Tonbridge gets its own Christmas market

After the doom and gloom of the previous two posts, here’s an article designed to raise your spirits and bring some much-needed festive cheer into your lives. No surprises that it’s Christmas related, but it’s Christmas in a good way.

It kicks off with a visit Mrs PBT’s and I made nearly a fortnight ago now, to Tonbridge’s first ever Christmas Market.  Held in the grounds of the town’s historic 13^th Century castle, and billed accordingly as Castlemas, the market was just the tonic that Tonbridge needed in the run up towards Christmas. It certainly brought a touch of festivity to west Kent from northern Europe.

Christmas markets have a long tradition in central Europe, having originated during the late Middle Ages in the German speaking part of the continent. They gradually spread to other parts of Europe, as well as continuing to grow in their region of origin. In Germany for example, there were around 950 such markets during the 1970’s, and this figure had grown to around 3,000 by 2019. The number of Christmas markets in the UK has also increased dramatically, trebling from about 30 in 2007, to more than 100 a decade later.

The best-known Christmas market in the UK, as well as one of the longest running, is the Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas Market. It is the largest authentic German Christmas market outside of Germany or Austria and offers a wide range of traditional goods and gifts, alongside equally traditional food, and drink. Bratwurst, Schnitzels, roasted almonds, and gingerbread, all washed down with authentic German beer, Gluhwein, or hot chocolate.

Tonbridge’s first steps into the Christmas market tradition might still have a fair way to go, but it was pretty good for a first attempt. There

were plenty of stalls, housed in traditional wooden huts, featuring crafts items from local businesses, as well as a wide range of tasty snacks and goodies. Eileen bought a beret from Penny’s Boutique, a clothes emporium run by two sisters she knows, and there were plenty of other stalls, all waiting to take your money.

Of more interest to me, was the Jingle Bell Bar, a beer tent sponsored by and featuring beers from Constellation – the town’s newest brewery. They even had their newly launched Castlemas Ale on sale.  I forwent the beer in favour of a coffee, as I planned to pop back later without the car. As things turned out, I ended up at the Nelson instead, but that’s a different story.

There was also an entertainment venue, in the shape of the Igloo Theatre, a large inflatable hall, shaped like its namesake. The igloo was doing a roaring trade, with mums and their young children, queuing up to meet Santa Claus. The punters changed in the evenings with a diverse range of different acts, including several tribute bands. Judging by the reports I the local press, and also on social “meejah,” the event was a success, and well-received by local townsfolk.  There is every chance then, that it will return next year and become a welcome part in Tonbridge’s build up to Christmas.

I have been to a number of European Christmas markets, including those at Nuremberg, Rothenburg, Prague, Salzburg and even Barcelona. That last one though, didn’t really work for me, as even in early December the temperatures in Catalonia were in the high teens, and this didn’t exactly contribute to the “Christmassy” feel. The others though, all had the atmosphere, and presence,  one would normally expect during the run up to Christmas.

Nuremberg was the first of these markets that I visited, as part of a coach trip to Northern Bavaria, back in December 2007. I had joined the trip primarily because the famous brewing town of Bamberg was included on the itinerary, rather than for the Christmas markets, but after spending a rather beer-fueled lunchtime in the former, I re-boarded the coach which took us on to Nuremberg.

I didn’t actually spend that much time looking around the market, even though it is one of the largest and best known in Bavaria. Instead, I climbed up the hill and had a good look around the city’s most impressive medieval monument, and one which dominates the skyline. The Kaiserburg, or Imperial Castle, was a potent symbol of the power and importance of the Holy Roman Empire of Germany, with Nuremberg ranking as one of the empire’s most important cities.

I only had time to see a fraction of this massive fortress, although I was able to see quite a bit more, on a return visit eight years later, but the following day there was another Christmas market for the coach tour party to visit. The location was the fairytale medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, built on a hill, overlooking the Tauber River, to the west of Nuremberg.

The picturesque, and atmospheric cobbled stone streets, together with the half-timbered centuries’ old houses, of this compact town, embodies most peoples’ idea of Christmas, so it is small wonder that Rothenburg is the fifth most visited tourist attraction in Germany. The Christmas market, known in German, as the Reiterlemarkt, is held in the heart of the Old Town, in front of the City Hall, in the central marketplace.

With a light snow flurries falling, driven by a cold easterly wind, the Reiterlemarkt was certainly the place to get into the Christmas spirit, fortified by a cup of hot chocolate, and a lengthy Bratwurst, that must have been a foot long, in an equally lengthy, crusty bread roll. It was also the place to help dispel the hangover I was suffering from, due to the previous day’s over-indulgences. I could have stayed all day, but to the south of Rothenburg, there was another picturesque Franconian town for us to visit.

Dinkelsbühl is another attractive old town, but is more work-a-day, and less of a tourist attraction than its better known, northern neighbour. By this time though, I fancied a beer, and so after a stroll around the streets of Dinkelsbühl, including a look at the impressive, old town walls, I found a small pub, selling a locally brewed beer, thereby giving the Christmas market a miss. If truth be known, nightfall had arrived, it was rather cold, and I just fancied finding somewhere warm where I could relax, with a beer, before re-joining the coach for the journey back to our hotel.

That coach trip represented my introduction to German Christmas markets, but unfortunately the only photos I have of that mini break are a stack of non-digital images, taken on my trusty old Pentax 35mm SLR camera. Consequently, the majority of the non-local photos on this post, were taken on subsequent family trips to Prague and Salzburg.

Looking back at them has made me feel rather nostalgic for a touch of the run-up to Christmas, spent in the cold of a central European location, but given the current Covid-induced, travel restrictions, there is no point in getting all misty-eyed over past memories.

The pandemic has obviously taken its toll and this year, many German cities have once again been forced to cancel their Christmas markets, due to rising Covid-19 levels. Bavaria has canceled all such events, throughout the state and now, following the spread of  the Omicron variant, Germany has imposed tough quarantine restrictions for all visitors from the UK, as have several other European countries.

So fingers, and everything else crossed for next year, although given the proliferation of Christmas markets, here in the UK in recent years, there is no real need now to travel abroad to experience them, unless, of course you want some proper Christmassy weather!