This twice-yearly fixture is not one that has as high a profile as some lesser provincial fairs; it is discreet as befits the extraordinarily wealthy hinterland and regularly attracts some 45 quality exhibitors and a coterie of local buyers.
This is a traditional event with period furniture to the fore. The fair has a general dateline of 1920 with porcelain and silver allowed to 1935 and jewellery and textiles to 1950.
Local exhibitors include Coppelia Antiques (who also trade in Mayfair, London as Pendulum) and they have brought out, especially for the fair, a rare and elegant longcase clock by local maker Robert Denton of Knutsford, dated 1780.
Surrey decorative arts dealers AD Antiques will also have something of a local flavour in their stock.
They are taking to Arley a large selection of Pilkington Royal Lancastrian lustre glazed vases, including pieces by Walter Crane, Charles Cundall, Richard Joyce and William Mycock.
The Pilkington factory was based near Manchester and the pieces at Arley date in the main from the first decade of the 20th century, priced from £800 to £3000.
The fair is vetted and admission is £4.50.
The discreet charms of the wealthy Cheshire set
FLUSHED with the successful launch in early February of her West Country Antiques Fair at Powderham Castle, near Exeter, Sue Ede of Cooper Antiques Fairs moves north this weekend to her established Cheshire County Antiques Fair, which will be held at Arley Hall, near Knutsford from March 12 to 14.
