12th and 13th December 2009

Experience the sights, sounds and smells of a town and castle preparing for Christmas. Listen to seasonal period music and laugh at the hilarious frolics of the Jester, while you browse the medieval market within the castle walls. Stalls selling tasty food, replica medieval goods and traditional crafts will delight the family while medieval acts keep everyone entertained.

Christmas fun and activities will fill the town centre where food lovers can savour the farmers market and continental market. Street entertainers, music, Santa’s grotto, cookery demonstrations, children’s workshops and funfair rides provide a mixture of entertainment for the young and old. And if that’s not enough why not take part in the Christmas treasure hunt around the town centre!

The Caerphilly Medieval Market has a variety of festive entertainment with many of the activities being free of charge. Standard admission charges apply on entrance to the castle, one of the Great Medieval castles of Western Europe, although much of the entertainment around the town is free. There is also a selection of shops to browse in around the town centre.

Town Centre

Saturday 9:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday 10:00am - 4:00pm

Most of the events and activities in the town centre are FREE.

Twyn Community Centre

Farmers Market
The monthly farmers market joins forces with the Medieval Market to bring high quality food and craft products. Regular producers from the monthly market will display their delightful produce for visitors to try and buy.

For a list of producers who attend the regular markets please visit www.caerphillyfarmersmarket.co.uk or contact Mike Pett on 01656 658963.

Children’s Workshops
Upstairs in the Community Centre enthusiastic children’s craft makers will be here all weekend to make free Christmas and medieval crafts. Jester hats, masks, colouring, card making - glitter, glue and cutting out! Children love to make these Christmas crafts and adults are free to have a go too!!

St John’s Station
St John’s will be located in the upstairs room to the right of the centre for any first aid treatment along with the opportunity to chat about what St John’s do for the local community and get some first aid advice. Why not have a go at the resuscitation dummy.

Twyn Car Park

Continental Market
Is there a better way for people to discover Europe and enjoy its diversity than through the variety of its products, traditional cooking, music and costumes? This high quality continental market will be displaying over 20 stalls at the market offering wine, saucisson, cheeses , pashmina , Brittany biscuits, confectionery, dried fruits, olives, crêpes, paella, cashmere, wooden articles, wooden roses, German sausage and bakery products.

www.pborganisation.com

Funfair Rides
Small children’s funfair rides offer thrills for the young.

Entertainment Arena
A variety of performers will display their talents offering fun for all the family. From fire to festive frolics there will be something for all ages.

Saturday 10:30am - 4:00pm
Sunday 11:30am - 3:30pm

Peet
Peterkin is a madcap fool, in the truest sense of the words, whether toppling precariously on stilts, fire eating or balancing upside down on anyone he can trick into lying on the floor, his outdoor show involving acrobatics, comedy, fire and stilts is a half an hour of serious silliness.

Jack
is a high energy Jester and his show includes plenty of silly jokes, impressions, some amazing juggling and medieval madness - don't miss it as Jack's shows are lot's of fun.

In House Entertainment - www.inhouseents.co.uk
Streetentertainers - www.streetentertainers.co.uk

Town Centre

Walkabout Entertainment
Medieval musicians and jesters will be wandering around the event site and town centre offering fascinating entertainment for all the family.

Saturday 10:00am - 4:30pm
Sunday 11:00am - 3:30pm

In House Entertainment - www.inhouseents.co.uk

Medieval Treasure Hunt
A fun family medieval treasure hunt will keep the children entertained as they search shops and stalls for those clues! A selection of shops in the town will be displaying vital clues to carry out the Christmas themed treasure hunt. Three lucky winners will be drawn following the event winning WH Smith vouchers to purchase that extra special Christmas treat. The treasure hunt will start and finish at the visitCaerphilly Centre

visitCaerphilly Centre and Exhibition Room

The visitCaerphilly Centre will be open as usual offering welsh gifts for visitors to buy.

Santa’s Grotto
Visit Father Christmas in his grotto and receive a special gift and photograph.
Admission Charge £5.00.

