Linslade Canal Festival – it’s the second time that we have attended this festival and thoroughly enjoyed a day out with family and friends. It was a perfect day in terms of the weather. I couldn’t have asked for more, especially when you have cajoled friends to be part of an affair that you could cherish. I thought of writing something about this event, so eagerly started penning down in the evening whilst my memories are still afresh. This event boasts of rural craft demonstrations, colourful narrow boats, numerous handy craft stalls, fusion food stalls, live entertainment, children’s rides and various other shows.
This event is organised by our local Leighton-Linslade Town Council every year in Summer at a waterside park near to where we live. This park is situated adjacent to the Grand Union Canal, where we sometimes enjoy a picnic by the lakeside and watch the colourful narrow boats pass by in the Canal.
Like last year, the main event area consisted of crafty stalls accompanied by a live entertainment stage, food stall vendors, various children’s rides and games and a vintage tractor display. As we entered the main area, we could hear the lively Country Music that makes you feel entertained. There is always something about Country Music. I don’t know much about Country Music yet it makes me want to listen to it, perhaps it’s the atmosphere around the event that makes you glued into it.
In the Craft stalls section, you can browse through a selection of items like artificial jewellery, gifts, items for garden, canal art paintings, glass art works, crystals, handmade cards etc., We were merely a window shopper and didn’t buy anything considerable except some items for kids like inflatable toys and bubble blowing dinosaur gun, all sold at the magnificent array of stalls.
There is also an area where rural crafts are being demonstrated. The idea of this is to keep the traditional skills alive and also to pass the knowledge to the other enthusiasts who are keen on learning these skills. We got a visual insight of skillful craftsman making walking sticks and baskets with wood. Additionally, they are also carving the wood for decorative items. There are some stalls making wooden chairs as well.
The attractions area offered traditional children’s rides where kids were waiting to take their turn to enjoy the rides. There were also are some charity stalls and a number of local organisation stalls to providing information about their roles within the community.
As we walked towards the canal, there was a blanket of bustling people surrounding us walking their way through the boats buying lot of things along the way in countless stalls. There were a range of vendors offering a wide range of foods. On site, we saw food stalls from the Caribbean, Thai, and Indian. There are also a lot of cafés offering traditional English Tea, Coffee, Ice Creams, Slush and Cold drinks. Along with your hot drinks, you can enjoy a plentiful variety of savouries like cakes, cupcakes and biscuits.
To our surprise, there was a giant walkabout heron accompanied by ornithologist. Kids were running over to heron to stroke it even though it wasn’t real. The younger kids have something to enjoy as well, as there was a story teller to entertain them in the woods. There were two cute Llamas, called Hugo and Warrior, who were busy eating the hay and not paying any attention whatsoever to the visitors.
My son, after seeing a display of a machine simulating the experience of Canoeing, gained a lot of interest in it. The local Canoeing club kindly offered him and his brother a practice session. He is now thinking of taking a two-day summer camp that offers him basic skills needed to row a Canoe. Good luck, my son!
We finally arrived at the side walk of the Canal where a lot of moored narrow boats were on display, some selling handy crafts, others cold and hot beverages. We also came across a narrow boat ‘Dreckly’ offering a therapy session. We saw people sitting in the ‘Norfolk Belle’ knitting away with their crafts. What a wonderful way to keep themselves occupied while soaking up in the sun. Some decorated their narrow boats like ‘The Glass Barage’ with plants and other accessories. There was one interesting narrow boat that we couldn’t resist stopping by was, ‘Joanna’, a boat featuring Spanish produce like Olive Oils, Olives, and other Condiments. This one also offers Barista coffee and cold drinks. The last but not the least, was the ‘Cheese Boat’, which lured a variety of cheeses & chutney.
Now that the event is done and dusted for this year, the memories will last with us until the next year where we get to see a different set of narrow boats, private boats, working boats and the boats where people make their living – living boats!