The Northern Antiques Fair returns to The Garden Rooms at Tennants in Leyburn, North Yorkshire from Thursday 9th to Sunday 12th October 2025 for the fifth year running.
Established in 1951, the fair continues to be a cornerstone of the UK’s antiques calendar, attracting collectors, interior designers, enthusiasts and visitors just wanting a day out to browse an eclectic range of antiques and fine art.
The event brings together around 40 of the UK’s leading antiques dealers showcasing furniture, fine art, jewellery, ceramics, clocks, silver, glass, sculpture, rugs, maps and decorative objects. Vetted by independent specialists the fair encompasses many centuries of artistic talent all under one roof. Prices range from a few hundred pounds to five figure sums.
A great many of the exhibitors return year-on-year, but there is always a smattering of new faces and this year the fair welcomes Breckland Antiques from Norfolk specialising in the Arts & Crafts period, Mark Rowles Fine Art from Shropshire, W R Harvey & Co (Antiques) Ltd from Oxfordshire, a family business with over seven decades of history passionate about English antique furniture and Markies Antiques, well known on the fairs circuit. Regular faces include Blackbrook Gallery, Burlington, Hickmet Fine Arts, Howards Jewellers, Garret & Hurst Sculpture, Shapiro & Co and Stephen Kalms Antiques. Dealers from Yorkshire and the north of England include Carnes Fine Art, Ellis Fine Art, Graham Reed Fine Art from Ripon, Hispanic Antiques, J Dickinson Maps & Prints, Oriental Rug Shop, Solo Antiques, The Antiques Bazaar and Walker Galleries.
On every stand around each corner is something to catch the eye, with highlights from all periods such as ‘Capel Caersalem’ by Sir Kyffin Williams, c 1975, the renowned Welsh landscape painter, price £38,000 from Mark Rowles Fine Art, an extremely rare 8-day mantel chronometer by Mercer dating from 1930, price £16,500 from Frodsham Clocks, a George I walnut bachelors chest of drawers, c1720 price £11,250 from W R Harvey & Co (Antiques) Ltd, a very rare gilt bronze and copper cup designed by Charles Robert Ashbee (1863-1942) for the Guild of Handicraft, price £3,600 from Breckland Antiques, an elegant Cartier timepiece price £6,950 from S Greenstein & Co Ltd, and a set of six modern green martini glasses and shaker, price £2,900 from Stephen Kalms Antiques.
For anyone looking for furniture there are various different periods and prices to choose from. On Mark Buckley Antiques’ stand is an attractive Victorian burr walnut and amboyna mounted centre table serving as a focal point in the middle of a room, £12,950. Also on offer is a George III satinwood bonheur du jour writing desk, c1780, £7,500 from W R Harvey & Co (Antiques) Ltd or for a deceptively more contemporary look Markies Antiques has an excellent selection of Art Deco pieces such as a pair of mid-century lounge chairs, £2,250.
More choice for collectors comes from Solo Antiques, specialists in Art Nouveau and Art Deco sculpture and glass since 2004, bringing a leaping deer in bronze by Lucien Alliot, c1925, £2,500, or a striking Art Nouveau figural silvered pewter and glass maiden decanter by WMF, c1900, £950 from Morgan Strickland Decorative Arts. Breckland Antiques is showing a very rare gilt bronze and copper cup or chalice, designed by Charles Robert Ashbee (1863-1942) for the Guild of Handicraft and probably made as a sporting trophy, c1893, £3,600. The Guild of Handicraft specialised in metalworking, producing jewellery and enamels as well as hand-wrought copper and wrought ironwork.
For someone looking for something highly collectable, Frodsham Clocks is selling a very rare 8-day mantel chronometer by Mercer, numbered 677 dating from 1930. Mercers were renowned for top quality marine chronometers and in the 1920s and 1930s they fitted a few into mantel cases for domestic use, £16,500. Simon Frodsham, owner of Frodsham Clocks, is a great-great-great grandson of the famous clockmaker William James Frodsham who established the firm in 1801.
