HEALTHIER than a walk in the park and more challenging than a game of Sudoku, crafting helps cognitive, creative and emotional wellbeing.

Whether you are a beginner or experienced crafter there are many different crafts to choose from in Wallingford.

Sew Very Vintage is only one of the amazing selection of craft shops in Wallingford town centre.

We sit next to the fabulous ‘Busy Brush Cafe’, an award winning paint your own pottery cafe for adults and children.

They have three floors of seating where you can paint anything from mugs to money boxes whilst enjoying wonderful coffee and cake.

On the market place you can find ‘Made-By Raspberry Tart and Friends’ who have a room full of beautiful yarns and fabrics. For paper crafting and card making we have Poppy Craft in St Martin’s street with a fabulous collection of paper crafts, stamping, inks, paints and dye cutting products.

In St Leonard’s square you will find Village Fabrics who offer a wide range of quality patchwork fabrics, haberdashery, dress patterns, sewing machines and much more.

The local craft shops have recently joined and created the Wallingford Craft Hub, all our shops are independently owned with knowledgeable, welcoming staff, many of us offer a variety of workshops where you can learn new skills and forge new friendships with like-minded crafty people.

At Sew Very Vintage you can learn to needle felt animals, decorate lampshades and tote bags or create fabulous weather proof sculptures using the fabric hardening Powertex products.

At Busy Brush café why not sign up for a Pizza and Paint night or try quilting for beginners at Village Fabrics? Poppycraft offer card making and mixed media.

Members of the Wallingford Craft Hub will be offering taster sessions for adults and children at this year’s Bunkfest.

Look out for our tent where there will be ‘make and takes’ in lampshade making, soft clay monsters, pottery painting, mixed media & glass painting.

A recent craft council study asked ‘so what does craft contribute to individual wellbeing? The answer may seem obvious to those who make, yet can be surprisingly difficult for others to pin down’.

Absorption in this type of activity not only occupies and distracts the brain, but has also been clinically proven to raise levels of the mood-enhancing chemical serotonin. At the same time, both the sense of achievement gained from craft and the social interaction it encourages can help to combat the isolation of depression.