PINKTOBER 4 - A SEAT WITH A VIEW - BIBURY

Because we had worked so hard in the garden earlier in the week, Mr. HCB said that he would take me out for lunch today.  We went to The Organic Farm Shop at Abbey Home Farm, two miles from Cirencester off the Burford Road, where the meals are vegetarian and vegan all with delicious home-made salads and we thoroughly enjoyed it, but I was very good and didn’t have any cake!  I did take a lovely shot of some pink echinaceas, and a copy is in as an extra, but things changed, as you will read!

I thought we might come straight home, but Mr. HCB had other ideas and instead of turning right, we turned left and ended up in Bibury, a lovely little village in the Cotswolds, on the banks of the River Coln and once described by William Morris as “the most beautiful village in England.” 

Bibury dates back as far as the Domesday Book (1086) and many of the historic buildings are built of traditional honey-coloured Cotswold stone, with steeply pitched roofs, especially in Arlington Row, bottom right in the collage, probably one of the most photographed row of cottages in the country.  These tiny cottages once housed weavers who supplied cloth, which was then cleaned of its impurities at nearby Arlington Mill, bottom left, which is now a private residence.

The wool was hung to dry in The Rack Isle, a water meadow and marshy area home to many unusual plants and small birds, including mallards, coots and moorhens.  We were quite surprised that the area which runs along the Rack Isle and is usually full of water was almost completely dry, obviously because of the hot weather and the lack of rain, which probably accounted for the lack of trout in the river.

There were many Japanese tourists and I understand that this is mainly because Emperor Hirohito stayed in the village on his European tour.

When we first arrived in Bibury I saw a beautiful house with pink roses in the garden, middle top of the collage - and you can see them if you look very closely!  I decided that it would make a good Blip for the fourth day of Pinktober, but it was obvious as we went round that I would have to make a collage because I took so many lovely shots.  

We walked along the pavement towards Arlington Mill and Mr. HCB told me that there was a wedding party taking photographs in the garden of The Swan Hotel - what a beautiful day for a wedding!  It was at this point that I saw a seat opposite the hotel, so mentioned to Mr. HCB that I could do “A Seat With A View”, so that I could use more of my shots.

We then wandered along The Rack Isle, which was cool and shady and just as we had walked over the bridge, after we had been looking at Arlington Row, the lady we now know is called Christine said to Paulo “Don’t you dare go back on that bridge, I want a shot of it when those other people have gone," meaning some Japanese people who were walking towards Arlington Row.  Hearing that, I rushed back onto the bridge, only to hear her say “Oh no, I didn’t want anyone in my shot!”  I laughed and said I was only joking as I had heard her comment, which made them all laugh, so we stopped and had a lovely conversation with them.  They asked if we would like a photograph of the two of us on the bridge, so Tacio took several photographs for us, which was good because we don’t often have shots of us together.

It transpired that they were in Bibury for the day and had come from London, where they all work.  I explained about Blip and asked if they would mind having their photograph taken to be part of my Blip and they were quite happy.  I asked their names and they told us Tonia, Christine, Paulo and Tacio. The two young men, Paulo and Tacio were from Brazil and we almost had hysterics when, as I was typing Tacio’s name into my phone, the predictive text changed it to “Ravioli”!!  We were all laughing so much but he was such a good sport though and said that was fine, he didn’t mind being “delicious and cheesy”!  What a delightful encounter!  I gave them each one of my cards so that they could have a look at the Blip and told them if ever they were in Swindon to look us up.

Then I thought it would be good if we had a “selfie" of the six of us - it was decided that Tacio (or Ravioli as his friends then called him) had the longest arms, and you can see the result at the bottom of the collage in the middle.

As we took our leave of them, I remembered that I had bought some more little hearts yesterday to give away, and had put four into my purse this morning, so of course, I gave them all a heart too.  

We then went back to the car and just before we got there a photographer with a tripod asked us to wait, because he wanted to take photographs of the wedding party, as they all walked along the pavement, by the river - obviously making for the bridge - what a good job Christine had already taken her photograph of the empty bridge!  As we waited, I got out my phone and the photographer kindly asked the couple to stop to let me take a photograph of them, which in the circumstances was only fair!  

All in all a wonderful day - thank you, Mr. HCB, for taking me out for lunch and to everyone who made the day so special - and if you are reading this, Tonia, Christine, Paulo and Tacio (or should that be Ravioli?) do come and see us sometime.

Please join me during 
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
By clicking here
So that those who are not able to pay
Can have a free mammogram. 

“Believe you can,
     and you are halfway there.”
Theodore Roosevelt