A visit to a scarecrow festival

A few days ago I visited the village of Flamstead in Hertfordshire where the villagers hold a scarecrow festival. Most of the villagers make a scarecrow and exhibit them in the front of their houses. The event attracts hundreds of people and the proceeds from the various stalls selling cakes, hot dogs, cups of tea, etc go to local charities. Visitors are encouraged to vote for the best scarecrow. The winner this year wasn't exactly a scarecrow but a very interesting layout of a Wild West show with Indians and cowboys. There was an exhibition of water colour paintings on show in the parish church and a concert by the Hemel Hempstead brass band the highlight of which was an invitation by the bandmaster to a very young girl to conduct the band which she did very well and managed to keep the beat right even though she had to have a chair on top of a table to see the band! Hope you like to see a few scarecrows. The man in the floral hat is real and is a Morris dancer, a traditional English dance performed with  much dangling of bells attached to the dancers' legs accompanied by a piano accordion and concertina.

A visit to the city of St Albans

I recently had a visit to the city of St Albans which is only 6 miles from where I live. It has a very impressive cathedral and an ancient Abbey Gateway. If you are ever in the vicinity of St Albans it is worth a tour where you can be guided around the cathedral by an official guide (times 11.30 Monday to Saturday, 14.30 Sunday to Friday, 14.00 Saturday, 13.05 Daily highlights tour). Just down a pathway is the Fighting Cocks public house, reputed to be the oldest licensed premises in England, where you can get a refreshing drink. What more can you ask for!