By Margaret Sheard …
We set off early for our visit to the Donkey Day Fest in the Eco village of Bűyűkkonuk on Sunday 4th February. It was an overcast day but luckily it did not rain, and at least the sun did peep out from time to time.
When we arrived, market stalls were all set up with a lovely array of home-made produce, including bread and some very interesting potions for good health. 
There were also locals selling bric-a-brac and many other items. Being Donkey Day, there was of course a donkey, which was later joined by another, for the enjoyment of the children.
We made our way to Delcraft to catch up with our friends Ismail and Lois Cemal, where some of the local boys were in charge of rabbits which ranged from large to small and so cute, there was also a rooster which was to be the prize in the raffle.
Lois was very busy with the 2 stalls there, but we had a chance to sit and talk with Ismail, before he too needed to wander off and circulate.
We could see the Bűyűkkonuk Folk Dance Group assembling so we went to the Market area to enjoy their dancing, which was followed by songs from the local ladies’ choir. Lois was also part of this, what a busy lady!
We have made many visits to Bűyűkkonuk in the past and had been into the Zirvania shop, so we popped in again to say hello to the owners and also the gentleman who makes glass items, he remembered the amphora he made for me on a past visit, which was so interesting to watch and now has pride of place in my glass cabinet. While we were in the shop we got talking to Tűzel Yűksel and were interested to learn that she was the niece of Yusuf Ziya who took over Newman’s Farm in Kyrenia in the early 1960’s, so we had a lot to talk about. I have been in contact with her cousin in America for some years – what a small world.
By this time a lot more people had arrived to enjoy the Donkey Day Fest, so we decided to move on to our next port of call. On returning to the car park, we spotted a lovely array of plants and shrubs and having recently discovered a shrub which bears miniature oranges (Kumquat) we were delighted to see one there so bought it for our garden so we can continue to enjoy the lovely fruit in the future.
A lovely few hours in a lovely village, well done Bűyűkkonuk.
There are more pictures in the slideshow below.
