Suffolk Reviews: the Bungay Spring Garden Fair

Bungay is a small, but perfectly formed, town almost surrounded by a curve of the River Waveney on the Suffolk/Norfolk border and is well-known in the surrounding area for its street fairs. Mid-May sees the Garden Street fair, when Earsham Street, in the middle of the town, is closed to traffic and stalls are set up to sell plants and gardening related items.

It isn't just flowers and shrubs though, as you can see from the picture of the hog roast. I'd never seen one of these before, although they are pretty traditional in Suffolk. The hog is spit roasted for hours so that the meat falls off the carcass easily, and is served in a bun with stuffing and some apple sauce (the latter isn't mandatory).

There are also opportunities to buy local products, including the fine products of the St Peter's Brewery, based in the nearby village of St Peter South Elmham, ice cream from Norfolk and all manner of other good things.

We were lucky in that the sun shone, although this did mean that traffic was heavy and parking difficult. If you are thinking of going, my advice would be to turn up early, or wait until lunchtime, when the crowds thin a bit. And, if you can't make it to Bungay in May, you might try the Antique Street Fair in June, or the Christmas Street Fair in December...