Children join mum as Made by Mummy Markets craft fair returns to Northallerton

The President of Romanby Women’s Institute, close to Northallerton, hoped to sell handmade embroidery homeware products at craft fairs in the region but says she found the majority were hard for her to access whilst balancing the demands of motherhood - and even more so when her second child came along two years later.

“I had stopped working to have my first child and I thought I’d try to make a bit of extra money by making things and selling them at craft fairs,” Samantha says.

“As a mother of young children with a passion for art and craft I was struck by how hard it is for new and established makers to sell their goods while juggling parenthood. High pitch fees, long opening times, and low footfalls at craft fairs seemed to make it impossible to make a profit.”

Encouraged by her husband, Samantha began to explore launching a fair of her own and in 2017 she started Made By Mummy Markets in Northallerton.

“Our events run from 1pm until 4pm and that means you can get 300 people in three hours rather than six hours or so,” she says. “It means for parents there selling, they aren’t missing breakfast, they can give their kids sandwiches for lunch, get to us to set up and sell and still be home in time for tea.”

As was the case for many small businesses, the pandemic paused in-person trading, bringing the twice-yearly Made by Mummy Markets fair to a halt. It is now returning this Sunday, bringing brings more than 20 small businesses to the market town. It features makers and crafts people from across the North of England, selling everything from jewellery to biscuits, candles and fine art.

“We’ve had a break for two years, so it’s really exciting to be back in action now,” Samantha says. “It feels like a long time coming to be back in a room with all of these wonderfully creative people, showcasing their incredible makes.”

Samantha has been interested in arts and crafts since school, though her degree was in archaeology and she worked for ten years in museums.

She says she curates each event “like a museum exhibition”, selecting a range of crafts and styles - and this time, her two children are on board too.

Train fan Thomas, aged eight, has made up kits for making junk-model trains out of ‘rubbish’ and has filmed a tutorial video to help those who want to follow in his footsteps. Daughter Emily, aged six, meanwhile, has written and illustrated a storybook.

“I work at home and have done since before the pandemic and my children have become very entrepreneurial,” Samantha says. “They have spent the past few weeks making things to sell at the market. So some of their friends are due to be coming along to do some shopping,” she laughs.

“It makes me think that all those times I’ve been on the phone and I thought they were just playing merrily in the background or watching telly, they were actually taking it all in and figuring things out.”

Despite her initial plans, Samantha has still yet to sell at the fair herself. “My intention always was that I’d create a marketplace where I could sell things that I’d made, because I wasn’t happy with what was out there,” she explains.

“But now I spend so much time on the admin side and using my marketing and organising skills, I do make things but nothing I’d deem good enough to sell - just yet.”

The latest Made by Mummy Markets Fair takes place from 1pm until 4pm on March 13, in the Yorkshire Suite of The Golden Lion Hotel on Northallerton high street.

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