I love an efficient and structured set up for camps, makes life so much easier, especially when you’re trying to do things in the dark. Love this van!

The Fair was just huge this year. Apparently they had 6,000 people through on the Saturday alone! The displays were set up in areas, this was the village, where traditional skills and crafts were on display:

Displaying wood carving techniques:

Hand spun yarn, dyed with natural dyes such as mulberry leaves:

The knife maker showing his skills:

Those in the village often sleep overnight in their camp sites, so they are fully functional:

Even down to the cooking of meals. Love those big pots and pans 🙂

This was one of the big drawcards, a huge working trebuchet! Watching it sling watermelon over the nearby field was quite impressive.

If we were actually attacking a neighbouring village, these are the kinds of things we would be hurling instead. Very heavy!

Back at the fair, I always try to bring home some tasty treats from my favourite vendors. Honey for my collection from the lovely people at Buzz Honey, Muntree chutney, chainmail… This lovely delicacy was Cinnamon tea from the Middle Eastern stall:

I also buy something every year for my birthday from one of my favourite dress sellers. These lovely ladies spend the year making amazing velvet gowns, shirts, and coats. This year I came home with a short sleeved red dress. My dishwashing machine fund took a bit of a pounding!

Yummy roast sweetcorn with garlic butter mmmmm…

Gorgeous bellydancers entertaining a big crowd!

It was great to take the whole weekend off and spend it all outdoors and offline. I also find my sleeping hours tend to re set a bit when I spend time camping, which is a fantastic bonus. While sitting looking at my lovely fire, it occurred to me that someone as dissociative as I am isn’t well suited to living in a brick home. I often have to work hard to experience my life, to be able to smell and taste. When I pass a lovely display of cakes and think I might buy one, I check in with myself first to see if my dissociation level is low enough to make it worthwhile. Eating cake you can’t taste is miserable. This is a normal part of my life. I love the outdoors and the weather, rain especially I delight in. I love noticing wind, stars, sunset. I hate living an indoor life that disconnects me from all these grounding experiences. In some ways, I actually did better living in a caravan that was sensitive to every breeze, and like a drum under the rain. I’m going to look for more ways to create this in my life.

I am also feeling inspired to take up more physical activity again. I haven’t decided between dancing and fighting yet, but both really appeal to me. I loved watching the bellydancers, I used to really enjoy lessons when I was taking them. I have also tried and really enjoyed martial arts. At the Fair, I had a chance to practice some sword fighting which was truly awesome. I love something challenging and graceful, it’s good to really occupy and own a body that is so often in pain (I have a chronic pain condition) that I disconnect and numb to get through my day. Settling into it to dance or fight is a really powerful experience for me.