Sunday, July 11, 2010

Priddy Folk Festival + Milton Lodge Gardens

Priddy is a small village about three miles north-west from us at the top of the Mendips. This weekend it hosted its folk festival so we trotted along lunchtime to take a look.

Traders at the Priddy Folk Festival

Glastonbury-like, the village green is devoted to Marquees and Performances; on an adjacent field the traders were set up. I skipped the Thai Massage (£15 for 30 minutes) while Clare (pictured above) failed to clear the liquorice stall.

Some Music outside the Pub

Our lunch was hot dogs and a pint at the New Inn where genuine folkies were performing out front (above). They served to remind me that if you want endlessly repetitive solos improvising minutely around a theme pretty much devoid of inspiration in the first place it's so much better at 130 decibels and from an electric instrument with six strings. More folkies below in a slightly more structured performance setting. We didn't bother to go in.

The Band Plays On

We then drove the couple of miles to Milton Lodge and its famed gardens, beautifully positioned on the southern slopes of the Mendips. Today was the last time this year the gardens were open and here's the view from the house over Wells Cathedral (and I somehow managed to get Clare in the picture too for some human interest).

Wells Cathedral from Milton Lodge Gardens



The Stepped Garden

Clare is not the surrendering type (see previous post) so the shot below is quite unusual. It may of course be that she was just surprised to see me.

I surrender ... maybe ...

Here's a final shot of the gardens.

Milton Lodge Gardens

Have you noticed how it's become pointless to watch World Cup matches as the Psychic Octopus has already predicted the result? For example, as I write this the final has not yet kicked off, but we know in advance that (the Octopus predicts) Spain will win.

I wonder what it thinks about catastrophic global warming?