Thursday 2 June 2016

My Birthday–Kingsteignton Village Fete

It was my birthday on Monday 30th May and it was a glorious sunny day, so we went to the Kingsteignton village fete. It was a traditional village event with their annual ram roast and all the usual fete activities and we had great fun wandering around and seeing all the different things.

This is the ram roast. At one point there was a huge queue for it, and it was moving so slowly that we didn’t bother, and got our lunch elsewhere!

01 Ram Roast

Donkey rides.

02 Donkey Rides

The stand of the Guild of Devonshire Ringers. Note the bells set up so that people could have a go!

03 The Guild of Devonshire Ringers

Hoopla – a very old traditional activity at village fetes.

04 Hoopla

Hand-made walking sticks.

05 Sticks

Japanese drumming. This was very noisy.

06 Japanese Drumming

The owl lady. This Canadian owl was very splendid, and quite tame, and allowed us to stroke him. I was amazed at how warm he felt. He had great golden eyes.

07 Owl Lady

Swing boats. I used to love these when I was a child.

08 Swing Boats

The stand of a delightful lady exhibiting her small tapestry weaving pieces. I had a lovely chat with her and was so inspired by her work. I gave her my email address and she sent me details of her upcoming classes – there is one later this month and I am keen to go.

10 The Weaving Lady

Free tapestry weaving. This is the subject of the next class.

09 Free Tapestry Weaving

Her tapestry weaving sampler. She had mounted it on an artist’s canvas painted black.

11 Tapestry Weaving Sampler

Her table showing more weaving, and some hand spinning. Her spinning was beautiful, and incredibly even – she had sample skeins of various fibres including one of a silk and Merino wool mix which was very soft.

12 Spinning and Weaving

There was also some May-pole dancing which was going on when we arrived but I didn’t photograph it. Apparently they were making a right mess of it and getting all the ribbons tangled up! What fun.

Altogether it was a lovely day out, and an excellent birthday outing! I bought a few bits and pieces including a scarf made of silk with pieces of silk velvet which I thought I could cut up and use for art.

When we came home, after a bit of a sit-down with a cup of tea, I started in the kitchen and prepared for the little dinner party we had to celebrate my birthday. I cooked Spiced Lamb with Sweet Potato Topping (a sort of glorified Middle-Eastern-style shepherd’s pie), Sticky Toffee Pavlova and home-made Lychee and Rose Flavoured Ice Cream, using my new ice cream maker which is a great success. This was served with home-made shortbread. The food went down very well with everyone and we had a great time. I had done most of the cooking in advance and laid up the table before we went out, so there wasn’t much more to do than assemble it all and cook it, and cook the vegetables – baby carrots and steamed rainbow chard. As usual when I’m entertaining, I was so caught up with the cooking and preparation that I completely forgot to photograph the table (which I’d made a special effort with, and it looked really pretty) or the food! So you will have to use your imagination.

Another year, another birthday. If it wasn’t for the miracle of modern medicine, I might never have lived to see this birthday. I count my blessings daily, and hope that I never grow too old to enjoy celebrating my birthday with child-like enjoyment!

9 comments:

  1. Happy birthday Shoshi - may there be lots more to come! We had beautiful weather here on Monday as well. The biggest attraction for me at that fair would have been the owl! Wow, what a magnificent bird! Thanks for sharing your photos! It's like I've been there without having to brave the crowds!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am so glad you had a lovely Birthday Shoshi.I love fetes and fairs too. That weaving was amazing.Yes so neat. I think all of us "of a certain age"( me too) wouldn't be here but for modern medicine. We have to be thankful for every single day we have don't we. I think being childlike in our enjoyment of simple pleasures is a Blessing.It's rare.Good for you.
    Judy xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy Birthday! Wishing you many, many more birthday. I agree a birthday must always be celebrated with child like enjoyment. What a gorgeous way to celebrate. I would take the tapestry class too. I hope you get to go. Her work is gorgeous. I love, love, love the owl lady. I love the fairs you go too. They are so beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Aiyana! I love birthdays. I really want to go to the weaving class but don't think I'm going to be able to unfortunately, because there may be something else on that day. There will be other classes though.

      Shoshi

      Delete
  4. Happy belated birthday, Shoshi! Sounds like a very lovely day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy Birthday! What a fun event. I love those walking sticks. Now, I would be afraid to hold that owl . . . I love birds, but at a distances :) I do hope you attend the weaving class, if I lived closer I would suggest going with you, it looks like great fun.
    Have a lovely weekend.
    Connie :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Happy birthday! You know, I always thought hoopla was just one of those words that kind of really meant a nicer way to say something than the ugly alternative. I never knew it was a game!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well, a belated happy birthday! Sounds like you had a really good day! I enjoyed the visit to the village fete. Thank you for taking me there through the photos. It looked lovely.
    That free weaving is stunning. As is all the other stuff. Keep up updated about your weaving workshop. That should be really interesting.
    Have a good weekend,
    Lisca

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Shoshi. Happy belated birthday xXx. So pleased you had a good time, looks like a great show. Have a lovely crafty week, Angela xXx

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments! They are much appreciated. Spammers, please be aware that I read and moderate ALL comments, and yours will be deleted before publication, so please don't bother!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...