Cookery Demonstration Programme
A cookery demonstration programme will be taking place below the visitCaerphilly Centre Gift Shop, with medieval recipes being conjured up and an opportunity for visitors to ask top chefs about their culinary skills. This year there will be a special appearance from Welsh television’s top chef Angela Gray. Angela is a well-known local chef and runs a cookery school in Cardiff and tours the world giving cooking demonstrations. Angela will be coordinating the demonstrations for the event.

Saturday

• 10.30am Hearts and ribbons
  Hands on for children to decorate baked heart shape cookies to hang on the Christmas tree with festive ribbon
• 12.00pm Festive Medieval kitchen
  BBC Presenter Angela Gray cooks delicious treats including Ballotine of duck stuffed with forcemeat, spices and pomegranate, followed by layered apple and pear tart with marzipan and mead.
• 1.30pm Boxing Day Made Easy
  pot roast Welsh beef with red wine, chestnuts and bay, Mulled wine, sweet chestnut pudding.
• 3.00pm Citrus, Cloves and Bows
  a hands on workshop for children making clove studded citrus fruits, decorated with bows and jewels.
• 4.00pm Sugar and Spice
  mulled fruits with vanilla and cinnamon, little nut and spice biscuits, 12 th Night Tart.

Sunday

• 10.30am Hearts and ribbons
  Hands on for children to decorate baked heart shape cookies to hang on the Christmas tree with festive ribbon.
• 12.00pm Festive Medieval kitchen
  BBC Presenter Angela Gray cooks delicious treats including Ballotine of duck stuffed with forcemeat, spices and pomegranate, followed by layered apple and pear tart with marzipan and mead.
• 1.00pm Boxing Day Made Easy
  Pot roast Welsh beef with red wine, chestnuts and bay, Mulled wine, sweet chestnut pudding.
• 2.00pm Citrus, Cloves and Bows
  A hands on workshop for children making clove studded citrus fruits, decorated with bows and jewels.
• 3.00pm Sugar and Spice
  Mulled fruits with vanilla and cinnamon, little nut and spice biscuits, 12 th Night Tart.

Cenotaph - Lower Twyn Square by visitCaerphilly Centre

Streetbockers - 10:00am to 4:00pm Saturday
Streetbockers - 11:00am to 3:00pm Sunday

Castle Court Bandstand

Bedwas Trethomas and Machen Brass Band will be performing in the bandstand between 11:30am and 1:30pm on both Saturday and Sunday. The BTM Band is one of the most successful brass bands in the country, and currently ranked 16th in the world. It is based in Bedwas and regularly competes at the highest level, this year having qualified for the “British Open” at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall as well as the National Brass Band Championships at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Contact the band via its website on www.btmband.co.uk or Carolyn Jones - Band Secretary on (029) 2088 9948.

Castle court shopping centre will be open for trading as usual.

Caerphilly Castle

Caerphilly Castle, Caerphilly, CF83 1JD
www.cadw.wales.gov.uk

Saturday 9:30am - 5:00pm
Sunday 11:00am - 4:00pm

Adults: £3.70
Concession: £3.30
Family: £10.70
Heritage in Wales members: free

A small additional charge will apply for activities such as coin striking and pottery making.

Activities and Events

The Singing Plague Victims
The Bruegelesque Singing Plague Victims perform music and song.

Harlech Medieval Society
Archery demonstrations, fight the knight, children’s games and battle tournament.

Perrotts Puppet Players
A medieval puppet show, for children of all ages.

Sir Andrew’s Sword School
Cadw's own knight will teach foam sword fighting skills to young knights and ladies.

Father Christmas
Visit him in his traditional grotto and tell him your Christmas wishes.

Medieval Barber Surgeon
Consult Obadiah Carver, The Medieval Barber Surgeon for a Christmas cure.

Medieval Living History Displays
Jane Stewart Archaeological finds and a sand tray to delve into and find your own artefacts.
Talks on medieval life with displays such as medieval cooking, herb law and spinning.

