The Washerwoman

Saturday 18 July 2009

A quintessential English afternoon

Today was the annual Church Fete. The elements were braved to set up the stands....

The Bric-a-Brac stall, always a favourite. (I came home with the red checked table cloth and the Shorter pottery fish shaped dish).

The rain soon subsided and the customers arrived, there were cream teas on offer and some very popular beer from an Organic brewery called the Avon Brewing Company (their slogan? Proper Beer for Proper People!)

It went down a treat.......

Then there were the ever-popular cake & produce stalls....
A pot of the legendary runner bean chutney & some freshly picked Gooseberries were purchased.
The bottle stall was groaning with a varied selection of prizes. From Daddies sauce to Single malt!
and of course, no village fete could be without a plant stall.....

A pleasant afternoon was had by all despite the English weather. I was in charge of the Nearly New stall ( but forgot to take a photo of it) we had been donated some good quality items & there was nearly a fight over a very pretty yellow floral Vintage dress! Another interesting item was a pair of "Hob nail" leather walking boots. A customer was intrigued by the newspaper stuffed inside them which was dated 1936. A great little slice of English Country History.

11 comments:

Vintage to Victorian said...

Hi Liz

Love the thought of the 1936 newspaper in the boots. A jolly afternoon by the sound of it. Did you get the dress?!!!

Sue x

Mandy said...

Oh I just love these church fetes they are so quaint and they seem to make lots of money which is always good. Hope the weather was better than here, it rained hard all afternoon

Sal said...

I just love events like that!
So typically English!
I love the term 'bric a brac' too!!
Hope the vintage dress wasn't torn in two!
;-)

Sophie - Chez Sophie said...

Sounds wonderful. Love the sound of runner bean chutney!
Sophie xxx

BusyLizzie said...

Thank you for your comments.. luckily the rain subsided as the afternoon progressed, it was also that "soft Irish misting rain" thank goodness! I was the seller on the dress stall, so was playing at being "ref" between the 2 customers who were after the yellow dress!
Lizzie x

Niki Fretwell said...

Hi Liz,
Sounds idylic! We do these 'old fashioned' events so well in the UK, don't we?!
Have a great week,
Niki x

Country Cottage Chic said...

A jolly good time was had by all!
Glad the weather cleared up for you.

Jayne

Rosie said...

Wished I lived somewhere that still had a Fete like that. x

Josephine Tale Peddler said...

Lovely post. I sighed all the way through it. Hello, you have a beautiful Blog. Now I found you through Hello Mr Fox! Such a lovely space. I'm off to check off your Dolls House Blog now. xx

Mrs Doyle said...

Hi Liz, love the blog, soft irish mist rain indeed, was lashed today with sharp, horizontal Donegal rain. Ah well - love and love from Mrs Doyle xx

BusyLizzie said...

would that be the Mrs Doyle who used to live up the road opposite the post office then?????
Liz x