suggestions for trip england for stash buying

[PaulaG]

Hi all

I am thinking of taking a weekend trip over to England soon.

I want to go somewhere i can fly into from Belfast and somewhere that has plenty of craft shops in easy access (ie town centre or outlets etc) as i will have to rely on public transport.

Flights from Belfast go to Liverpool, London, Luton, Bristol, Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham & Nottingham

Any suggestions??

[leeann21]

if you can get to leeds then there is a place near there with 3 shops called harrogate, it also has hte shop and studio where blonde moments was designed

[Quizzle]

They also go to Birmingham, Cardiff and Southampton - I need to get myself sorted for a trip to Belfast soon, so I've been looking at every possibility!

Not too much in London (I think - but I might just have never found them!) - but on Saturdays you can get to some of the Berkshire ones - although now the Scraporium is closing in Bracknell there'll be fewer places in Berkshire. I don't know how accessible some of the other outer London ones are.

[PaulaG]

Was thinking of around North-hampton as have a friend there that i was going to visit
Not great with geography so think i may look at a map and see where that it near!!!

[scrap-happyuk]

Northampton is under an hour from Birmingham and just over the hour from Luton...if that helps?

Luton is a dead loss nowe since Scraporium upped sticks, and our other craft shop has shut down Maybe if you post in the shop til you drop thread, the sponsors will give you a shout??

Have fun, wherever you find yourself

[scrap-happyuk]

Sorry, Paula... Northampton is in the middle of Luton and Birmingham, Luton being south and Birmingham north. HTH

[Bluemoonjules]

Isn't Modern Scrapbooking in Bristol?

[cw18]

Personally I wouldn't bother with Manchester. There's certainly nothing worth bothering about in the city centre Mind, it's probably just as well -- 'cos if there were they'd have to send out search parties for me from work

[Jill]

how about coming to Birmingham on Bonanza weekend - you'll have a wonderful selection of shops at the NEC OR next weekend for the craft fayre at the NEC (NEC is very near B'ham airport)

[SazzJ]

I wouldn't bother with Newcastle the availabilty of craft shops is poor. The ones we do have include a Lakeland and a Fenwicks (Department store) similar to John Lewis both of which are very expensive and thats it.

Hope you have a happy shopping trip where ever you end up

[M_A_A_B]

modern scrapbooking is in Bristol but it's tricky to get to if you dont have a car or anything....the only big shop I can think of in Bristol is hobbycarft and it's a bit pants really!

[Bohokitty]

Hello - i live near Northampton. You could get the best of everything....

Fly to B ham and stay in Northampton with your friend if thats what u want to do, or stay in Birmingham.
I'm not a top Bonanza fan but if you managed to come on that weekend you would get a really good deal dfor your time. A choice of retail stands and crops / classes if u wanted.

I shop online form Northampton or travel to Oxfordshire to Cotswold Keepsakes (see web link on site) Or for some basics, if i'm desperate, i go to the Hobbycraft store near Sixfields in Northampton.

x hope this helps x x x

[maffie]

We dont have many shops over in manchester.... we can post to ireland though if you ever need it.

[PaulaG]

Problem is girls is that i will have hubby and DS (aged 3) with me . Would have loved to go to a crop/camp etc but i dont think it would go down well.

Thanks for the suggestions. I suppose that if i base myself in Northampton i can go shopping on the Saturday (and save the hotel bill which will allow more stash spending power!!!!). So its really info about what shops are near that would help me plan my trip.

[Bohokitty]

I think that's what we are saying.... there aren't any!! x

If you came Bonanza weekend you could take the train straight to the nec Birmingham i think (but don't take your son!!! x) It costs £10 to enter the shopping hall i think but i don't know who is going to be there - purely scrapping and cards though.

I travel to Oxfordshire to C/K but you'd struggle very much to get public transport to there.

The only other place is Hobbycraft at Sixfields unless someone in Northampton knows different?

Hope it goes ok.