Northumberland Autumn + Winter Gift Fairs 2025: Where to Go + What We’re Bringing

Autumn in Northumberland brings changing weather, colourful leaves and the start of cosy season. Festive fairs start popping up in venues across the region; from village halls to city racecourses, they’re chock full of artisan makers and fun gift sellers excited to meet their future customers! Laughing Sisters will be bringing the giggles to Living North Christmas Fair North East 2025 (23rd-26th October), Christmas Fayre at Brocksbushes Farm Shop (13th-16th November), Little Oaks Christmas Shopping Evening (28th November) and Hexham Abbey Christmas Fair 2025 (13th December).

Keep reading for a Laughing Sisters list of the best festive fairs, dates, product sneak peeks and our handy top-tips for our in-person shoppers!

Why Gift Fairs + Why This Guide?

Here at Laughing Sisters we’re trying to build our online shop so why would we be pushing in-person events and local fairs? It’s simple really… we love them! One of the best things about the shorter days and rubbish weather cutting in is the start of local fair shopping season! It can be difficult to browse for the perfect gift online if you don’t have any idea where to start, this local gift fair guide will help solve that problem!

There’s nothing quite like chatting to somebody about the products they’re passionate about, being able to touch and feel something handmade, being caught off-guard by a hilarious product and pointing it out to your friend, chatting to a seller who’s really pleased to see you and knowing you’ve made their day when you buy something from them. Plus, you can find beautiful, unique and unpredictable gifts that you wouldn’t find elsewhere.

Autumn Gift Fair Calendar (Dates + Locations)

Many of these are local to us but it’s worth noting that every town is likely to have a local artisan makers market throughout the year (Alnwick, Morpeth, Hexham to name a few). Plus, every school and organisation often hosts a Christmas fair to help raise funds for their cause so do, please look them up, and give them your support as there are far too many to include here. We’ve included the ones we’re appearing at plus, a few of our favourites as shoppers over the years.

Whalton Arts Fair

When: Sunday 5th October, 10:30am – 3:30pm

Where: Whalton Village Hall, NE61 3XA.

Tickets: Free entry

Parking: On-street parking in the village. Hall itself has ramps and level floors for wheelchair access and toilets are available on-site.

Overview: Featuring local, talented artists and makers including paintings, textiles, ceramics, jewellery and more. Hot drinks and baked goods will be available, provided by PAWS to raise money for their charity pre-school.

Whalton Art Fairs / Events | The Tin Shed

Living North Christmas Fair North East 2025

*Laughing Sisters will be here*

When: Thursday 23rd – Sunday 26th October 10am-4pm (open until 5pm on the Saturday)

Where: Newcastle Racecourse (NE3 5HP)

Tickets: Early bird - £7, Concessions (over 60s) - £6, On the Door - £9

Parking: Ample parking at the racecourse, tarmac so easy (if a little puddly when wet)

Overview: Over 250 stands, everything from homeware, hand-crafted gifts, artisan food and drink and more, one of the North-East’s biggest fairs.

Christmas Fair North East 2025 | Living North

Christmas Fayre at Brocksbushes Farm Shop 2025

*Laughing Sisters will be here*

When: Thursday 13th – Sunday 16th November

Where: Brocksbushes Farm Shop (NE43 7UB)

Tickets: Available to buy from the first week in October

Parking: Free parking at the venue some tarmac and some grass, disabled parking available.

Overview: A large and very popular Christmas food and gift fayre in Northumberland, featuring local independent stallholders in large marquees adjacent to the main building. Main building is wheelchair accessible as are the marquees but may not be the easiest given how busy it can be.

Christmas Fayre at Brocksbushes Farm Shop

Blanchland Christmas Artisan Market 2025

When: Saturday 22nd – Sunday 23rd November

Where: Buildings throughout Blanchland Village on the border between Northumberland and County Durham (DH8 9XX)

Tickets: Free to enter (some ask for a donation to a local cause)

Parking: Free parking at both village car parks (£1 honesty box)

Overview: A real artisan market, stallholders are all individual hand-makers, over 35 stalls in a beautiful village. Events are popular so going early is recommended, as is a visit to the local pub and the White Monk Tearooms. Wheelchair access will be limited in many of the buildings.

