Sunday, June 15, 2008

An English Village Festival

St. Denys' Church

Our village hosted its annual 2-day Village Festival this weekend and we were fortunate to have glorious weather, with the sun hiding behind the odd cloud just a few times! The Festival has been a popular village event for many years and was originally a Flower festival, set up to raise funds for our Norman Church. We got there nice and early before the crowds so we could snap a few photos to share with you. There were lots of stalls selling bric-a-brac, plants, home-made cakes and books, plus a flower display in the church. The stalls and sideshows are manned by enthusiastic villagers - here is the bowling alley(!) Can you see the village stocks on the left of the photo?

There was a local band playing...

...and the children really enjoyed this...
Jousting

Three years ago, this beautiful row of thatched cottages which face the village green, were badly damaged by fire. It started in one of the end cottages and spread rapidly right across the thatch. Fortunately, the quick and heroic actions of a passer-by ensured no lives were lost. You can read more about this here. There was no Festival the following year due to the restoration work on the cottages, but 2007 saw the Festival resume in celebration of the villagers moving back to their homes.

On the other side of the green is a really beautiful old cottage which was built in 1535 - it is rumoured that Rudyard Kipling lived here for a while. (The white-painted cottage with the dormer windows.)

We left just after the Festival officially opened and strolled home to enjoy a nice cup of tea back at Pottery Cottage...

9 comments:

  1. I love anything like this!
    What a fab event!
    The cottages are simply beautiful. Thanks goodness it was agreed that they should be re-thatched in order to keep their historic character.

    Sal;-)

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  2. How absolutely, entirely, utterly wonderful... I love the village scenes. I wish I could have come... a little far from Alabama but ohhh what a charming time. And your cottage door photo is exquisite.

    Blessings,
    Christi

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  3. Thank you for sharing your beautiful little corner of the world!

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  4. what a lovely place and fun event..

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  5. O how wonderful! St. Deneys is divine. Sad about the old thatched cottages. It always makes me sorrowful when beautiful piece of history is gone. Thank you for sharing. I adore tudor and thatched roofs!
    smiles
    DarLy*~

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  6. Oh I love village festivals, they are always so nostalgic and bring out the best in people! what beautiful cottages, good to hear they could be rethatched.
    Kimx

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  7. I was too tired to work this morning and decided to go "visiting". Thanks for a lovely time. Now, I have one more entry on my "must visit" list.

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  8. Sounds like a really friendly village event. We had our well dressing and open gardens this last weekend as well. Glad the weather was fine for us all.
    Margaret and Noreen

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  9. What a wonderful day, a good time was had by all. I love the photo of your front door.
    Ruth x

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