Pottery Making
Make your own plate to take home and paint. (small fee will apply)

Coin Striking
Strike and take home your own medieval coin. (small fee will apply)

Food and Craft Stalls
Food and crafts from medieval to traditional will be displayed for visitors to indulge in.

• Yeo Crafts - cards, scarves purses
• Popty Cara - Spirits and homemade cakes
• Frantastic Crepes - crepes, pancakes
• Martin's Jerked Meats - beef jerky, vegie crisps
• Wernddu Vinyard and Winery - wines, ciders, perry
• Simply Christmas - christmas gifts
• Med Foods Ltd - olives, nuts, turkish delight
• Novelty Clocks - clocks, mirrors, jigsaws
• Popeth Pert - Jewellry, gifts
• County Creations - Resin flowers, cards, holly
• Bejewelled - Jewellery, crystals, pearls
• Curtis Woodcraft - Lovespoons
• Crimson Moon - Mulled Wine, meads
• Cove - Hand Crafted Jewellry
• Bernie The Bolt
• Pig in a bun - Hog Roast
• Local Cheeses - tradional cheese
• Ralph's Cider - Traditional Cider and cider brandy
• Nalan Collection - Organic cottons
• Tin Cups
• Motark Liquers - liquers and whiskey
• Pemberton Chocs - Chocolate
• Period Arms
• My Special Place - Country Shaker style gifts
• Snowdonia Cheese Co - Cheese
• Hall of Names - coats of arms name histories etc.

Christmas Shopping

Caerphilly Castle
The Castle boasts a well-stocked gift shop offering hundreds of Christmas gift ideas.

Visit Caerphilly Gift Shop
The brand new gift shop will be host to welsh crafts and special gifts for those last minute Christmas treats.

Town Centre
The town centre will be open as usual with the traders in many shops being dressed in medieval costume. There are a variety of shops in Caerphilly town centre for visitors to browse in, along with some high quality cafes and public houses for visitors to have a bite to eat or a relaxing drink whilst enjoying their day out.

Castle Court Shopping Centre
Shops open for trading as usual www.castlecourtshopping.co.uk

Visitor Information

Parking

The Twyn car park is closed for the event.

A park and ride will operate from St Illan School, Pontygwindy Road. Follow the temporary signs from the A470, A469 and A468. The park and ride will not be operating between 12:00pm and 12:30pm.

Town centre parking is available at Crescent Road car park and Caerphilly Railway Station Park and Ride.

Coach parking

The town's main coach park is located off Crescent Road, 5 minute walk from the site of The Medieval Christmas Fayre. Alternatively the park and ride facility can be used.

Coach booking form 2009 (pdf 144k)

Toilets

Toilets are available at the castle, below the tourist information centre in the town centre and at the twyn community centre.

Disabled access

Access to the site is good with most of the events taking place on hard standing surfaces. There may be some elements of the activities within the castle grounds on grassed surfaces.

The park and ride bus is equipped with low floor access.

Public Transport

Please visit the Traveline website for a comprehensive journey planner offering all possible bus, coach and rail options to Caerphilly Town.

Map

Caerphilly's Medieval Christmas Fayre map and site layout (pdf 153k).

Directions

By Road - please refer to the map, select the marker, choose 'Get Directions: To here' and enter your starting location.

View Larger Map

Trade Space

For an application form to trade at the event please contact the events office on (01443) 864339.

Sponsorship and Funding

Last year's event was funded by Caerphilly County Borough Council and CADW with support from Caerphilly Town Council, Capital Regional Tourism and the Welsh Assembly Government.

Sponsorship was provided by The College Ystrad Mynach, Bryn Meadows Golf, Hotel and Spa and Rockfield Safey Limited.

The event is jointly organised by Caerphilly County Borough Council and CADW.
Sponsorship packages are available for this event. Please contact the event team on (01443) 864339 for more information.

Future Dates

11th and 12th December 2010
10th and 11th December 2011