Announcing our next event...

Secret Vintage comes to Oundle, Northamptonshire!

SATURDAY 6TH DECEMBER: Tap & Kitchen

The Secret Vintage Fair (Cambridgeshire) Team have only just recovered from the success of their last event in Stamford at the end of September, but they are certainly not resting on their festive laurels, they are already creating their next Christmas vintage event in the area on 6th December.

And this time, they are calling it the not-so-secret vintage fair as they have already unveiled the location- as they are teaming up to work in Partnership with brand new restaurant and bar The Tap & Kitchen, in Oundle. 

FIRST EVER EVENT IN OUNDLE:

The Secret Vintage Fair is coming to The Tap & Kitchen in Oundle, a brand new restaurant next to the Nene Valley Brewary, which has literally just opened, today on Monday 24th November. It’s also taking place on the same day as the Christmas Market in Oundle so it’s set to be an extremely busy day! Sign up to the Facebook event here.

Lucy says “We’re so excited to be teaming up with the Tap & Kitchen, it’s going to be a fantastic collaboration between this exciting new restaurant, part of the Nene Valley Brewary, and us. We are also fortunate this time around to be sponsored by Tilly’s Vintage Garden Party Hire who are supplying the marquees for the event alongside a host of traditional garden games”

The event on 6th December will be in support of the East Anglia’sChildren’s Hospices (EACH), with a portion of the door proceeds, and 100% of the charity raffle and other prize draw proceeds to EACH.

As is their trademark style, there will be vintage music, alongside a whole host of fabulous vintage and handmade traders, and vintage garden games, and the Tap & Kitchen will be serving delicious food and drink all day, from their extensive menu, which includes, breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner too. 

Birds of prey from local centre Hill Farm Bird of Pray & Wildlife Rescue will also be on hand at the entrance of the event, as owner Simon is keen to help collect donations for charity EACH.

Lucy said “We wanted to support EACH as they are such an important regional charity who do truly amazing work of an incredibly delicate nature. EACH care for babies and young people up to the age of 18, supporting families, children and young people living with life-threatening conditions across Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk from diagnosis to end of life and throughout bereavement. They do this through a range of services delivered where the family wish – in their own home, at hospital, in the community or at one of their three hospices in Milton, Ipswich and Quidenham. We are so thrilled to be supporting them, and you can help by donating to the birds of prey, or entering our charity raffle, plus enter our “Guess the name of the vintage dolly” contest to win £50 cash on the day, and £50 goes straight to the charity

Charlie from the SVF team says “We always make sure we create the right atmosphere at our events, and we only choose the finest vintage purveyors to trade with us, so as a customer you can be sure of finding only quality vintage, pre-loved, handmade and up-cycled goods at our fairs- but you also get to enjoy a wealth of nostalgic atmosphere too!”

Lucy says, “The best way to stay informed is to sign up to our mailing list, via our website to be the first to find out any news and information on our future fairs and secret locations! They won’t all be No-so-secret events! We look forward to seeing you in Oundle on the 6th December!” 

Entrance to the event is £2, free for accompanied under 15s.

Traders applications are now closed but those interested in having a future stall at the event should contact Lucy on stallholders@secretvintagefair.com with CAMBRIDGESHIRE in the subject line or apply via the link on our facebook page.

Summer Teaser: Colchester

With only 4 days to go till our first fair of this year, we thought we would treat you to a little tease of the day's plans for our next fair at…St Helena School, Colchester.

Tom "Swing Gypsy" Bond

Mr Swing Gypsy aka the lovely Tom Bond will be delighting us all with his musical prowess throughout the day, showing off his self-taught DJ skills playing some of the finest electronic swing, jazz, blues, gypsy and Balkan music he can muster. Find him on the main stage all through the day.

Hannah Iris

And then we'll be soothing you with dulcet tones of the fabulous Hannah Iris. She specialises in 1940's music, including all the classics and looks just the part. She has 2 sets on the day, look out for the times as you walk in.

More Music and Fun

All of the corridors of the fabulous St Helena are going to be filled with music as we have a brilliant selection of buskers serenading you as you walk your way around. Plus this August see the return of the fashion show and we couldn't be more excited. Expect to see delights from the likes of Best Day's Vintage, Kitty's Cottage, Mary Lou and more, each with their own theme, modelled by a beautiful array of lovely people and the best part? You can buy the items afterwards as they will all be for sale on the day. 

