“It’s great to be back” was the comment that best summed up the feelings of exhibitors and visitors after more than 5,000 people flocked to Wonderwool Wales.

Following a pandemic-enforced absence of two years, the two-day show that celebrates all that’s great about Welsh wool and natural fibres made a triumphant return to the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells.

More than 190 exhibitors packed three halls, with many reporting a virtual sell out of their goods, which ranged from hand dyed yarns and fibre to equipment and quality finished products.

Developed to promote the market for Welsh wool and natural fibres, Wonderwool Wales was first held in 2006 and has grown in scale and popularity alongside a knitting, crochet, felting and textile craft making boom.

A series of Woolschool workshops was well attended and Sheepwalk fashion shows, where exhibitors showed off their wonderful creations, were packed over the weekend.

The wow factor was supplied by a special, eight-metre long exhibition entitled Alice in Wonderwool. The eye-catching, hand crafted interpretation of Alice in Wonderland installation featured an array of captivating characters, all crafted from felt and fibre.

Show regulars, Alex Johnstone and Kathy Smart, joined forces with felting and fibre art friends, including prolific knitter and crochet enthusiast Terry Moncion, to recreate Alice’s dreamland journey and her marvellously wacky tea party. Janna Turner from Flock2Felts was project lead and felting advisor.

The installation was originally made for Wonderwool Wales in 2020, which was postponed due to the pandemic. Alex, Kathy and Janna used the lockdowns to add extra features to the exhibition which was assembled for the first time at this year’s show and what an impression it made.

“We have been working on Alice in Wonderwool on and off for three years and it’s lovely to see the smiling faces of people when they see it,” said Kathy. “They come up and say ‘Wow’. That makes it all worthwhile.”

The exhibition and various other fundraising ventures at the show raised £706 for the Wales Air Ambulance and £1,000 for NGO Molotok, a Ukrainian project established 13 years ago by Nataliya Cummings near the border with Belarus, to support young people from disadvantaged rural communities.

Another feature of the show was a special exhibition of work created by textiles students and graduates at Coleg Sir Gâr’s Carmarthen School of Art throughout the pandemic.