Visit to Avebury

I spent a lovely few days in Avebury, Wiltshire, with Ruth. We took the scenic route along the South Downs to Winchester, then up to Marlborough and then on to Avebury.

Beautiful countryside  all along the route, rolling hills and fields, avenues of trees and pretty little villages. I realized that I hadn't spent much time recently in the country and it felt like I was drinking in refreshment and happiness.

We were staying in Avebury it's self at Manor Farm. The village is very small, with a pub, community shop and post office and another shop selling books and craft and crystals.

It is also much smaller than it was before Alexander Keiller bought Avebury in 1934. He knocked down buildings as they became empty, to clear space for the stone circles. The National Trust also followed suit till the 1960's.

Keiller was though responsible for excavating the buried stones, raising them again and setting concrete markers where he thought other stones would have been. Making Avebury the  World Heritage site it is today. With the archaeologist foreman, William Young, Keiller also, dug down into the ditch around the site and explored the area, uncovering items now in the museum.

I really enjoyed my time around the stones, drawing and taking photographs. We also visited the West Kennet long barrow on top of a chalk ridge overlooking Silbury Hill.

I was struck by the positive energy of the site and feeling of connection to the landscape.
And I will be working on more art works from my time there.

Broadstairs Folk Week

The annual Folk Week at Broadstairs went ahead a short while ago. Website here I really enjoy the atmosphere there on the streets. The Morris dancers were taking turns along the promenade with musicians and dancers.

One of the hobby horses dressed in tatters was being stopped by children, who enjoyed seeing him move his wooden mouth.

In the old shelters, groups of musicians were jamming together and clog dancers danced alongside.

There were craft, food and other stalls near the bandstand where the daily activities for families was taking place.

Quite a lot of us rushed for the marquees when we had a brief but heavy shower of rain.

Most of the day time performances were taking place in pubs this year, which was a bit of a shame I think. It would be good to have some in cafés and perhaps in the bandstand or outside.

The Chimney Boys were playing in one of the hotel gardens later in the afternoon so I stood nearby to listen to them. Their facebook link here
The beach filled up with people during the afternoon enjoying themselves in the sunshine.