Picnic at North Nibley

We were invited to a picnic this afternoon at the Tyndale monument, built at the top of the Cotswold scarp slope above North Nibley in Gloucestershire. It was a lovely setting, if a bit hazy, with a cooling breeze blowing over the hill, which was very noticeable when the sun was shrouded.

Pip, who I've known since we were about sixteen, lives with his wife Mary in Bristol, about twenty miles south of here. All the other people were their friends, a few of whom I had met before. Many of them are singers in the Bristol Gasworks choir and I hoped they might be inspired to spring into song, but it wasn't to be. Luckily they are coming to sing in the Nailsworth Festival in May, as they did last year so successfully.

Instead we ate wonderful home made fare, and chatted and laughed for many hours. There were delicate vegetarian quiches, lamb sausages, Helena's brilliant anchoiade, an anchovy delicacy, home baked breads, rare cheese and fruit salads. Someone even managed to bring hot coffee to finish off with our chocolate easter eggs, beautifully presented in a nest of grass within Helena' straw hat. That would have been a good blip too.

I took this picture for the archive, as we got up to leave at about 5pm. We then took the long stroll home, down the old road from the quarry just below the summit. This was a magnificent hollow way, etched by centuries of human and animal traffic and the scouring effect of the rivulets of rain. I took some better shots there, as well as in the woodlands whilst walking back down the hill.

But this shot will remind me of the people we were with, both old and newer friends, as well as this Cotswold landscape we are so fortunate to live on. It'll also remind me of how much I could improve my photography, with a bit more care and attention. But it mustn't be at the cost of enjoying the moment.