MORE than 100 stallholders brought their finest products to Stockbridge High Street last weekend (August 4).
This year's Trout 'n About, an annual family festival now in its 12th year, saw the streets lined with tradespeople offering baked goods, charcuterie, buffalo burgers, fresh seafood, fudges, olives, cupcakes, chutneys, smoked trout and more.
The 8,000 guests could also try Test Valley-brewed ciders, ales, gins and wine, and browse handmade jewellery, cloth bunting, flowers, animal portraits, hats and natural soaps.
The Family and Wellbeing Zone at Stockbridge Football Club housed live music from The Pete Harris trio and Winchester’s well-known street busker, Marvin B Naylor.
Sarah Madden, event organiser, said: "I have been really thrilled and humbled by the sense of real community spirit that Stockbridge and the villages have shown towards the event – the fields offered by local farmers for visitor parking, the stalwart Stockbridge Football Club for letting us use the grounds and putting up sign posts and bunting, Stockbridge residents and traders agreeing to clear the High Street of cars to accommodate the stallholders and offer electricity and their volunteer skills, our wonderful independent shops who opened on the day.
"Our local police and fire brigade and our churches were all very much part of a great and generous community beavering away to produce this unique event!"
King Alfred double-decker buses from 1964 provided a free hop-on hop-off service from the parking fields.
Children were entertained by Marky Jay the circus performer and The Bus of Many Things, and could also get their face painted by the Glitterbugs company.
Trout ‘n About is organised and run by volunteers from the community, and all profits are given to local good causes in the SO20 area.
Last year’s beneficiaries included The Alex Lewis Trust, Stockbridge and Villages Neighbour Care and Stockbridge War Memorial.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here