Bank Holiday Fete

I've seen signs dotted around town for the past few weeks advertising the Lions fete here in Berkhamsted. I love nothing more than a good fete but was worried that it'd be rained out as Saturday and Sunday were weather write-offs...

I woke up bright and early today and was glad to see the sun was out and the weather reports looked good...so went back to bed...yes, I slept through most of the morning. Mostly because I woke up at 6am and that's just stupid when you have a bonus day off!

An hour after I rolled out of bed we were on our way to the Lions fete at the cricket ground just past the castle. It's a part of town I've never wandered through but lived the ruins and the hilly countryside that is almost on my doorstep.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from the fete but as soon as we walked into the cricket grounds I was impressed - stalls, bouncy castles, a climbing wall, a food corner and all surrounded by beautiful Hertfordshire countryside

First stop - archery! I had not idea that there was an archery club in Berkhamsted! I was so impressed with the care taken to talk me through how to hold the bow and shoot the arrow - these people are clearly passionate about archery! Mr Jones and I are both competitive so we naturally had to try to beat each other....(I won by a smidgen)

We wandered around after my victory - there were a lot of stalls for charities, local and national. A lot of them favoured the tombola approach at fundraising which I've not had a go at for ages!

Punch and Judy...a classic British thing...

There was a small animal petting zoo - it took me a while to spot the odd one out..

The owls were amazing! I don't think I've ever been so close to owls and unfortunately didn't take a picture but the man handling the owls was actually cuddling one!

Obviously the food area was the thing I was most interested in...I did t get the chance to take too many pictures unfortunately but for a small fete there were some good options - curry, pealla, hot dogs, hog roast.

I was fascinated by the giant pans that one stall used. The paella looked amazing and although very very tempted, I had to go for the hog roast.

Why the hog roast? Well, we're planning on getting married in a year or so and we're really not the type of people to have a formal sit down meal so want to have a hog roast followed by fish and chip van and ice cream can. I love the idea of a hog roast but as I pointed out to Mr Jones while walking to the fete, I do t think I've ever had freshly roasted hog!

I tried the hog roast at the fete and it was lovely! I was worried the pork might be too dry but it was moist and topped with stuffing, apple sauce and some crackling and there's no doubt now that this is what I want on our special day!

Unfortunately the wasps though the same thing and I had to surrender about a quarter of my sandwich to the evil things.

After being chased by wasps and feeling the heat of the sun we decided that we should wander home. On the way out we managed to see some of the Flyball relay racing - cute dogs running over a course of jumps - and managed to catch some of the folk dancing (I'm a secret fan of folk music in the right enviroment!)

It really was a nice day out and it's so nice that so many local businesses either sponsor or take part in these events. It was great to see another part of town and also discover a potential venue for our wedding!

And when we got home, what could I be found doing? Sitting outside with a chilled drink and cat in the background of course!