Who’s coming?

 

Here’s who will be at The Pantry Easter Market this Saturday (24th March, 10-2):

Zena Ashdown: Bespoke handbags and baskets

Bicester Party Shop: Imaginative balloon arrangements and a wide range of party supplies

Jennie Bosher: Handmade decorations and cards, knitted cushions and toys

Kathy Buckingham: Agate pendants, handmade snoods and other items – NEW

Haddenham Pottery: Functional domestic pottery

Horton Accessories: Fine accessories for women, men and the home

Kim’s Jewels: Fun and affordable jewellery and scarves

Koukou Home Decor: Floral arrangements using high-quality replica flowers and foliage – NEW

Paul’s Cards: the name may have changed from Phoenix to Flamingo, but it’s still Paul selling this great range of cards, stationery and gifts

Prime Wood Studios: Handcrafted wooden gifts

RiffRaffs Sew & Sew: Handmade gifts, textiles, bespoke products

Tony’s Plants: Locally grown and propagated in Piddington

Rebecca White: Soaps, lip balm, etc. jams & chutneys, handmade gifts, homemade dog treats

Plus of course there’ll be the village regulars:

Church Stall: Homemade cakes, homemade produce and Easter goodies

Beer Stall: Local ales, Piddington Cider and Apple Juice

Raffle

Secondhand Books

And – saving the best for last – the

Coffee Shop: Fabulous bacon and mushroom baps made to order, homemade cakes and – using our new toaster(!), freshly made hot cross buns or toast and preserves

We’re ready for our close-up

Exciting news! The Pantry Easter Market is going to be filmed!

As part of her college course, Tirion Ashton (whom many of you will know) will be filming the whole event – from setting up the marquee (cue the Laurel and Hardy soundtrack there) to taking everything down and packing it away afterwards. During the market, she will be filming on different cameras, and so will be able to capture a well-rounded impression of what our lovely little market is like.

We hope that from the hours of film Tirion will be shooting, she’ll be able to produce a short promotional video that we can use to publicise future markets.

Tirion has helped with many community events in Piddington, and we are very grateful to her for choosing to make our market the focus of her project. We aim to give her all the help and support she needs to get the best outcome. If you don’t want to be filmed, have a word with one of the organisers either before or on the day (Saturday 24th March), and we’ll make sure you’re not included in the finished film.

Needless to say, The Pantry team are already choosing their outfits, booking their hairdressers and getting ready for their close-ups. Here’s looking at you!

Gearing up for the Spring Market

Looking back, looking forwards

Huge thanks to everyone involved in making The Pantry’s 5th anniversary the biggest and the busiest so far. You may already have seen us beaming out from the Oxfordshire Guardian’s article about us this week – the third time we’ve hit the news. (We even made the front page, as a headline pointer to the piece!)

Oxfordshire Guardian, 11-17 January 2018

Actually, we were all feeling completely exhausted after having taken down and packed away after the market, which could explain the slightly glazed expressions!

As you can imagine, it’s hard work organising these markets, and we really appreciate those helpful folks who turn up the day before and come back at the end of the markets to help with the various tasks.

This year, The Pantry will hold markets on the following dates: 24 March, 1 September and 1 December. New volunteers are always welcome!

Despite the work involved, feeling the buzz on market day and knowing how much people value the events makes it all worthwhile. I’ve put some of the comments we’ve had about The Pantry here.

2018 market dates

Happy New Year, everyone!

We’re starting to organise the Spring Market now, so you should see posters starting to appear on noticeboards in the next few weeks.

Here’s a reminder of the dates of this year’s markets:

24 March
1 September
1 December

If you know anyone who might like to take a stall at The Pantry, please contact me as soon as possible before the date. We do tend to get booked up very quickly, and often have more people who have requested a table than we have room for – but if people book early, we can assure them a spot.

Happy Christmas and a Good New Year

Maggie, Chris, Andrew, Ken, Francesca, Hazel and Karen would like to wish you a very Happy Christmas and to say thanks to everyone for all your support this year. We really do appreciate you coming along to The Pantry markets – to buy, to sell, to chat, to set up, to take down, to meet old friends and make new ones, and most important of all, just to be part of our community.

We also send you our very best wishes for 2018. We’ve set the dates for next year’s markets, so put them in your diary now. It’ll be Easter before you know it!

Market dates 2018

24 March

1 September

1 December

And so this is Christmas …

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The Pantry Christmas Market, 2 December 2017
Photos: Francesca Darby and Kim Elliott

 

Thanks so much to everyone – stallholders, volunteers and customers – for coming along to our Christmas Market, and making it such a fantastic 5th anniversary.

It certainly was the busiest market we’ve had – the Coffee Shop was hectic, selling all the baps we’d bought (8 dozen of them). Maggie, Karen and the team are so well-organised and capable, I doubt anyone would have guessed that the coffee machine had broken hours before opening time, and, at the busiest market of the year, the team were having to improvise with other urgently sourced equipment. Talk about ‘a well-oiled machine’! (As a matter of fact, some of us did collapse afterwards with a large glass of something calming, but that’s another story.)

The raffle took more money this time than at any previous market – all of which will go towards various village projects. Special thanks go to Lucy and Pam for running it, and to the stallholders who generously provided some superb prizes.

The Church stall, with its extra table laden with Christmas wreaths and gifts in addition to the delicious cakes, looked beautiful and raised a goodly sum for refurbishment projects.

