The walk takes you along the River Parrett where we saw Kingfisher, Small Tortoiseshell and Banded Demoiselle as well as lots of water lilies and the delightfully named Thorney Silent Mill.
The fair was apparently busier than ever with lots of colours, sounds, stalls, cakes, ciders and, of course, scythes! Close up you can hear that wonderful swooshing noise the scythes make, but from our distance with the general hubbub of the crowd, that sound was lost. It was wonderful to see children playing in the cut grass and building a hay lady and then the fun of building a haystack and deciding which was the most stable (yes, this is a genuine competition). We watched all sorts of traditional crafts - bodgering, leather making, music making, withy weaving, forging, sawyering, apple juice making, tool sharpening . . .
The scything competition was great fun. We watched from a distance and admired the almost dance-like movements of the scythers as they moved gracefully with the grass.
A wonderful day out celebrating crafts and trades which embrace wildness.
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| Banded Demoiselle, River Parrett |
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| Creating electricity by pedalling - I made bubbles! |
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