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!

Engraved seat at Redbournbury Mill

A short cycle ride to Redbournbury Mill, a working mill which grinds corn for the production of bread at its own bakery.  There is adjacent to the mill a water wheel which drives the mechanism for the grinding wheels within the mill.  There are two rivers quite close to one another, the River Red, which passes through the village of Redbourn, and the River Ver, which passes through the city of St Albans, the Roman city of Verulamium. I hope you can enlarge the pictures to see them more clearly. 

A field of Poppies and one of Linseed

I was out for a bicycle ride on a beautiful summer's day and passed these two colourful blooms, one of poppies and the other of linseed which is used in various products which are oil based. For those visitors to my site from around the world and with varying climates here in England at this time  of year the daylight hours are the longest of the year from 4am in the morning until about 10pm depending on the cloud cover. We have had very heavy rain showers of which I was caught in one on my bike which meant a complete change of clothes when I arrived home, but it is all about the pleasure of cycling! I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Codicote Steam Rally and Country Fair

I recently visited the Steam Rally and Country Fair in the village of Codicote in Hertfordshire which was very interesting and on display were steam engines and road rollers as well and ancient tractors. The picture (right) is of a steam powered lorry, it having a fire and boiler in the front of the vehicle which can just about be visible from the photo. When I was a young boy I just remember them delivering the beer to the local public house. They sure did make a smoke screen as they went along the road! A nice and warm drive for the driver in the winter! I think the owner of the engine above was about to sweep the chimney and his ladder was in place! Just a short cycle ride of 20 miles.

Stream and country fair