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...