In Florida the Farmers Markets include a number of arts and crafts stalls as well as produce. In fact if you visit the farmer’s market in Celebration on a Sunday morning the craft stalls far outnumber the produce stalls. This is quite a good way of finding unusual gifts to take home or for treating yourself to something to remind you of the great holiday that you have had. The range of crafts represented I wide including hand sewn items, the children’s quilts always look attractive and might double as wall hangings, handmade jewellery, and also more unusual items such as the wood carved pens that are produced by a talented young man.
The Farmer’s Market at Celebration is one of our favourites as we can combine some shopping with a walk round the lake, a coffee, and/or an ice cream. The walk around the lakes justifying the later indulgence.
This year, for a change, we visited the farmers market at Winter Garden, a small town that we had not visited, which is less than an hour away near Lake Apopka. It has a very attractive old town section tucked away by the town hall and this is where you will find the market. We were very lucky as our trip coincided with the arts festival so there were twice as many stalls as usual. We found a wonderful photographer who was attending his last fair of the year and was selling his pictures for half the normal price. They really were works of art with exquisite pictures of the Florida countryside. We are delighted that they are now on the walls of our master bedroom in Florida, although we were very tempted to bring them home.
There are plenty of coffee shops along the main street with outside tables where you can people watch and enjoy the sunshine and the bustle of the market.
Another good town for arts and crafts is Winter Park, just to the north of Orlando. There is plenty to do there apart from looking at the shops. I would particularly recommend the boat trip where you can view some of the wonderful homes built on the lake side by wealthy Americans from further north who built homes in the area for some sunshine in the winter months. Hence the names of some of the towns, Winter Park, Winter Haven and Winter Garden.
It is well worth keeping an eye out in the local papers, particularly on a Friday for other arts festivals as in the past we have also visited similar events in Orlando parks. We enjoy getting into the non-theme park areas to feel more a part of a country that we enjoy so much.
The Farmer’s Market at Celebration is one of our favourites as we can combine some shopping with a walk round the lake, a coffee, and/or an ice cream. The walk around the lakes justifying the later indulgence.
This year, for a change, we visited the farmers market at Winter Garden, a small town that we had not visited, which is less than an hour away near Lake Apopka. It has a very attractive old town section tucked away by the town hall and this is where you will find the market. We were very lucky as our trip coincided with the arts festival so there were twice as many stalls as usual. We found a wonderful photographer who was attending his last fair of the year and was selling his pictures for half the normal price. They really were works of art with exquisite pictures of the Florida countryside. We are delighted that they are now on the walls of our master bedroom in Florida, although we were very tempted to bring them home.
There are plenty of coffee shops along the main street with outside tables where you can people watch and enjoy the sunshine and the bustle of the market.
Another good town for arts and crafts is Winter Park, just to the north of Orlando. There is plenty to do there apart from looking at the shops. I would particularly recommend the boat trip where you can view some of the wonderful homes built on the lake side by wealthy Americans from further north who built homes in the area for some sunshine in the winter months. Hence the names of some of the towns, Winter Park, Winter Haven and Winter Garden.
It is well worth keeping an eye out in the local papers, particularly on a Friday for other arts festivals as in the past we have also visited similar events in Orlando parks. We enjoy getting into the non-theme park areas to feel more a part of a country that we enjoy so much.