Tea Rooms

We don't just like to keep your shopping arms happy at the Secret Vintage Fair, we also have your tummy's in mind with our delightful pop up vintage tea room from our scrumptious local, Ruby's. They will be serving up a delicious selection of cakes and sandwiches, all washed down with a vast selection of tea in their beautiful vintage tea sets.

Workshops

Another thing which is back after its hiatus is our workshops being run by Cherry on Top Millenary, who is running fascinator workshops and Cakey Girls, who are showing you all the favourite vintage hairs styles. Both of these can be booked through our Facebook page.

The Main Event

Now it's time to hear about the main event, our fabulous vintage traders. We have over 50 bringing the best, vintage and retro pieces they can find from their stores. Think vintage items that you've been dreaming to buy, reproduction dresses that will fit you like a glove, cute homewares that will brighten up your rooms and so much more. Don't forget the first 25 people in our entry queue receive highly sort after, exclusive goody bags full of unique gifts from our traders and select businesses.

Doing our bit

As always we are supporting a local charity, Colchester Mind., the leading mental health voluntary organisation for Colchester who has been helping to improve the lives of people throughout North Essex since 1985. Not only will a percentage of the entrance fee go to the charity, all of the raffle and other delightful donations all through the day.  

As always we like to give you more, so our infamous raffle is back with its usual array of spectacular prizes which include afternoon tea at Jaqueline's Tea Room, family photography gift experience worth £16, custom made felted mounted deer head and more. Tickets can only be bought on the day for the price of 50p a ticket, all of which goes to our chosen charity, Colchester Mind

Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday for the return of the best vintage fair in town!

Secret Vintage Fair is Back in Town!

Colchester has been missing the unique style of The Secret Vintage Fair while we went on a secret vintage hiatus for a few months (see what we did there!) hatching plans for the future! But we are announcing our dates for the coming year now- kicking off on with our first full event in Colchester Saturday 23^rd August as well as exciting news about our expansion.

EXPANDING

The founder of The Secret Vintage Fair, Lucy, has relocated to Cambridgeshire and will be launching The Secret Vintage Fair in Cambridgeshire/Lincolnshire/Northamptonshire this year, while Janine, is focusing on events in Essex & Suffolk. And we are thrilled to welcome on to the team Hatty in Essex and Charlie in Cambridgeshire, both of whom will be supporting the newly expanding fairs. 

Hatty says “I’m really looking forward to getting involved with the Secret Vintage Fair, I've had a stall at nearly every one of their fairs and love how they run things, so it’s exciting to be involved with the secret”. Hatty runs the successful local vintage business “What’s Your Tale Nightingale?” and actively supports Colchester's indie businesses. Charlie has a huge passion for vintage homewares and a love of a nostalgic/vintage lifestyle and interiors, as she’s finished renovating her period home, and is looking forward to working with Lucy on their second territory, Cambridgeshire, with plans to also expand into Northamptonshire, and Lincolnshire too. She says: "I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to expand on my passion for all things vintage and can’t to wait to have a hand in helping these lovely ladies with the amazing Secret Vintage fair!"

BACK IN TOWN

The Secret Vintage Fair is returning to Colchester on Saturday 23^rd August to a central Colchester venue which we have not visited before! As always we promise it will be BIG, have full entertainment schedule, activities & workshops.  As always the event location is kept strictly under wraps, until a week before the event, being released first to those on the Secret Vintage mailing list and our social media followers... so make sure your first to be in on the secret and follow both our main Secret Vintage Fair page as well as our NEW Essex& Suffolk page for all the latest news (Cambridgeshire/Lincolnshire pages and events coming very soon!).  As always the event will be supporting a charity with a proportion of the door fee, a charity raffle and other activities. We will be announcing the charity soon.

Entrance to the event is £3 free for accompanied under 16s. Traders applications are open, those interested in having a stall at the event should contact hatty@secretvintagefair.com

POPPING UP

On top of that The Secret Vintage Fair are popping up at 2 events before we do our next fair. You can find us at The Great South Feastival on 26 & 27^th July at Thorpe Le Soken, and at Folk East on 15, 16 & 17^th August.  We were thrilled to be asked by both festivals to join them and we will be launcghing a competition on behalf of both events soon.