Blanchland Artisan Christmas Makers Market | Facebook

Rival Arts – The Christmas Gift & Food Fair @ Hexham 2025

When: Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd November 2025 10am-4pm

Where: Wentworth Leisure Centre, Hexham (NE46 3PD)

Tickets: Free entry

Parking: Ample free parking in Wentworth car park (NCC parking disc required)

Overview: A large and popular Christmas fair, wheelchair accessible, toilets on-site hosting many stallholders showcasing festive food, drinks, gifts and furniture.

The Christmas Gift and Food Fair @ Hexham 2025 – Rival Arts

Little Oaks Nursery Acomb Christmas Shopping Evenings

*Laughing Sisters will be here*

When: Friday 28th November 7-9pm

Where: Little Oaks Nursery, Acomb (NE46 4PL)

Tickets: Free entry

Parking: Free parking through the village (may include a short walk)

Overview: A small but very popular Christmas gift market with handmade crafts, stocking fillers and snacks to support this not-for-profit nursery and keep fees affordable.

Little Oaks Nursery, Acomb | Early Years Learning | Welcome |

Errington Reay Pottery Festive Fair 2025

When: Sunday 30th November 10am-3pm

Where: Errington Reay Pottery, Bardon Mill (NE47 7HU)

Tickets: Free entry

Parking: Free on-street parking through the village (may include a short walk)

Overview: A popular and busy little fair with a great selection of stallholders showcasing hand-made goods. Entertainment in the form of Raku firing demonstrations plus, food stalls are also present and dogs on leads are welcome. The pottery is on a steep bank so may not be the best for those with mobility issues.

Festive Fair | Facebook

Hexham Christmas Market 2025

*Laughing Sisters will be here*

When: Saturday 13th December 2025

Where: Hexham Abbey and grounds, Hexham Marketplace (NE46 3NB)

Tickets: Free entry

Parking: Free parking throughout the town (with a NCC disk)

Overview: A large and busy town festive market, usually very well attended with over 130 makers, producers and sellers featuring food, drinks, crafts, gifts and homewares. The vast majority including inside the Abbey is accessible and toilets are available. Dogs are also welcome. The last event in the calendar, perfect for those last-minute shoppers!

Major events in Hexham - Visit Hexham

What Laughing Sisters will be Bringing

(Sneak Peek + Why You’ll Love these Picks)

1.     ‘Holy Cow I’m Fabulous’ Women’s Socks

One of our newest additions to the LS funny sock collection, they made us howl with laughter so we’re hoping they’ll do the same at the fairs! Plus, our 3 for £18 sock multi-buy deal is available in-person too!

2.    ‘Jingle Ladies’ Christmas Coaster

Colourful, letter-box sized and budget friendly, this little gift combines festive fun and girl-power for the perfect secret Santa gift! Plus, we’ll have our full range of 27 different coasters available for easy browsing that brings the giggles.

3.    ‘Chin Up, Tits Out’ Handmade Soy Scented Candle

Every good shopping stall needs a hook; something that draws peoples’ attention, makes them say HA and point it out to their friends, bringing them in to browse. This bold, funny and empowering candle is the perfect gift to do just that! Plus, we have a new Christmas custom-collab range coming from our friends over at Lolly Rocket Ltd, so keep your eyes peeled for that! (You heard it here first).

4.    ‘Be Inspired - Badass Women’ Illustrated Book, ‘Insults & Comebacks – Lines for All Occasions’ Book and ‘Surviving Motherhood One Drink at a Time’ Book

Books are a hard sell online. At a gift fair people get to flick through them, look at the pictures, laugh at the jokes and see the quality that just doesn’t come across online! At the Living North Spring Fair we had two sisters stop and one spent 20 minutes reading one-liners from the ‘Insults and Comebacks’ book to the other while they were bent-double laughing! (Don’t worry, she bought it in the end). We’re people people! So these types of interactions make our souls happy!

5.    ‘Oops, I’m Drunk’ Oven Mitt and ‘Get the Hell Out’ Dish Towel

Beautiful products, full of sass and fantastic quality; everything you could possibly want from a kitchen gift! The finer details are easily missed online so in-person you get to feel and admire them for the luxury and laughs they bring!

6.    ‘Don’t Stare at My Tits’ Tote Bag

Two words for you: Crowd Pleaser! The sort of thing people point at from across the room and say loudly to their busty friend ‘YOU NEED THAT’! This sassy tote bag brings everything the world needs a bit more of – confidence, usefulness and hilarity!

