Childwickbury Arts Fair

Childwickbury Arts Fair, which took place this weekend and offered those interested in art - and particularly families -  an interesting and different sort of day out.

The annual event is held in the beautiful grounds of the Childwickbury Estate, home to distinguished film maker Stanley Kubrick until his death in 1999 and still owned by his family. Christiane Kubrick, Stanley's widow, an accomplished artist who runs painting courses at the Estate several times a year, could be seen painting and enjoying meeting with visitors on Sunday.

We were a bit worried that the fair would be for people more serious about art than we are - other than a hand drawn picture of our family, created by our daughter when she was about 3 1/2, which hangs over our fireplace, we don't have any original artworks. But our worries instantly melted away when, a few minutes after arriving at the Fair, we got our daughter involved in an art class where the live model was a hilarious actor dressed as Spider Man. 

That set the tone for the day well - we kept coming across the unexpected, and found ourselves enjoying a range of activities we'd not even thought of from drawing to making arrangements with sticks, pine cones and moss. There was also face painting, neckless making, green wood workshops, juggling, and even a cookery class.

There were a number of food concessions and a bar serving Pimms and cold beer. Local bands provided entertainment throughout the day.

We go to all sorts of local events, fairs, and festivals but this one really stood out as being entertaining, interesting, full of the unexpected, and very welcoming. It was almost like the Kubrick's through a party for all their artist friends and invited us St. Albans people to come along too. We'd definitely attend in future years.