Festival of Thrift - An Award Winning Family Festival in September

The 'Festival of Thrift' returns to Lingfield Point in Darlington this month on 26th & 27th September (10am-5pm). The school holidays have left my bank balance in the red so I am pleased to learn that this is a free day out that is something a little bit different and fun for the whole family.

The festival aims to show you how to reuse, recycle and upcycle which is good for both the environment and your bank balance. There are over 1200 things to do ranging from big talks and debates (including Ashleigh Money Saver) to innovative food and drink including Longhorns BBQ, Pizzette and the Bus Bar Company. I love that you can borrow a picnic rug from some of the stands and pick little treats from various stalls to enjoy.

Credit - Tracy Kidd

There will be over 120 stalls to browse and over 300 talks and demonstrations, definitely something for the whole family. The festival is free to enter but there is a moderate extra charge for some workshops which can be pre-booked online. I like the sound of the Kids Chocolate Workshop,  I know hubby would like the Scotch Egg workshop, I'm sure Heidi would like to be booked onto the Junk Jewellery workshop and the jam workshop for kids is a bargain at only £3 per child. There's also a workshop if you're thinking of smoking your own food and a furniture upcycling workshop. I think I'm getting carried away now - as you can see there are a lot of fantastic workshops ! Check out the Festival of Thrift website for details.

Credit - Tracy Kidd

The theme for this year's festival is steam as the weekend is shared with the 190th anniversary of the world's first steam passenger train which travelled between Stockton and Darlington in 1825, expect to see nods to this throughout the event and there will be a vintage bus running between the festival and the Darlington railway museum to link the two.

Credit - Tracy Kidd

Leading entertainers will take to the festival stages to entertain the crowds too and there will be lots to see and do including The Ministry of Cycles Bomberdrome featuring a cycle wall of death, an alternative village fete with crafts, dancing and live music plus 'The People's Tower' which is an attempt to rebuild Darlington's clock tower entirely out of cardboard boxes.

All sounds like lots of fun! I already have something in my diary that weekend which I am desperately trying to re-arrange so we can visit. Fingers crossed we can and I hope to see you there.

Oh if you are a blogger reading this, check out the Festival of Thrift blogger challenge which looks like a fun way to get involved.

Need to know

• Free to enter Festival of Thrift takes place 26th and 27th September 2015, 10am-5pm.
• Address:- Lingfield Point, Darlington, County Durham, DL1 1RW.
• Darlington Train Station is 2 miles from the festival - trains to Darlington are only 2.5 hrs from London, 2 hours from Manchester or less than 1 hour from Leeds.
• The No2 bus will run to the festival from Darlington town centre every 10 minutes.
• Free on site parking. Visit here for directions.
• If you are interested in attending a workshop, make sure you pre-book.

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