Frome is only about an hour's drive from Bristol but I have to admit that I'd never actually visited before - just seen its name on road signs as I was travelling elsewhere. I was also a bit wary that magazine articles can make even the dreariest of places seem great, and vice versa. However, we were certainly not disappointed.
Once we'd found the long-stay car park and deliberated how long we would need - three hours for £1.90 or do we push the boat out and go for four hours for £3.40 - and been slightly alarmed by the public toilets that talk to you once you're locked inside, saying that your visit is time-limited but neither telling you how long you actually have nor what happens when your time is up, we began to explore.
Thanks to a sudden downpour we headed immediately for the Cheese and Grain, a community centre and cafe that was hosting a craft market. There must have been about 25 stalls with a wide range of crafts: stained glass, jewellery, wood turning, skincare products, painted silk, paper crafts and it wasn't long before we were reaching for our hard-earned cash. One stall holder had some fabulous notebooks that were made from old comics, annuals, sheet music, maps and the like. They were really beautiful and totally unique. She had also made some paper garlands by sewing together discs of paper - simple yet very effective. I'd seen such garlands before and been wanting to try them myself so had a quick chat to pick her brains.
From the craft market we headed through the Saturday morning food market. Although it was coming to an end we still had time to purchase some wonderful British cheeses, freshly made sausages, and some Spanish 'nibbles': spicy fried corn, habas fritas (fried broad beans) and lemon pepper cashews. All have since been consumed and all will be repeat purchases!
Next stop was the high street and to find St Catherine's, which was featured heavily in the magazine article. Fortunately Frome town centre is very small and has good sign posts so it wasn't long before we found it and, in particular, The Garden Cafe, an organic, vegan cafe and deli that we had read about and decided would be a perfect lunch stop. It didn't disappoint and we had to tear ourselves away to explore the shops further up the hill, which also far exceeded our expectations. We ended up having to curtail our trip long before we would have wanted - it turned out four hours just wasn't long enough! We learned that all the independent traders take part in the Frome Independent Market, which takes place on the first Sunday of the month, so I shall definitely be making a return visit!
Inspired by my trip to Frome and whilst taking a break from blanket-making and gardening, I decided to have a go at making a paper garland. I remembered that I had some paper stars lurking in my craft cupboard following an aborted Christmas project a number of years ago. I thought they may be a good test. Turns out stars aren't a great shape to sew as the points have a tendency to get poked into the sewing machine by the needle. However, as the famous saying goes, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again!
The second attempt was slightly better but, if I'm honest, far too fiddly to be able to consistently get a good result.
My third attempt was more along the lines of the ones we saw in Frome.
It's a bit plain but could make an interesting 'ribbon' to contrast a plain coloured gift wrap or, as I have here, draped over a mirror. Surely there's a Christmas version I can come up with?
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