ONE of the town's biggest annual events took place today.
The Hexham Christmas Market, organised by Hexham Community Partnership, took place on Saturday afternoon (December 9).
The event ran alongside Hexham Abbey's Christmas Fair and the Farmers' Market.
Janie French of Hexham Community Partnership said: "There's a really wide variety of items on offer at the markets, from beautiful ceramics, photography and sweet treats to crafts. There's something for everybody, whether you're looking for big presents or nick-nacks."
More than 100 stalls were set up in and around Hexham Abbey selling Christmas gifts and festive food and drink.
Outdoor stalls opened for business at 9am and filled Hexham Marketplace, the Abbey flags on Beaumont Street and the Abbey’s cloister lawn.
The Christmas markets had 58 small businesses including Simply Scottish Cashmere, North Chocolates, Silk Route Spirits and Bernicia Candles. Local artists such as LollaMac Jewellery, David Lawson Ceramics, Green Bee and Slate and Nature also attended.
Charity stalls were set up in the Refectory Garden with a children’s fairground and caterers in the Abbey car park and Nero Black Alpaca took three alpacas to visit.
Hexham Abbey’s Christmas Fair had more than 30 stalls on offer from handmade gifts to children's crafts.
Three choirs sang through the day and bell-tour tours were on offer.
10th Avenue Street Band performed live sessions in front of the Abbey.
Vicky Armitage, owner of Meraki Cacao, makes chocolate using organic and sustainably sourced raw cacao from Peru.
"All ingredients are organic and nutritious and flavours are inspired by travel. They're free from dairy, gluten and refined sugar, they all have brown cashew nuts in and some of them have homemade almond or hazelnut butter.
"Small businesses are struggling with this current climate and up against big commercial companies, it's good to support local and we really appreciate any and every purchase. It's a good way of bringing the community together, it's nice to chat with people and have that one-to-one business chat."
Andrew Burton, owner of Greenfield Growers sells authentic and locally sourced natural produce.
"Everything is either bio-dynamic or organically grown, I'm sourcing organic vegetables from slightly further afield, regional and national."
He said: "Why shop en masse when you can shop locally?"
Total visitor numbers will be calculated by Hexham Community Partnership over the coming days.
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