Being one of the most prestigious antiques fairs in the north of England it is a haven for serious buyers be it 19th and 20th century decorative glass from Alderney & Wright, Scandinavian jewellery from Dansk Silver by Jane Burgett, British pottery and porcelain from David Scriven Antiques or contemporary glass from Glass of all Ages who is showing glass blown by Gillies Jones at Rosedale Abbey, Pickering, Yorkshire. Continuing the local theme Rastall Art is exhibiting a selection of pottery by Andrew Hague of Askrigg Pottery, Leyburn, James Brooke of Appleton-le-Moors, Pickering and Graham Peter Glynn of Skipton, all priced between £20 and £200.
Anything with a Yorkshire provenance is always popular and this year Blackbrook Gallery is bringing an oil entitled ‘Three Prize Pigs’ inscribed ‘These three pigs took first prize at Birmingham in 1860. Bred by Sir George Wombwell and sold for £39’, £11,500. Sir George Wombwell, 4th baronet from Newburgh Priory, Coxwold, North Yorkshire fought in the Crimean War and took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade. Graham Reed Fine Art has three lovely local Yorkshire scenes on his stand, James Thomas Watts RCA RBSA (1850-1930), signed, watercolour ‘Whitby with the Abbey in the background ‘ 52.5 x 82.5 cms, price £1,500, William Manners RBA, 1860-1930, oil painting, signed & dated 1893, ‘Children by river, Crosshills, Upper Wharfedale,Yorkshire’, 70 x 95 cms, price £2,450 and Frederick Williamson (fl 1856-1900), signed, watercolour, ‘Whitby looking to Larpool’, size 77.5 x 99.5 cms, £2,750. Ellis Fine Art has an interesting Victorian oil entitled ‘Whitby’ by Henry Redmore (1820-1887), £5,950. The fair includes an extremely interesting selection of work by well known Northern artists such as Carnes Fine Art bringing ‘Stockport Power Station’ by Alan Lowndes (1921-1978), in the region of £30,000-40,000 as well a painting of Lowry in his studio by Harold Riley (1934-2023) £10,000 and Rastall Art is showing a group of oils by William Ralph Turner (1920-2013) who has become known as one of the last authentic Northern Industrial artists. Lowry would visit his exhibitions in the 1950s and 1960s and Turner was featured in a major book about Northern artists in 1989 and then was rediscovered in 2000 when he was aged 80. More fine art dealers exhibiting include Walker Galleries, Burlington, Cambridge Fine Art, J Dickinson Maps & Prints and Granta Fine Art of Cambridge.
The jewellery stands attract visitors like bees round a honeypot and there is a great variety to choose from whether it is Victorian sapphire and diamond dragonfly brooch, c1880 from Howards Jewellers or a rare and elegant Cartier timepiece in 18 carat gold and set with diamonds from S Greenstein & Co Ltd. More choice can be found with Billy Rae, Howell 1870, Markov or Shapiro & Co. To celebrate a special occasion Stephen Kalms Antiques has a set of six modern green martini glasses and shaker with a silver top, 2014, £2,900 or an Elizabeth II silver cruet set of owl salt, pepper and mustard, 1967, £1,995 from Highland Antiques.
Quirky items around the fair include a large gold mercury glass Witches ball on Hispanic Antiques’ stand, £1,250. It is probably French and dates to the late 19th century. Witches balls were hung in cottage windows to ward away evil spirits and eliminate bad fortune. It was believed that the witches would see their reflection in these balls and be scared away. Other items to look out for include a Grand Tour Italian variegated marble obelisk, c1860, £1,950 from The Antiques Bazaar, an Elizabeth II silver West Highland terrier, £995 from Highland Antiques and a diamond set pendant in the form of a pig, c1900 from Howard Jewellers.
The Northern Antiques Fair is an excellent opportunity to plan a visit to the Yorkshire Dales, meet up with friends, enjoy chatting to the knowledgeable dealers, making a purchase as well as savouring the delights on offer in the popular café, bistro or bar at Tennants. There is ample parking on site.
RABI, the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution, is continuing its successful charity alliance with the fair.
