Towersey in pictures

I've written about Towersey Festival before and how fantastic it is. This time, I'll mainly share pictures....

A small section of the campsite looking towards the Chiltern Hills

Found a hurdy-gurdy player tuning her instrument outside the Ceilidh Tent

"The Big Club", the main concert venue

Inside

The Ceilidh Tent with the Towersey Poplars in the background. I love these trees! I've known them most of their life. Twenty years ago they were newly planted saplings and we were asked not to tie washing lines or tents to them. Now they're grown up and provide a windbreak on the south and west sides of the village playing field.

The newly enlarged dance floor is inspected by early arrivals

Dance floor in use

The floor seems even more chaotic at night. Band: DanceCupola, Caller:Gordon Potts

The late night venue from the camp site

Inside

Towersey at night

Some of the people are quite eccentric...

There are many things to buy...

It's a short walk to the other site and there's a bus to Thame

The children are kept entertained

Overhead, a Red Kite

The lantern procession on the last night. All weekend, people have been at work with wire frames, imagination and tissue paper

New Drainer

I don't often do "product reviews" but I am very pleased with my new camping Drainer. I had one like this before, given to me by a friend who found it in a charity shop. It folds up nicely and copes with uneven ground. There are similar devices in metal (rusts, sinks into soft ground) and wood (difficult to get clean, may rot) but this one is made of genuine plastic. The only problem is they don't work very well after being stepped on and that's why I bought another one from Ebay. All helps with my "Camping, Yes, Roughing It, No!" philosophy.

Sidmouth: The Cream Tea Workshops

As well as the dancing at Folk Week there's a lot of Cream Teas on offer. Since the doc has given me anti-cholesterol tablets, I splurged out on four!

At the Clock Tower, Connaught Gardens

New for this year was "Trumps". The establishment started out as a traditional old-fashioned grocer - wood paneling, cheese counter, wines and spirits to the gentry, etc. In recent years, it sprouted a tea shop in one corner and this has now expanded to around 2/3rd of the floor area. So together with a lady inspector, I tried it

There was a good quantity of jam and the scones didn't crumble as you spread the cream. Pricing was under £4 a head which is at the lower end.

However, the star, as usual was the Clock Tower at Connaught Gardens. As well as a good standard cream tea, it's a place that takes cakes seriously too. Just feast your eyes on this cake in the chiller! (An advantage of modern tablet computers is that you can wipe off the drool so much easier than with a conventional keyboard)

Here's a nice view of their offerings. I selected the nice healthy carrot cake while fellow inspectors went for lemon meringue and standard cream tea. 

A hint of the superb location

Dancing at Sidmouth

 The core of a great dancing experience is the music: Here, a large and diverse group of musicians came together to play for an dance outside. 

Festivals are not all about organised events. I was with some friends having a meal near the Ham Marquee and some musicians sat down nearby and played some French dance music, just for the fun of it. So we got up and danced...

At one of the more organized dances, I came across Basil again - he's slowed up a little over the years but he's still the most extraordinary dancer. He thinks nothing of break-dancing in a ceilidh or using a puppet as a partner. In this video he's "learning" the Bourée from his partner although I suspect he knows more than he's letting on

Here, Basil (right) compares notes with another dancer

Adam is a respected fiddle player but also a bit of a poser 

The late night dance venue on a remote hilltop

The long walk home to the campsite

The "Anchor Gardens" is really a pub car park in the centre of Sidmouth. Twice a day during the festival there are free dances. This video catches some of the spirit

Images of Sidmouth Town

I went to Sidmouth for Folk Week mainly to dance but there;'s more to the town than the festival. In many ways it's a step back in time to the traditional English seaside. Some pictures:

There's a lot going on

Part of the small fishing fleet - their catch is sold locally

Traditional beach pleasures - with modern, brighter colours

The beach huts have been repainted too

Street entertainments include pan-pipe bands and this "living statue" caught by the rain

Catering for festival visitors

Took this late afternoon beach scene pointed towards the sun shading the lens with my hand

You could describe this wave pattern as "anthropomorphic" because it's due to two artificial islands in the bay causing two sets of waves to arrive at different angles giving interference patterns

There's a bowling club...

...and determining the winner calls for careful measurement

The only traditional butcher left in town...

...with a traditional counter

 The Sidmouth lifeboat is independent of the RNLI and is carried on a trailer behind a tractor the length of the Esplanade to a suitable launch point. Here, it starts the return journey after floating into the trailer and then being driven up out of the water onto the beach.

As you might expect, there is a River Sid and this is where it flows out to sea under the Alma Bridge. It's not always this tranquil though as the video below  shows