Something about living in West Wales has made me more aware of our precious environment. It could be the beautiful countryside and coastline, living on a smallholding or the fact that the area is alive with projects, people and businesses encouraging us to go ‘green’ and stay ‘local’.
Lime washed houses, Long Street, Newport
On a mission to find out more, I headed for Newport, Pembrokeshire with my husband for the annual Green Fair on Saturday November 26th. When we arrived, we took a wander down Long Street to look at some cottages which have been restored using traditional building materials: lime and the lovely coloured lime wash, wooden window frames, Welsh slate.
The fair was buzzing with activity: local apples were waiting to be pressed, the smell of freshly made bread filled the air – we bought some Ceredigion bread from Mair’s Bakehouse; the wheat is grown in Aberystwyth, milled locally and baked in a wood fired oven.
Ceredigion Bread from Mair's Bakehouse
To go with the delicious bread we bought some Welsh honey and spent some time talking to the producer about the benefits of keeping bees and the problems they have been having recently with their hives.
Local Honey
Information and products from Celtic Sustainables
I left my husband to gather information on natural and eco friendly building materials at the Celtic Sustainables stand, picking up lots of ideas for renovating our own cottage.
Whilst hubby did the technical stuff I headed over to the ‘Wench’ stand to admire the upcycled clothes – these clever ladies buy second hand and charity shop clothes and turn them into amazing new garments – more about that in another post….
Altogether a really enjoyable and informative trip – we will be putting it in the diary for next year.
Hi Linda,
We also went to the Green Fair at Newport. It was wonderful to see such a range of people being creative and resourceful. I went there to visit Mark Lange a Bowen Therapist and good friend. Also found some great alternative cosmetics as well which I was on the hunt for. There was a man making furniture which was stunning. Not like the mass produced furniture we see so much in catalogues, but working with the natural shapes of trees. I hope Newport does this fair again and perhaps more often.
Deb