That was the week that was.

I'm a touch staggered to find that it's been a week since I last dropped in. Usually such an absence is down to me being away, but that's not even the case this time. Perhaps a few random photos snatched here and there will give you a flavour of what's been happening. Please feel free to join me on an amble and ramble type of post.

It's been a big birthday kind of week in our family [not me or Mr GBT], but one with a brunch and a day off work. Not wanting to waste our rare free afternoon the BBC Gardener's World voucher got pressed into action and we paid a visit to the nearby Borde Hill Garden. Now I know that I went here when TYM was still in a pushchair yet it didn't ring any bells not even a quiet tinkle! I had no plans to capture floral images in shades of coral, salmon and apricot, but that's how it panned out. All of these were new to me💗

By Thursday the weather was back to grey and showery, but this dame is a gal who likes to have a cheer-up strategy up her sleeve and as luck would have it she was working in a village which provided her with just that little drop of joy to keep the tank filled up. A glittery purple hedgehog did the trick, but the day hadn't finished with me yet. I saw a flash of orange on the usually gun metal grey doors of a deconsecrated chapel [now a hairdressers] when I drove past on my way to my voluntary reading thing I do. With a little time to spare [one of the benefits of being an early bird] I shot out to see what it's all about. These gorgeous koi carp have been painted by an artist called Dominic Simpson and his work is being shown in this space in a couple of weeks time as part of Horsham's annual art trail. I hope that I am proved wrong, but I think that it's probably a temporary piece.

Yesterday was the final weekend of a month's run of dancing and it was a return to Winchester Fest which is a favourite of ours. Dancing our Thor's Hammer to just the drums with the incredible acoustics in the Great Hall was extraordinary. These were what drew me as we pottered between our different performing spots. 

The 'Hampshire Hog' is thought to have been bred from the wild boar which used to inhabit the wooded areas around the city. It was commissioned by Hampshire County Council to mark its centenary in 1989, but because it's a bit of a way out of the city centre I hadn't seen it before. Obviously as a Morris dancer it is de rigeur to find a pub and imbibe a pint of something delicious at some point during the proceedings. We made our way over to The Eclipse Inn and I couldn't resist the little details either side of the door. Now I was a student here back in the 1980s yet I know I never drank here [unlike the nearby Vine where I spent an evening dressed up as Columbia from the Rocky Horror Picture show with my then boyfriend😈] so it was definitely time to make amends. The funniest thing was that my former housemate from this time and still very good friend Jane turned up totally unexpectedly and typically found me here. Some things never change, but it was a lovely surprise.

The building dates from 1540 and has in its time been a rectory and a private home. It became a pub in 1750, but the most interesting fact about it is that Lady Alice Lisle was beheaded in front of it on 2nd September 1685 for harbouring fugitives by Judge Jeffreys in the Bloody Assizes. She holds the dubious title of being the last female to be executed in this manner in the country.

And there we have it folks. Speak soon.

Arilx