Miss Freda Alternative Christmas Market

On a crisp, clear Saturday, just off of Exeter’s main high street, Barnfield Theatre was not offering your average theatre performance but alternatively a Christmas market with a difference. The stalls on offer were not from commercial companies nor were there items for sale which you could easily find in the likes of Princesshay.

Instead, the market offered handmade goods, ranging from eye-catching tie-dye socks to animals crafted from wood. In particular, Amelia’s vintage dreams stall had caught my eye. Her stall was a visual delight and offered chocolately cupcakes, (which would tempt anyone away from their diet!) and a variety of badges and stuffed toys.

The most amazing thing about Amelia and her vintage dreams, is that this girl is of the tender age of 14, yet has produced goods which are of extremely high quality and suggests years of expertise. When chatting with her, she expressed maturity beyond her age and knew which direction she wanted to take with selling her items, suggesting she could make a very good businesswoman in the future!

The atmosphere of the whole market was very friendly and all the stall holders were more than happy to engage in conversation and tell you the odd bit of useful information about the crafts they were involved in. If you were really lucky they sometimes even let you into a secret as to where to find the best vintage buys!

The Alternative Christmas market was the first that Miss Freda had arranged but from the smooth running and organisation, you would think they had been established in setting up markets for several years. Sara and Natalie, the founders of Miss Freda certainly offered their customers alternative and unique gifts and also gave a voice and chance to local companies to sell their wares. When managing to catch a brief moment, during the busy day, to chat to the pair, I was impressed by their knowledge of the craft and vintage scene. Furthermore, their passion and determination for making Miss Freda work shone through.

Miss Freda is certainly one to watch and with discussions to run another market soon and possibly expand into selling items online, the future for Miss Freda looks very exciting.

For more information about Miss Freda you can contact them through their Facebook page (miss fredaexeter) and Twitter (@MissFreda2).