Celebrating Heritage Open Days at The Reader’s Courtyard Fair!

Heritage tours, Shared Reading sessions, poetry readings, market stalls, book giveaways, Storybarn sessions, bouncy castle, facepainting and all the seasons in one day at The Reader's Courtyard Fair!

Phew! What a day!

It may have started out a little damp but that didn't stop people coming down to Calderstones Park to celebrate The Reader's Courtyard Fair.

As part of the national Heritage Open Days festival, the park's history and heritage was at the heart of our fair day, and right at the centre of the Courtyard itself with a Reader stall where visitors could sign up for free heritage tours, discover more about our plans for the refurbishment of the historic Mansion House and get a first glimpse of the architect's impressions of the development. We'd like to extend a huge thank you to Heritage Open Days for all their help and support on the event!

As well as free Storybarn sessions, families were treated to fantastic activities by our wonderful Knit & Natter group who held free workshops on embroidery, crochet, hand knitting and pompom making throughout the day, alongside activity from Little Sunshine Yoga and the lovely Raela of Painted Faces Club who painted faces throughout the day!

Bringing colour, beautiful aromas and tasty treats to the Courtyard Fair, we welcomed some of the city's finest creatives and small businesses to Calderstones Park in partnership with Independent Liverpool. We were delighted to welcome our neighbours in the park Merseyside Woodturners Association and the fantastic homeless charity The Whitechapel Centre to Calderstones alongside amazing foodie Makers The Liverpool Cheese Company, Grab Your Spoon, Postcode Honey, Fudd, Coco Baroque, Cake Hole, and The Bagelry! We also had treats for our many four-legged visitors with Dog Charmed and The Liverpool Barkery. Visitors found lots of beautiful gifts, homeware items, jewellery and artwork from Makers The Bear and The Bee, Oak & Atlas, NAD Photography, Kathrin Caldwell, The Leather Satchel Company, Andrea McShane Design, Rawhide Custom and Glowhush! And thanks to the wonderful generosity of our stall holders - a lucky raffle winner took home a grand prize full of gifts donated by the wonderful Makers!

Other lucky raffle winners took home a surviving cuddly Bear from Michael Rosen's Bear Hunt, Chocolate Cake & Bad Things, pairs of new design Independent Liverpool cards and  our lovely neighbours over at Lime Pictures donated signed headshots for Hollyoaks fans. Thank you to all for their generosity!

We'd also like to thank Liverpool City Council, Granby Four Streets and Better by Bus for all their support in making the event a success! See the story unfold on social media here.

Huge thanks must also go to our two wonderful photographers who captured the day in all its glorious rain and sunshine! Check out our gallery of snaps from Danny Ryder and Marty Saleh.