IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

As you may well know we're usually at Greenwich Market on Friday and Saturday but this week we were invited to trade at the Lights On and Lantern Parade which takes place every year. This is a great spectacle which brings together traders, locals and visitors to mark the real countdown to Christmas.

To get into the spirit of the festivities everyone had decorated their stalls with lights and decorations - plus we added a few carefully selected vintage 'props'! We really love this giant wooden soldier that stands guard next to one of our favourite stalls (mulled wine and brandy spiced apple cider!) but alas he is too big a prop even for us.

Here are some of the other stalls tempting us to 'buy handmade' this Christmas...

Hand-painted marbled home accessories from Melo Designs

Beautiful hand-made beaded jewellery from HB Jewellery 

Hand-drawn screen printed t-shirts and sweat shirts from Pengat

Gorgeous fragrant candles and room diffusers from Foundscents

London themed cushions, Christmas stockings and cards from Made in London.

Fabulous personalised prints and signs from the lovely Nick at Inck Design Studio (who made our Clementine & Bloom sign which hangs on our stall)

But Wednesday wasn't just about Christmas present shopping, we were kept entertained throughout the day by various musical combo's including local school children singing carols and Christmas songs and the Greenwich Soul Choir.

By 4.30 the place was nicely crowded as the Sea Cadets Band from Herne Bay led swarms of children from neighbouring schools in the Lantern Parade. These photos really don't show how amazing the hand-made lanterns were - wonderful birds and figures glowing in the dusk made the whole place very atmospheric.

After much anticipation and build-up Father Christmas and the Mayor of Greenwich switched on the lights to the appreciation of all the children. 

We had a really great day, it was so good to get involved with the local community and get into the festive mood. If you didn't manage to get along there this year we would definitely recommend marking it in your diary for next time.