Church Fete

 
This afternoon was the annual summer fete at a local village church.  It's a beautiful venue as the church is built on quite a high hill (well, high for Essex) and there is a marvellous view from up there. 

 
There is an old dovecote in the churchyard and afternoon tea was being served close by - I went mad and had a piece of coffee cake with a gooey sticky filling (the first piece of cake I've eaten since January - it was delicious!)

The fete is always extremely well organised and very well attended.  I made a bee-line for the linens stall and came away with some wonderful bargains.

 
A pair of unused vintage Horrockses white cotton flat sheets, four William Morris Golden Lily print cushion covers, two fabulous pieces of vintage fabric

 
An unused 1970s linen tea towel

 
And another unused pure linen tea towel, this time featuring Mexican motifs.  I also got a couple of unused pots of body butter for me and something rather nice for a swap I'm taking part in.  Even the book stall produced a couple of books that were good for re-selling on Amazon.  P won a football on the hoop-la stall (I was rubbish and only won a small bag of chewy sweets.)  It was a lovely, gentle, very English way to spend a sunny summer's afternoon.  There was also a flower festival going on in the church itself with arrangements commemorating various famous people

 
I particularly liked this display in honour of Baden-Powell, the founder of the boy scouts, especially the wigwam effect and the very ancient copy of 'Scouting for Boys.'

ETA:  I know the 'no cake since January'  line seems a bit bizarre and, believe me, it's not because I haven't wanted to eat cake but its pretty much 'verboten' for me along with butter, cheese, cream, chocolate and any other foods with a high saturated-fat content.  I've had to go on to a really low-fat diet because I developed a problem with my gall bladder in January.  Oddly enough, if anyone had told me at New Year that I'd have to give up all my favourite foods I would have been devestated but it's really not been that bad - plus I've gone down two clothes sizes, which is a great bonus.

 

Comments

[Max]

The church is sooo pretty, but hang on! You haven't eaten cake since January?!!!! I'm sure it was for a good cause, but I just cant imagine 5 months and no cake. Wow! x

[Loo xx]

Oh I do like a good Church fete particularly if it's got a bric a brac stall. Excellent buys, loving the tts especially. Like the commenter above, can't believe you haven't had cake since January. Blimey, I'd have it every day if I could!

[Victoria]

What a lovely church and such lovely linens you came home with,

Victoria xx

[Grace]

LOVE those tea towels. I can't get enough vintage linen tea towels.