That title is a bit of a mouthful really, but on Sunday fourteen forumites met up along with seven of their nearest and dearests (some more willingly than others) for lunch and a wander around old Thatch.

A good number of people turned up with bags and boxes of books and there was plenty of swapping and selling going on (a set of FFOs with facsimile dust jackets garnered a fair bit of attention) but I managed to be very good and not come away with anything except the school story Francis had already offered me (Kits at Clynton Court School‏ by May Wynne if you’re interested! I don’t even have it with me right now as I had too many books so Stef is posting them to me soon.)

There was much chatting and eating once we got inside the Spade Oak and then it was time to head over to Old Thatch.

I’ve already written about Old Thatch as has Stef, so I won’t describe the gardens in minute detail again, instead I think I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

What I will say is that the gardens change every time I’m there, dependent on the time of year and the weather. (In fact, Jacky told us when we arrived that the top end of the garden, near the old stream, had been flooded for three weeks after all the heavy rain earlier in the year, and they were only just finding out what had and hadn’t survived. The rain also affected other areas and plants, some thrived in the wet and others didn’t fare so well.)

THE GARDENS IN PICTURES

There was plenty to see anyway, flowers and plants of all kinds as well as plenty of wildlife.

Blue dragonfly

Spider’s web in the rose and clematis walk

Robin looking for cake-crumbs

Another huge spider’s web

Robin again

Another blue dragon fly

Red dragonfly

The flowers came in all shapes and sizes not to mention colours, I must have taken a hundred photos of flowers alone.

And of course if you looked past the petals there was an equal array of colours and textures in the leaves and foliage.

Not to mention the house, fountain and other more permanent features.

The Original Rose Arbour

I think a lovely day was had by all really, helped along by the glorious weather we had. We enjoyed cakes and drinks at Old Thatch too, some of us with a Dick-Kirrin like appetite even had seconds but I shall name no names! Stef and I also had a few lovely chats with Jacky and Stef bought us both Noddy friendship bracelets which were made by Jacky’s 97 year old mum!

Stef’s photo which I’m shamelessly stealing

AFTER OLD THATCH

Then Stef and I had a little wander down to the river and lazed about with ice-creams á la the FFOs, though ours were Cornettos as the van had sold out of just about everything else.