Well, what else?

Today, the sun is shining, the temperatures have soared and there was far too much flabby flesh on show in Cheltenham today.  Indeed, it could be that the English Summer has arrived.

A shame it didn’t arrive a couple of days ago, though.  There were so many plans for last Saturday; everywhere we went, it seemed there was yet another sign for a fete, a school fair or village revels.  We’d arranged to meet friends at Daylesford, for their Summer Festival but eyeing the weather forecast, we went well equipped with coats, umbrellas, hats, sensible shoes…the lot.

Arranging an event in California must be so easy.  Decide on a date and time and Bob’s your uncle, the sun will shine.  (Though maybe not necessarily in January….)  Pity all event organisers last weekend, then, who had spent months putting all their ideas into action, only to find the day dawning overcast and threatening rain.  Oh well, we are English.  We make the most of it, don’t we?  So, with map in hand, we sallied forth to find the fun.

It didn’t take us long to find it, for the whole place was full of things to try and yes, things to buy, too.  In the courtyard was a gazebo with Seedlip flavours to try.  Delicious!  (Yes, of course we did…try *and* buy!)

I must say, everything was looking beautiful, even without the sunshine.  Every time we go to Daylesford, there is something new, some new addition or extension and this time was no exception.

The extension to the farm shop had been built last Christmas, for I’d taken a photograph of the amazing advent calendar in there.  But further development has brought an indoor link along the front of the building, and on such a chilly morning, we were glad to minimise our time outside!  With all doors open and the whole place at our disposal, we took the opportunity to take a look in the corners we don’t usually explore

such as the Cookery School.

The barns were also open, cleared of livestock and filled with interesting things.

Plenty of goings on to discover and to talk about.

Since we arrived early, we had the time and the space to chat too.  I didn’t take a photograph of the vinegar makers and we really enjoyed chatting to the knife makers (whose name, sadly, we also neglected to note)  But I did enjoy finding out a little more about the basket maker from Barbados!

Thinking that it’d be a good idea to capitalise on the outdoor activities before the heavens opened, we took a look around the car park.

The Daylesford car park is usually a pretty interesting place with a smarter-than-average class of car parked there (!) but today, there was a rather older style to the area

The usual, glorious selection of vegetables were on offer – but at those prices, we’ll take the Waitrose route home.

But who can resist the bread?  Not me!

And there’s more!  Such a shame it’s not picnic weather – we’d have had a feast!

Instead, there were yummy pizzas baking in the wood fired oven, pink frizzante sparkling in the glasses and a rather fine fire pit to sit by.  No, of course it’s not going to rain, we said…(with our hoods up)

Well, we did stay dry (ish), had time to make a paper flower in the workshop, too.

A little smaller than those adorning the light fittings, but sweetly scented with organic flower oils and all made from recycled paper too.

Eventually, we made it outside again, just to see what we’d missed.  But looking at those clouds rolling in, we thought it time to do a last circuit of the farmers market and head off home.

It was a great event, plenty to enjoy and apart from any purchases made (!) more or less free of charge too.  The organisation was fantastic and clearly a great deal of time had been spent in getting everything shipshape, ready for the big day.  Of course, knowing Daylesford as we do, it was bound to be pretty grand.

After all, when the site plan comes in the form of a Turkish map fold, how could it be anything less than splendid?!

(in seeking a link for that last sentence, I’ve discovered a variation and fresh challenge.  Hungarian map fold, anyone?)