Meet the traders bringing UK's best Christmas Market to life

Bath Christmas Market is officially open, with 229 traders lining the streets and selling their wares. Each has their own unique tale.

Some came from hundreds of miles away, some are native Bathonians. Some have been coming to the Christmas Market for twenty years, some have never stepped foot in our city before. One of them has a gigantic wheel of cheese!

Joey, who works at the Feast Brothers Italian food cart on Milsom Street, guards a cheese about the size of a car tyre. Despite its impressive girth, he suspects to go through a great number of these cheeses before the market ends on Sunday, December 15: "On a Saturday, we'd expect to go through maybe two of these [in a day]. We fly through these.

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"It's a bit gimmicky having a cheese wheel, but it does taste amazing, so it's not just a gimmick."

Despite the unique resource at his disposal, Joey has never taken part in a cheese rolling competition. "I've thought about it", he said, "If you got hit by this cheese, you wouldn't get up I don't think."

Some traders are local residents. Paul, who runs a candle gift stall called Cotton & Grey, didn't have to travel very far at all: "I live in Bath so this is very convenient for me!".

Others crossed the country to be here. Graham runs a stall selling glass bottles repurposed into luminous, almost otherworldly lamps. The family-run business - called Moonlighting - is based in Lincolnshire, and he's not the only member of the family on the road.

His wife, he said, is at a different Christmas market in Winchester. His daughters are off selling merchandise in Chatsworth and Exeter, respectively.

Another trader is Simon from Noble Bee who produce exceptional quality, delicious, award winning, single origin, raw, New Forest Honey from specially located apiaries in wild areas and dedicated nature reserves. They also make superb quality candles, using our beeswax, from their workshop in The New Forest.

“Bees wax is the only naturally occurring wax and the cleanest burning type of wax. Some people say it purifies the air when you burn in a candle as it has that lovely aroma of honey," he told us.

“We keep our bees around the new forest, ten different locations, and we write on the honey where it is from. First time, very new to Bath, and it is a nice city and a nice atmosphere.”

Of course, the Christmas Market is something of an acquired taste. Having moved to Bath this year, I started hearing chatter- and grumblings- about the event all the way back in September. Whatever you think of it, it evidently casts a long shadow over the city.

Sally knows the market better than most. She runs The Wheat Bag Company and has been a part of the market for twenty years.

When asked if the market has changed at all in the last two decades, she said: "It's improved a lot, I think, especially with all the lovely Christmas lighting and all the entertainment. And it definitely gets busier every year with the public coming."

When we visited the market wasn't too busy at all. But then again, they've only just gotten started. The true test for these traders will be when the weekend comes!

Bath Christmas Market will be running until Sunday, December 15. You can see a full list of traders online.