BUY LOCAL, TRADE LOCAL AND SUPPORT LOCAL.

When you are working from home, it can at times be quite isolating, your choice to work from home can be based on many things, but I think the most common one is working at home Mums (WAHM's) who are juggling family life, children, a home and a hobby or business. There is many a successful business that has been built on a kitchen table - I mean Cath Kidston started her empire by up-cycling furniture and selling at markets.

Well my business did start on the dining room table, then transpired onto being a market trader at Bedford Market which I loved!  I can;t say I was a huge fan of assembling frozen market bars on cold snowy mornings but all in all I had a great experience. I loved the people, my fellow market traders and of course had lots of banter with our Market Managers who new everything you would ever need to know!

So you can sell on Facebook, sell on the wonderful world of WWW. and of course sell to friends and family.  So what else?  Well in our double dip recession, we have never been more aware of up cycling, re-cycling and buying local.  I think two years ago, most of us would spend a tenner and not give it a second thought, now, we want to know exactly what we are getting for that £10.  Perhaps we would jump in the car at Bank Holidays and travel far away, but now the cost of fuel makes this a real luxury for most of us.

In Bedford, we are very lucky to have on our doorstep a thriving list of markets, Bedford is known as 'A Town of Markets' and we have markets for all occasions, gourmet markets for our foodies, the Charter market for fresh fruit and Veg  a handmade market to showcase our local artisans and all those other 'bargains' you find on a market.

We are also lucky enough to have a band of strong business people that shout loud and proud about all Bedford has to offer, our local publication The Clanger   which is an ideal showcase for exactly what is happening in our wonderful town.  We have the little gems of independent traders who are in and around Castle Road, known as The Castle Quarter.

So how else do you get out there and showcase your products, well you get to know who is arranging good quality events around you.  In Bedford we are lucky and we celebrate everything good about our town and showcase some amazing talent!

So for those in Bedford, if you are ready to take the plunge, or just need that helping hand and don;t want to spend out a huge amount but are ready to showcase what you can make and create here are two events that are definitely worth taking part in or coming to see! Oh and to exhibit at these as a stallholder will cost you that all important Tenner!  So go on take a deep breath and show Bedford exactly what you can do!

Monday 7th May Castle Quarter Festival 

Please visit the website or email castlequarter@yahoo.co.uk if you are interested in having a stall or getting involved.

Sunday 13th May - A NEW Indoor Local Farmers/Producers/Craft Market

Please email @castlequarter@yahoo.co.uk if you are interested in having a stall or getting involved.

Of course we want both of these events to be a huge success so go, BUY LOCAL, TRADE LOCAL AND SUPPORT LOCAL.

We will all give you a warm welcome and hope that everyone has a great family day out!