ONE of Oxfordshire's foremost antiques fairs staged the biggest event of its history this weekend.

The Antiques at The Holt fair is held twice a year in March and November at the recently refurbished Holt Hotel, at Hopcrofts Holt, near Steeple Aston.

Hundreds packed out the halls to peruse everything from vintage pottery, classic glassware to art deco jewellery, being sold by 40 dealers.

Organiser Marcus Potts said that this year's event, which was held on Saturday and Sunday, had been the biggest since it first began in November 2013, and had drawn about 300 people each day.

He said: "This event isn't necessarily the biggest antique fair around but it is the quality of the antiques that you get here that makes it special.

"There is something for everybody. We have things for a fiver and some exceptional items that go into the thousands of pounds.

"We have some particularly good quality antique dealers here. We don't have an emphasis on any particularly area. Ours is a genuine antique fair.

"Since we started it has been getting bigger in terms of the numbers of dealers."

He also said that the Christmas period had a big impact on the popularity of the fair and he had seen a wide array of people shopping for both varied and valuable antiques this year.

He added: "It's obviously one month before Christmas and we have had people coming around looking for meaningful Christmas gifts.

"If you buy an antique you can get somebody a gift that will give someone pleasure but also potentially increases in value."

He said that the age ranges of shoppers was as varied as the items on sale and said that he had even seen one boy aged just 10 who had visited the fair to buy collectable militaria.

He said: "While this is a relatively small fair, I feel the intimacy of our surroundings particularly in the hotel is so convivial and makes it such a pleasure to walk around."

More than 80 per cent of the dealers are fair regulars and include Witney's Mark Ditchburn selling art deco items, Stroud's Dittany Morgan stocking English porcelain and Paul Baker, of Minster Lovell, with Doulton ceramics.

The fair is expected to return to the hotel again on the weekend of March 17 2018.