Parish Holiday Day 4 -- 9-5-10

Photos from top

My hosts, Brian and Margaret, ready for the walk. As is evidenced by his "Romsey Ramblers" sweatshirt, Brian is quite a walker.
English footpaths are protected by law and are sometimes marked.
The footpath preceded the crops so one walks across the fields. This was tough going.
Some of the path was through woods.
The walk was followed by tea at the home of a parishioner -- one with gorgeous gardens.
And there was tea, food, and conversation
St. Leonard's Church, our host parish
Interior of St. Leonard's

There were no plans for Sunday morning. Aprel, the other parish holiday visitor staying where I am, wanted to see Stonehenge so Brian, our host, took her. Having seen Stonehenge twice already, I elected to sleep late and laze around. My cold is much better, but my energy level isn’t as good as I’d like.

At noon we went our for the traditional Sunday roast dinner at a nearby pub. Then we headed back to Sherfield English for the advertised “walk around the village.” It wasn’t quite what I imagined when I read that in the brochure. Sherfield English is a rural, farming, area of about 500 people. The only non-residential buildings in the village are a small post office/store, a pub, the village hall, and the church; these are strung out along the road, not at all together. And most of the residences are farms or houses along country lanes. So, as it turned out, a walk around the village was really a walk in the countryside on footpaths. It was quite enjoyable, but not a leisurely stroll looking in quaint shops. We started out across plowed fields, walked through some woods, along fields, and along country roads; probably went about 4 miles total. Many of the locals are obviously regular and long-distance walkers as evidenced by Brian’s “Romsey Ramblers” sweatshirt.

At the end of the walk we had tea in a lovely garden at the home of one of the parishioners. The weather cooperated in that the rather heavy rain from earlier in the morning hadn’t returned so we could enjoy being outdoors. By the time we finished with the tea and all the goodies, it was time for the evening service at St. Leonard’s, the parish holiday sponsor. As a prelude to the service the bells were rung. They have a ring of eight bells but only six were used for today’s peal. I love hearing tower bells.

The service was a joint service with the local Methodist congregation which meant there were more people and the singing was stronger than it otherwise would have been. The church building dates from 1904 so isn’t much older than my church in St. Paul. It’s the 4^th St. Leonard’s in the village, the third on that site. After the service there were light refreshments served at the back of the church and eaten while standing or sitting in the pews.

Returning to our lodging we had a very light supper of cheese and crackers, and I headed off to my room to organize this and get to bed.