Medieval Fayre, Sandwich, Kent.

Me in the stocks..

..so Alice had to go in them too!

Back in June my daughter Alice and I went to the Medieval Fayre held just outside Sandwich. Driving into work the previous few days I had seen the beautiful striped tents going up in a field, so we had to go and see what it was all about. The Fayre was held next to a farm shop on the outskirts of the town. It was a lovely sunny day, and we were greeted by the slightly scary man standing by the stocks. My daughter would not go into the stocks until I went first!! I would not like to be stuck in those for very long, but it was a great start to a lovely afternoon.

Girls working on a tapestry.

Medieval food, it looked lovely.

Cooking utensils.

There was a lot going on in the Fayre, cooking demonstrations, singing and dancing in the arena, stalls selling weapons, beautiful leather goods, jewellery, and numerous other craft stalls. A lot of thought and preparation had obviously gone into the fayre, and Alice and I had a lovely time.

Playing a musical instrument, I love the sound of medieval music.

Musical instruments.

After wandering around for some time we decided to get some food, so we made our way to the barn, where hot dogs and burgers were being cooked. We got there just in time to buy the last two sausages for the hot dogs, they were delicious, as were the large pieces of cake and big mugs of tea that went with them

Loading the guns.

Getting ready to fire.

This event takes place every two years, I will be going again, I wonder who I can get into the stocks next time??? Ha ha. 

Singing in the arena.

Fowlmead and a Ham Sandwich

I think some of you will remember my visiting Fowlmead last year, in January. Fowlmead is a country park which has been created on the tip that was left from Betteshanger Colliery. I remarked on my last blog that I thought the park would improve over time.

On Wednesday I re-visited the park with my lovely friends Pat, Shaun, Kris, Steve and their 2 grandchildren. We met up about 9.30am, only to find that Shaun’s motorized scooter simply was not going to play and totally refused to start! Not a good start, but we all repaired to the cafe for a cuppa and to have a think. Shaun spotted a notice saying the park rents out disabled bikes, so we inquired and Shaun thought he would be ok on a hand pedalled bike, which he was, so off we all went. I have to say he did amazingly well, although I understand his poor back and arms were very sore the next day.

I took an almost identical shot to this last time I was here.

We set off towards the lake, then Pat and I both got our cameras out, and soon we had been left behind by the others. We had a lovely time looking at the views, the wild flowers and talking to the trees – that was Pat, but only because I told her to go and ask the tree how old it was….. we giggled a lot as you can imagine. We happily snapped away for a while, then thought maybe we ought to catch the others up. Pat said I nearly got her lost, but I didn’t really….well ok, I admit I need a sat nav. fitted to me, but we found the others without too much trouble and made our way back to the visitors centre. I think I can safely say we all had a really lovely couple of hours, hopefully we will do it again soon, provided we can all run fast enough to keep up with Shaun that is!!

These seed heads were so soft to touch..Pat and I now call these ‘Teddy Bear shaving bushes’ 

Just to finish off the blog, I knew this signpost existed somewhere, I have actually driven round trying to find it with no luck. Wednesday evening my friend and I were on our way to the pub, when she spotted the sign!! I was really pleased, so at last here is my photo of Ham Sandwich!!