Tuesday, August 3, 2010

OPEN GARDENS

Just one of the many beautiful houses in Datchworth Village

Having only been back to the UK a few times since we moved to Spain over 3 years ago, we found ourselves going back again as many times in the space of a few weeks!

Originally, I went over for a long weekend to visit my daughters; I then went back a fortnight later for the 50th Anniversary Dinner and Dance of my old football club, Potters Bar Town (formerly Mount Grace Old Scholars) which was held at The Royal Chace Hotel in Enfield and was a truly memorable occasion that I will tell you all about at a later date!

Lin, along with her close friend Karen, then arranged a holiday in Cyprus to visit her daughter Lisa and her grandson Alex. Upon their return to the UK I met up with Lin for the weekend, so that we could attend a friend’s wedding in Central London. Our good friend Ed made this all possible by coming over to us and to look after the house and animals whilst we were away.

We stayed with June and Roger, our dear friends and old neighbours in Bragbury End and we had the most wonderful time. We had a great time at the wedding on the Saturday, but what we didn’t know, was that our old village of Datchworth were holding their Open Gardens and Scarecrow Festival on the Sunday, which was an unexpected treat for us.

Having been on the All Saints fundraising committee for many years, we thought how wonderful it would be to enjoy the Open Gardens as a visitor for once. However, following the Eucharist service at our beloved All Saints church, which is probably the one thing that is irreplaceable in our new life in Spain, we all gathered in the churchyard in preparation for the afternoon’s events. After 5 minutes, it felt like we had never been away, as we were coerced into manning the bric-a-brac stall, which we did for the next 3 hours!!

We did eventually manage to slip away, which gave us the opportunity of visiting a number of the gardens and meeting so many of our old friends from the church and village, who welcomed us back with so much warmth and love that it became a very emotional time for us.

After the Open Gardens we attended a Songs of Praise back at the church, led by our old vicar Coralie, which was the most perfect end to a perfect day.

On the Bank Holiday Monday we met up with Lin’s son Guy, an expectant Amanda and Grandson Ollie and we had a pub lunch at The Horns Pub in Bulls Green, where we had been the previous night with a few of our closest friends. The Horns Pub has quite an interesting history, of which full details can be found on their website by taking the following link:- www.thehornsdatchworth.co.uk

Although we were only in the UK for a short time, we managed to fit in most of the things that we miss the most…namely fish and chips, a good curry and a pint of real ale!!

Anne, Tony, Andree and Paul working hard...

Our dear friends from church Clive, Doreen and June

Two of the entries in the Scarecrow Competition...


Very British.... Cricket on Datchworth Green

1 comment:

jules b said...

wow...how talented are those scarecrow makers....Fantastic!!! x