We had been invited to do a stall at the Moretonhampstead Summer Fair on Sunday 20th August and so we decided to demonstrate some of the crafts we have been learning and let people have a go themselves. We also wanted to provide more information about the project and what we have been doing during the four months since we moved onto the land.

On Sunday, despite all predictions to the contrary, it was sunny and warm. We arrived early and erected a small bender in which we placed a table and a laptop computer powered by our cycle generator. A green woodworking area was set up on one side of the bender. On the other side we arranged an information table, a photo display board and a rag rug making demonstration.

Our cycle generator proved to be very popular with children. Their cycling helped power the laptop computer on which people inside the bender could visit our website or surf the internet via a mobile phone.

The previous week we had built a portable pole lathe and our first shaving horse. The shaving horse was really popular and there was somebody working on it nearly all day.

Clare demonstrated how to make mallets while others took the opportunity to build benches and three legged stools for our camp fire music event.

The bright colourful rugs being produced on our home made peg looms inspired a number of people to find out how to make the looms and weave the rugs themselves. Others expressed an interest in buying our rugs and we told them that we may soon be trading them at the Moreton flea market.

At the end of the day we were all pretty tired but had found all the preparation and effort to have been worth while. It had been the first public event we had been involved with as a group and we are looking forward to doing similar things in the near future.