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Margot Hartley Jewellery

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

I have been exhibiting with ICHF at Stonor for about 7 years, and this was my worst year re sales. Yes the loos are too far away for marquee ABCD and it takes at least 10 minutes, which is valuable selling time, and one needs another person to be on the stand. So perhaps the organisation could either site more loos nearer the marquees or have a stall holder Loo behind the marquee or utilise the many employees to come and man the stands of those people that exhibit alone, as the stewards do at the Newbury Show craft marquee. Also, as I am another jeweller who has been making and selling jewellery for 31 years, the amount of jewellery available is too much, I overheard more than one customer say there are too many jewellery stands.

Yes, all the jewellers are different from one another and yes, we do need venues to sell our work, but when there are approximately 7 jewellers to each marquee there has to be an affluent footfall to accommodate the ever increasing industry.

Why was the name changed for the event? Handmade is spurious; as in effect everything we buy has some element of a made by hand component. If the event is flagging Handmade then do the research and make sure that all products on sale are without a shadow of a doubt handmade, good luck on that front!!

The event is sited in beautiful surroundings, and the atmosphere is charming, but there are unnecessary attractions that beg the question as to why? do we need to witness dog racing?? I would prefer to hear chain saws massacring stumps of wood into works of Art than this dog race country fair scenario. It was an unworthy spectacle and far too noisy to hear what customers were saying.

So my suggestions are: loos near by, reduce the number of marquees, therefore increase authentic Handmade exhibits and less jewellery! and no inane attractions, and keep the stall fees affordable.
4 years ago
Swiss Kiss

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

This was my first experience of a Handmade show and I really enjoyed it. The toe tapping music set just the right tone, and I quite liked all the attractions. You have to try to cater for all.

Customers were lovely, and my sales were very good on the first two days, perfectly acceptable on the Sunday, and then slow on the Monday. But it was extremely hot by then, and people would rather sit in the sun enjoying a Pimms. And I can’t say I blame them!
Overall a great event, and I will be returning.
4 years ago
Paul Clarke

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

This is the 5th year we have exhibited at this show and it is alway a good one which is why we travel a considerable distance from where we live. Customers friendly and polite, delightful location, it was good to have WI-FI this year which enabled me to take card payments electronically. ICHF staff very helpful. The one complaint I have was the toilets being sited a 10 minute round trip away – I was in marquee ‘A’ – so had to ask one of my fellow stall holders to keep an eye out while I dashed to the loo.
4 years ago
Paula Robinson

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

Very well organised event. Beautiful grounds, there were just so many other events on at the same time (Aug 25-28)we were lucky to get the footfall that we did.
3 years ago
Angela

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

Really well organised event and friendly staff. A beautiful location with a regular turnout of people shopping.

Not sure that everything is handmade .
3 years ago
sandra hardy

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

Well organised event in a beautiful location, with many attractions for the public as well as the craft exhibitors. I would however like to say that from Marquee A the loos were too far especially if you were on your own on the stand. Also the posters and banners were printed in colours that were too pale to be seen.

Not sure why the event was called Handmade when everything clearly wasn’t. This isn’t a problem when the event has the appropriate name.
3 years ago
Hugh Higginson

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

Comment below says it all, cant really add to it.
It was my first visit and i will go next year
3 years ago
charlotties creations

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

We exhibited again for the second year this year and stonor has to be one of my favourite shows ! I agree with the comments below that the toilets are a bit far away. Everyone is always really welcoming and all the customers are really lovely too. I seen loads of banners, posters and signs all around the area which I thought was fantastic. I also agree that not everything is not handmade and this is a real shame as handmade items are what make the show unique. overall fantastic show and the weather was fantastic this year and we will certainly be there again next year 🙂
3 years ago
Andrew

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

This was the first time I’ve been to Stonor. I enjoyed it and had a good response (I sell garden sculpture and do about 15 shows a year). There was a good atmosphere, the weather (sunny x 4 days was a bonus). There seemed to be a good mix of visitors and a decent number. It’s a lovely location. I was grateful for the free Wifi as there was virtually no mobile signal.

I have heard both visitors and exhibitors mention that the felt there were too many jewellers. And some also commented that some of the stuff was not quite as handmade as they felt appropriate.
I will probably go again next year
3 years ago
Anon

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

Stonor Park is a beautiful setting for the ICHF shows (can’t name them as they change their show names every few years!). Having exhibited with them for a number of years they seem well organised, friendly, eager to help etc etc, but buyer beware, once you’ve parted with your cash you can do one! Managers on site do very little to help, the events are VERY overpriced for what they are and don’t be fooled into the Country Homes & Interiors area, it’s just another guise to get even more money out of you. Leave these guys alone.
3 years ago
Anonymous

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

Well organised event , lovely location and lots of visitors … Shame that there was serious issues with the WiFi over the whole weekend, with no doubt contributed to loss if sales. I will still do this event again but next time I would be more prepared for no card payments!
2 years ago
Sussex Willow Baskets

This is the first time that I have demonstrated the art of basket making at Stonor with ichf. I have been a professional basket maker for 33 years and have been attending shows for around 23 years.
I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this show. The organisers and staff where extremely friendly and most helpful.
It was a great show full of unusual hand made quality products produced by their sellers, which are not available in the high street.
Louds of fantastic traditional rural crafts were being demonstrated. Such as Glass blowing, trug making, hurdle & broom makers, basket makers, pottery and paper making to name a few.
I would most heartily recommend a visit to this show at Stonor. I will most definitely be wanting to exhibit again here next year with ichf.
The wi-fi was playing up a little for taking payments. So the organizers pre-arranged for the public to be able to have access to withdrawing cash at the front entrance of the show.
People seem to complain about the toilets being far away on some other reviews. Yes they are up one end of the show, but I never found this to be a problem at all myself. They were very clean and large toilet trailers. Not tiny, dirty, hot & smelly port aloo cubicals.
I found that there where plenty and I never had to queue.

Well done to everyone keep up the great work you are doing.
2 years ago
Angel

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

I have been doing this show for donkeys’ years. At first it was an event that had a waiting list – it took me 8 years to get in in during the late 80’s to mid-90’s. By around 2005 it has stagnated and has been going downhill since then. Prices for the stall have risen dramatically and takings have been slowly going down. When I first started doing the show I could guarantee £1200 + per day – a lot of profit! This year I needed to take £1400, including travel and the cost of the raw materials, just to break even and ended up with just £170 profit overall. Two weeks later I did the Living Heritage show at Sandringham instead of the other Autumn ICHF open air show at Penshurst – which was always roughly the same as Stonor – and although I took far less, I ended up with over £100 more profit than at Stonor! The costs for living Heritage are 1/3 the cost of Pensurst so I “gave away” far less stock to make the profit!
Although they still have marquees A to H, marquees E & F have now disappeared. The show is getting smaller, the fees are much bigger, and the takings are less than 50% of what I was getting over ten years ago.
I appreciate that this has been a hard year and most fairs are down on last year, but Stonor was just stupid – I was over £800 down on last year. When you have to take so much money just to beak even it makes you wonder if it is worth doing at all and I am looking round at what else is on next year before I make any commitment.
Call them a couple of weeks before the show and you should get a much better price!!!
2 years ago

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