Charity coffee morning

This event for Dr Barnados comes up once a year in South Somerset. A gracious house or minor stately home is chosen, the rooms filled with beautiful flower arrangements made by a local flower club that can be bought afterwards to take home, plant stalls, cakes, jams, and homemade pickle stalls and of course the raffle. A Dr Barnados representative gives a talk on the charity's work in the county. There are no longer Barnados children's homes as the work is now in the community. One is welcomed with a cup of coffee and a biscuit and today D and I bought a ticket for the light lunch held in a marquee in the garden. What a treat and I loved snooping around inside and out! There were several hundred women and fewer men, not really my scene but I enjoyed the day and it is probably the only chance to see these buildings!

This year we were invited to Thorne House near Yeovil, a small Ham stone Victorian mansion built 125 years ago. There was a dwelling here much earlier in the 11C and recorded in the beautiful stained ancient glass window on the landing (and there were other houses in between). Now a company owns the property for its VIP visitors. Very nice too!