Five reasons not to miss Malton Christmas Festival

“Malton Christmas Festival offers something very different to the big city experiences: more compact, more varied and more friendly, with room to meander around the stalls avoiding the city-crush,” said Mark Brayshaw, Head of Visit Malton and organiser of the two-day event.

“We often get people who live in city’s escaping to Malton for this weekend – local knowledge that you can still have a fantastic Christmas shopping experience and enjoy a less commercial-feeling market featuring local businesses and traders, which is surrounded by a host of independent shops and hospitality outlets that are here all year round.”

Here are five things that visitors will not want to miss at this year’s Malton Christmas Market:

• Over 80 stalls in a car-free environment. Around 20 stalls will be located in a large marquee in Market Place East, with the rest spread around Market Place and surrounding streets, featuring a great range of Yorkshire-based food, drink and gift ideas.
• Live demonstrations of traditional crafts: Malton is a town of makers and bakers, and whilst most of the baking will be done in the days leading up to the Festival, visitors will be able to watch a blacksmith working his forge and a wood-carver demonstrating how he makes the wonderful creations on his stall.
• Reduce, re-use and recycle: With Christmas being the peak time for food waste in the calendar, North Yorkshire Rotters will be on hand to talk about creative ways of using leftovers – saving money along the way – as well as home composting, so your Christmas scraps can help your garden grow!
• Live music throughout the weekend, with brass bands for the nostalgic sound of Christmas carols and songs, and a choir tent featuring many local singing groups.
• The Marshmallow Fire Pit – appearing for the first time at Malton Christmas Festival, providing a delicious, sweet treat for visitors young and young at heart: a marshmallow roasted over an open flame right next door to hot roasted chestnuts for a more traditional snack.

Malton Christmas Festival – like Malton Food Lovers Festivals – attracts many smaller artisan traders who produce in smaller volumes than those in the city markets.

“This is a hand-picked mix of traders who are producing something different and unique – it is the perfect place to find unusual Christmas presents for just about everyone, whether they are looking for jars of Moonshine, gift packs of hot chilli sauces made locally, unique wood-turned bowls or hand-made garden sculptures,” said Mr Brayshaw.

This year’s Malton Christmas Festival will see the introduction of a dedicated coach drop-off route for those coming from all corners of the country on coach trips to help minimise traffic congestion around the town.

A Park & Ride service will operate with parking just £7.50 for the day and regular free shuttle bus into the centre and back.

For those looking to use public transport, the Coastliner bus service runs from Leeds, Tadcaster. York and Scarborough into Malton, with fares capped at £2 per journey.

TransPennine Express has train routes into Malton on the York – Scarborough line, with the station just a few minutes’ walk away from the festival market.

“This Festival really is the icing on top of Malton’s delicious Christmas cake – the town is alive every weekend with locals and visitors, taking advantage of the year-round free parking and browsing around all the shops and filling restaurants with work and family gatherings. It is a great time to visit the town,” Mr Brayshaw concluded.

More information may be found online at visitmalton.com