Outside of the Cotswolds, after we got rained out at our boot sale, we went to the interesting town of Tewkesbury. We made a quick trip there to check out the Abbey.

Here is a view of the ceiling there. This photo was taken of a reflection in a mirror which help to give a really good look at it.

There were three people there working on needle work for pads to go into the abbey. It was going to take them months to get everything done. I think they said that they had a dozen people working on them whenever they got a chance.

There was even a man working on it.

In churches all over England, if you look closely, you will find carvings of what are called Green Men, usually having leaves for hair and beards and part of old pagan religions. The sculpters usually hid at least one in some hidden corner of the church they worked in.

My friend, Jane, and I went to what is called a Prom in England. For some reason I thought it would be dressy and formal but it turned out to be very casual, rather like the Pops in the States with mainly classical music being played and two light operatic singers. We took a dinner and wine and joined the others on the grass for some live music.

Here is where the audience sat, eating and drinking while waiting for the music to start.

The crowd really got into it when they played Rule Brittania! It was like hearing a patriotic song in America. They even played a song by a German (I think) composer which is what is the traditional song used by French Can Can dancers. A few women formed a line and did an inpromtu dance to go with the music.

There were fireworks afterwards. It was really a great time.

The next morning we went to a boot sale, a flea market type of happening. Notice the really gray sky. About ten minutes after I took this photo it started pouring. We still managed to get a few really good deals. I wanted a few toys for my grandchildren when they visit and found a little boy selling his collection of dinasaurs. He told me they were 1 pound fifty for the large ones. I told him it was a little expensive for a rainy day. I ended up with a big bag of them for five pounds with a few toy cars thrown in. (He seemed happy with the deal.)

There are all sorts of what are called fetes here in England, along with flower shows and boot sales. My friend, Jane, and I tried to get as many in as we could in the short time I was in the Cotswolds (which is one reason Maurice didn’t come here with me). On this particular day we were going along with a lady who lives in the same complex as Mary is staying, where she is house sitting. The lady was one of those English ladies with an exquisite, upper class accent and she had a bit of an attitude to go along with it. She was driving. We all got into her beautiful black Rolls Royce, me in the back seat. From behind I could see her beautifully manicured nails and some magnificant diamond rings on her fingers. We took off, zooming through the forests up and over and around curves on the very narrow roads, she driving like the Queen with a secret service car in front of her clearing the way. I could see the speedometer from the back seat and saw that she was going 50 which didn’t seem too bad until I remembered that the English don’t use kilometer per hour, but miles per hour. At any rate we arrived safely at the flower show which turned out to be at a splendid Manor house, if that is the correct term.

Just a humble little abode.

There were white tents all over the lawn selling tea and cakes and also a small band which played to entertain us.

A first prize winner in quilt making. This is, I guess, the flower show portion of the fete. People had entered their flowers to be judged, along with food, photos, fruit and vegetables. The Queen and her late husband had a trophy for one of the winners. She had once lived in the village that the people attending the fete, and entering their various items, came from and I think she missed it. As I was strolling around I remembered so many scenes from English books I have read about fetes and jealousies over someone who always manages to win first prize for her roses or cake. It is such an English thing, rather like the great markets in Paris.

This guy was there to whip up excitement about various events going on, such as welly tossing, and telling us when someone had won a prize in the many little raffles going on.

Some lovely flowers in the garden. A man in the gardens, perhaps the manager of the estate, was telling us that he once got to meet the Queen of England (not my Queen but the real one) and as he was leaving to return to Oxford she asked him how he was returning and he told her by the Oxford bus and she said, “What is that like?” Just think of all of the things in life that she has missed out on. Not all of them good but just the things in life that we find common and ordinary.
Anyway, the Queen returned us safely after giving us a driving tour of the village where she and her husband had once lived.