Fair-Goer Tips (List of Hacks for Local Shoppers)

What to Bring: For the small and more rural fairs please bring cash! Reliable internet signal can still be hard to come by and we all hate standing awkwardly while we pray that the card reader will work this time (we’ve all been there, right?). Also, bring your warm clothes / waterproofs, god forbid the outdoor fair falls on a crappy weather day, the stallholders will be freezing their nipples off, and every sale will make it worth it! So please come prepared so you can still shop comfortably!

Best Times: By all means shop early so that you get the best picks, but often everybody else has also had the urge to ‘beat the rush’ so early can be busy! If you’re not a fan of crowds but still love supporting small, local businesses, why not try to aim for the last two hours of the afternoon? Often the rush has subsided, the stallholders have relaxed and finally have that cup of tea they’ve been longing for since 8am, so it’s a great time to shop if you prefer a calmer vibe.

Food + Stalls – What to Expect: Every fair will have an excellent shopping experience as standard and hot drinks are a bare-minimum! Snacks of some sort will be available, homemade traybakes are a fairly safe bet, no matter the venue! Obviously, some have much bigger offerings. Generally, the smaller the fair, the smaller and more local the business although this isn’t always strictly the case. Have a chat to stallholders and get to know them, often this will be a side business or sometimes even something they do for charity! Sometimes motivated by a change in circumstances (like Laughing Sisters) or a passion for creativity! Whatever the situation that brought them to the fair, it’s a lovely chance for some genuine human interaction that’s vanishing from much of modern life.

Top Tips to Plan your Visit: Wear comfy shoes: Smaller events may be outdoors or on uneven floors, bigger events may be busy so you’re on your feet for a while. Bring a list: Not a list of gift ideas, the whole point of local gift fairs is that you’ll find unique and personal ideas you wouldn’t find anywhere else! But bring a list of people you need to buy for, then you can keep track as you go and look for that absolutely perfect gift that really shows how much you know somebody. Leave enough time: Make the time to chat to stallholders, a gift with a story behind it is a much more powerful thing! Plus, you might want to go back to your favourite stall again and again, rushing takes all the fun out of it!

Best Transport + Parking Tips: If you’re able, just park further away and walk. It’ll make it easier to find a good space, avoid the puddles in makeshift car parks, and it’ll be far quicker and easier to exit when you’re finished. If you have limited mobility or a disabled badge many of the bigger fairs have disabled parking sections, or it can be worth contacting the venue in advance; they may well have a parking pass they can give that allows access to vendor parking or similar closest to the building. Then the obvious ones: always car share with your friends and family if you’re all going or take public transport if it’s readily available!

Are you as Excited as We Are for Autumn Gift Fairs 2025?

Mark your calendar and sign up to our email list to get up-to-date fair announcements and reminders, a chance to buy our gifts first BEFORE they sell out at the fairs. Plus, you get 10% off your first order and FREE delivery when you spend over £30.

Shop our full range of funny gifts here, don’t worry if you’re on a budget, you can always find something to fit their personality perfectly from our Under £10 Range!

Remember to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest for more thoughtful gift ideas and to generally see us make a fool of ourselves for your entertainment!

Lots of love,

Natalie & Steph

The Laughing Sisters 

FAQs

1.  Are these fairs indoors or outdoors? A combination of both! Being autumn and winter local fairs most of them are indoors but the Hexham, Morpeth and Alnwick Christmas Markets for example will have stalls outside so wrap up warm!

2.  Will there be parking / accessible facilities? For the fairs detailed in the list above we have tried to include accessibility information to the best of our knowledge. All venues have parking, some easier than others so car-sharing is always recommended!

3.  Can I buy tickets in advance or on the door? The ticketed events listed above all offer ticket pre-sales, and as they are popular, this is recommended but tickets are also available on the door. However, many of the fairs are free entry!

4.   Do all fairs include food / coffee / toilets? All fairs will have drinks and snacks available to purchase. Some on the simpler end, some have a massive variety available! All fairs have toilets either in the venue itself or public toilets within the town or village but the number and distance to them varies by venue. We’ve also included links to all the events above so you can contact them directly for more information if needed.