic abstract landscapes that evoke a sense of place and capture fleeting emotional responses. He has a wonderful ability to portray light and one of his latest paintings, where light is breaking over the darkness is very poignant. It echoes the shimmer of Christmas lights as they radiate over the town’s High Street on the dark, cold winter nights.
In terms of hunting down some unusual and unique Christmas presents, Chipping Campden is a great place to do so. It has a brilliant community of independent shops and businesses. Some like Toke’s, a thriving independent food & wine retailer, has been in the family for five generations. Now owned by William Bennett, this friendly foodhall, with its active jukebox, is a fantastic place to buy a Christmas hamper, cheese board or that special fine and rare bottle for a festive gift or fizz for a Christmas Day toast. One of the newest businesses to be born in Chipping Campden is Mini & Humble, set up by Lauren Coyle, who was inspired to launch a new brand of baby clothes after taking her young daughter for daily walks in the local neighbourhood. They encapsulate simple precious moments of childhood, and her patterns have a timeless and playful print designed for little imaginations and endless adventures.
‘Mini & Humble is designed in this Cotswold town, surrounded by honey-coloured cottages and crayon green rolling hills – it’s a fairy-tale setting we’re lucky to call home. Our pieces are then made in a small carefully chosen and researched factory in Turkey. We’ve taken time and care to research and visit our producers to ensure they share our sustainable and ethical values,’ says Lauren.
In Cambrook Court, I spot a Christmas shop, where I gladly put on my Christmas hat and feel at home. It’s temporary and closes after Christmas, but it’s a welcome find today. Amongst the nutcrackers, Christmas decorations and icicles I find Bella Carter, who runs her own vintage online business, Gigi Clothing. She admits she doesn’t like the winter cold but enjoys the festive atmosphere. ‘I love all the food, the singing, the lights and the smell of toffee apples at this time of year and I enjoy visiting all the independent shops we have here.’
Christmas walks
I wear my Santa hat with pride as I meet with Tim Sexton, office manager of Campden Information Centre. It’s here I find a knitted wreath with gingerbread men on it, the kind of wreath I would gladly put up on my door. I ask Tim what his Chipping Campden Christmas highlights are?
‘For me it is going up to Dover’s Hill on a crisp winter day over Christmas, and the joy of being able to see for miles and miles to the Welsh hills. I love being up there, especially when it has snowed. It is just so pretty, and the air is so clean,’ says Tim who, together with Cotswold Warden Vin Kelly, has redesigned a small booklet of walks around Chipping Campden. He also sings in a folk band called The Hoo which will be making an appearance during the Christmas season in the Market Hall. St James’ and Campden Baptist Church will also jointly host Follow the Song, an open-air carol service in the Town Square over the festive period.
Chipping Campden is a town that is full of life all year round. On June 3, 2023, it will be the 411th anniversary of Robert Dover’s Cotswold Olimpick Games – the forerunner of the modern Olympic Games, which began in 1896. It follows two other significant events, the International Music Festival, and the Literary Festival.
As Chipping Campden gets ready to switch on its festive lights, it certainly knows how to maintain and celebrate the traditions that matter, and Christmas is no exception.
