Closure

We have decided to close the stall at Easter, thank you to all our customers, we have enjoyed our time in Ampthill.

I have moved the days out from Ampthill to here:

Days out Ampthill and will continue to add a post or 2 from time to time.

Also visit Crafts by Carolyn Blog

Thursday is Market Day in Ampthill

Ampthill Country Market stall is on the market every Thursday from around 8 until 12 every week, we close from Christmas until the first Thursday in February.  We find our customers are giving eating baking 'a rest' following Christmas and also as it can be very inclement weather we like to have a rest too.

We have recently moved the stall to the 'other end' as the market is only small (but perfectly formed) this wasn't an amazing distance, but thought it would be a nice place to be.  We have now got some new stands, have made enough room for customers to shelter and shop inside, and have even put some flags up.  It would be lovely if you visit us each week, all of our products are made or grown locally.

Reminiscing of homebaked

 

Join us

Have you stumbled across this blog and wondered what we are all about?

The Country Markets started life as the WI market and you can read our history here:
A potted history

Our stall has been going for over 45 years now, but sadly our membership has diminished over the years, but we are still a keen, friendly and enthusiastic group of members, enjoying setting up our stall each week and serving Ampthill.

We welcome new members and you can just join us, to sell a few items, or maybe just enjoy 'manning' the stall and having a chat with our customers.

Cook, craft, grow is what the Country Markets is all about, and you can really do as little as you like.

Pop along to the stall any Thursday and meet the members on the rota for the day.

We are on facebook too (all the links are at the top of the page), and we need everyone to spread the word about Ampthill Charter market and especially the Country market stall :)  Every Thursday morning in the Waitrose car park.

Handmade in Ampthill

We have a selection of handmade products most Thursdays on Ampthill.

How about these notepads with matching accessories.

Watch out for new fabric making an appearance, and more designs, perfect for gifts or just to treat yourself.

Rutland Water

As the summer had been so lovely in 2016 we decided to take a trip to Rutland Water, we did stay overnight, but from Ampthill it is only just over an hour away and so can be a day trip.  As you will see from the photos we managed to catch the weather when the sun decided to hide for most of it, and the rain came on day 2...putting pay to the planned trip to Barnsdale Gardens.  so I think a re-visit is necessary.

There are car parks around the water, and you can pay one fee for the day and move around the car parks, which work out a better deal for the day.  Some areas are busy than others, one part has a 'beach' in the summer and so was much busier than the rest.

You can get a boat trip across the water:

Rutland Water - with the sun

Oakham

Oakham Museum

Oakham

Rutland water is a man made reservoir that was 'made' in the 70s, there were some people that lost their homes, but they managed to leave a peninsular village that juts out into the water.

Oakham museum was a lovely little museum and filled the gap for our rainy day, it had an exhibition that was 1966 and all that, which was excellent and well put together.

We drove there via the A1 and came back north of Bedford.

https://www.rutlandwater.org.uk/

Plants

We sell plants throughout the year on Ampthill country market, and some of these are tender plants in March and April and these cannot be 'left' in the garden if the overnight temperatures are close to zero.

In the UK overnight temperatures can be too cold until at least the middle of May, sometime even later, especially in the north.

So if you buy these plants you just need to keep them indoors during cold spells, or covered such as in a cold frame or a try a re-using idea mini cloche.

You can keep them on a windowsill or in a conservatory.  I suggest putting them on a tray that is waterproof and strong enough to lift them, and then pop them out during the day in the sun and giving them a water, and just bringing them in at night.  Keep your eye on the forecast, I am putting out an alert on twitter as a reminder if the temperature is due to drop below 3 https://twitter.com/AmpthillCM.

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