As I was going round chatting on Saturday, I had some lovely comments about The Pantry from stallholders and customers. It’s always interesting to hear what stallholders think about us, because they attend a lot of markets and events, and it helps us identify where we can make improvements. I’ve asked some of them if I can share their comments with you, because they suggest that, despite none of us having tackled anything like this before we started The Pantry, we seem in general to be on the right track. Organising each market is a lot of hard work, but feeling the buzz on Saturday and then getting comments like these makes it all worthwhile.

We at Riff Raffs Sew & Sew attended the Christmas Market for the first time on Saturday, such a wonderful atmosphere.

The organisation from start to finish was superb, we were so impressed with the variety of talent & stalls on offer.

Everybody was so welcoming & complimentary on our handmade products, we loved every minute.

A truly wonderful day of sales & meeting new customers, looking forward to the next market date in 2018.

(Jo & Sharon)

Prime Wood Studios attended our very first Christmas market on Saturday 2nd December. We were quite excited because we had been to The Pantry toward the end of the summer and knew what to expect, the happiest and most motivated group of villagers you could ever wish to meet, kind, welcoming and organised.

The Pantry itself is a lovely warm environment with a superb team of ladies serving up all manner of locally made produce, tea, coffee, home made cakes, mince pies, bacon rolls, what more could you ask for? Well actually, locally made beer, apple juice and a host of other products. There was something there for everyone, all of the stall holders were very helpful and presented some exquisite crafts.

The footfall throughout the day was extremely good, especially given the fact that the village is a little gem tucked away in the beautiful surrounding countryside, this was undoubtedly due to the advertising and hard work from the organisers.

Prime Wood Studios had a busy, productive and enjoyable day, we can’t wait for the next market and would thoroughly recommend this family friendly fun day out.

(Paul & Simon)

A lovely, friendly market with a great atmosphere.

(Jennie)

I love coming along to The Pantry at Piddington. It’s a great atmosphere and a real social occasion for the community as well as a super market for anyone visiting from further afield. My favourite is the cake stall, I always buy far too many. I have had my Cards and Stationery stall for over 2 years now and have a keen supply of regular customers (who are greatly appreciated). Definitely a permanent fixture in my calendar.

Oh … and the bacon butties are fabulous.

(Paul)

I’ll let you know next year’s dates as soon as we’ve fixed them.

Have a lovely Christmas everyone – and we hope to see you next year!

 

 

Who’s coming?

 

Here’s a quick rundown of who will be at The Pantry Christmas Market on 2nd December.

There are more stalls than ever before, offering a fantastic variety of local products and handmade items, so you’re sure to find unique gifts for all the people in your life – and maybe a treat or two for yourself!

Zena Ashdown: Bespoke handbags and baskets

Bicester Party Shop: Balloon decorations for all occasions and more

Duns Tew Pottery: Functional stoneware pottery

Jennie Bosher: Handmade decorations and cards, knitted cushions and toys

Horton Accessories: Fine accessories for women, men and the home

Kim’s Jewels: Fun and affordable jewellery and scarves

Paul’s Cards: Phoenix cards, stationery and gift

Pauline Pinney: Hand made cards and hand knitted goods

Prime Wood Studios: Handcrafted wooden gifts

RiffRaffs: Handmade gifts, textiles, bespoke products

William Rolls Ceramics: Salt-glazed ceramic sculptures inspired by nature

Liz Tagert: Christmas gifts, decorations, small artworks

Topstitch: Handsewn items

Waddesdon Deli: Home-cured and home-smoked produce, cheeses and more

Rebecca White: Soaps, lip balm, etc. jams & chutneys, handmade gifts, homemade dog treats

White Wick Candles: Hand-poured soy candles

Woodstock Fudge Company: Homemade fudge using traditional methods and ingredients. Flavours include: Christmas Pudding, Chocolate Orange, Vanilla, Baileys, Gin, Vanilla, Salted Caramel & Rum and Raisin

As well as all these, you’ll find Andrew and Ian in the Beer Tent, offering you tasters of XT and Vale favourites – and possibly a surprise guest beer …

The Raffle, with great prizes …

And, new for this market, but destined to be a favourite stall at The Pantry, the amazingly popular Church Cake Stall is expanding! From now on, they will not only be selling delicious homemade cakes and bakes in aid of church funds but will also be offering local and homemade produce, and seasonal items, in place of what was the General Store. We’re really hoping this will go from strength to strength, and be a regular source of much needed funds to help St Nicholas’s Church with its new projects.

 

 

In the news again

From the Oxfordshire Guardian, 15 November 2017

New season’s apple juice

Cheers!

It’s here!

The new season’s Piddington Village Apple Juice, made entirely from Piddington apples, will be available at The Pantry Christmas Market on 2nd December.

The apples were brought along to the Village Hall by villagers on Apple Day (7 October 2017). Some was juiced on the day, and that is now turning into Piddington Cider. All the apples that were left at the end of the day were taken to the brilliant Drovers Hill Farm , near Princes Risborough, to be pressed and bottled for The Pantry. We sell the juice and the cider throughout the year to raise money for village good causes.

We collected the new stock on Monday and sampled it at our Pantry meeting on Wednesday. I can confirm that it’s absolutely delicious. It has a slight sharpness to it, but a beautiful sweetness and depth of flavour comes through from the fairly high proportion of dessert apples that went into it. Sharp, sweet and deep – the essence of Piddington, really.

 

Piddington Apple Day, 7 October 2017. Photo: Kim Elliott