At the Auld Lammas Fair, Ballycastle, we had lots of laughing, eating and trying different types of sweets, playing around, and even the kids got the chance to buy some toys; it was worth the visit and we all - big and small - enjoyed our day.
Auld Lammas Fair, Ballycastle, county Antrim, is a traditional festival held every year on the last Monday and Tuesday of August; where the last Monday in August is a Bank holiday in Northern Ireland. This fair is associated with Lammas harvest festival. The interesting thing to know about this fair is that it has been held for almost 400 years! WOW! It actually dates back to the 17th century.
There are various goods sold in this fair - we could refer to them all as artists - not because they sell instruments to play music on, but also because they are creative in the way they create the food types or sweets which they are selling; we have come across different varieties, just as you have seen in the video. One of the most famous traditional goods served in the Auld Lammas Fair in Ballycastle is the yellowman.
The yellowman is a traditional type of candy sold in Northern Ireland, and mostly sold in the Auld Lammas Fair, and it is a kind of chewy toffee textured honeycomb. The recipe for the yellowman is believed to carry brown sugar, golden syrup, butter, vinegar, and bicarbonate of soda, but there are many locals who could change a thing in this old traditional recipe. Although a lot of people refer to the yellowman as the honeycomb toffee, it is actually a kind of candy that has a harder rind.
This was the first time for us to try the yellowman and we actually loved how it tasted and loved the idea of finally trying it. We also enjoyed those crepes which were created with different types of sweets placed in them, we loved the different brownie cakes which were done with orange, apple, caramel, and different other things, and we also enjoyed the idea of the variety of fudges which we have never seen before, as well as those candies and types of sweets which you might never come across anywhere else.
You could check Aunt Sandra's place Handmade Candy place in Belfast ( • Aunt Sandra's Handmade... ).
We love sweets, that's why we are bragging about it much, lol! We also had fun walking through the fair and getting introduced to the different products that were being sold - our kids loved the musical instrument they bought and which they got the chance to learn how to use it through the man performing right next to the booth - the Peruvian Panpipes.
Getting done with the part of eating and trying to become artists with playing on this Peruvian instrument, we then thought about having some fun while playing, don't you think the same? :-) There were actually lots of games which one would find in amusement parks but we didn't want to have fun this way so we enjoyed playing on the bull! The whole family had a try on it actually.
In addition to all these kinds of activities we were involved with - of course in addition to the walking we have done - we also came to the horse trading part, came across those horses which were found there, patted them, saw them while they were eating, and there were even horse carriages which one could rent. Being in the part where animals are placed, we also came into this "Mobile Animal Farm" which is also dedicated to kids and saw different animals from rabbits, goats, sheep, Llamas, and others which also the kids enjoyed patting and seeing.
There were actually lots of things to be found in this Auld Lammas Fair, that we even enjoyed the boats and ships parked by the shore in addition to the traditional products which might not be found elsewhere other than this fair that is held every single year on the same time.
We took more time than we expected with all the food-trying, playing, patting on the animals, walking, and even the stops we have made to have a cup of tea, so make sure to free your whole day for this fair if you are planning to give it a visit next year, especially if you are also living far away from Ballycastle and might need some time to get back home.
County Antrim, where this fair is held every year, is one of the six different counties that form Northern Ireland. Belfast, which is the capital of Northern Ireland, is considered the beating heart of county Antrim ( • Belfast Tourist Attrac... ). In county Antrim, you will find the largest lake in Ireland or even in England (known as Lough Neagh).
In County Antrim there is also the Giant's Causeway which is one of the several tourist attractions that people also wish to come across and visit when they travel to Northern Ireland ( • Giant's Causeway - 360... ).
And on this county, there is the territory where the Game of Thrones movie series was being shot, making it another place in Northern Ireland where people started to visit and loved the idea of exploring ( • Game of Thrones Filmin... ).