Glastonbury.... no better place....to spend Summer Solstice!

Summer Solstice, 2012 

and there was only one place to be......

Glastonbury is my spiritual home!

Of course we wore our brightest togs....

Me with my rainbow socks....

And Steve with his bright red shoes....

The Purple Kipling Bag is mine of course :-)

We arrived to stunning blue skies.....

And were met with a tiny Pixie door,

leading to our home for the week....

Betsy Cottage

We had booked on-line, but just 'KNEW' this was exactly the kind of place we were looking for when we read:

Steeped in history, this Grade II medieval sandstone cottage is fantastically quirky, and can accommodate up to four people, in one bedroom..

Dating back to the 16th century, this medieval cottage has had a variety of incarnations in its life, including once being a poor house, kitchen and even a jail. Now, however, the cottage offers a unique opportunity to holiday in wonderfully quirky surroundings, including a double bedroom with four poster bed and free-standing copper bath, and a Victorian range in the sitting room, which also has a sofa bed. There are ancient beams throughout, as well as exposed stone walls and flagstone floors. Guests have shared use of a small courtyard garden. The famous town of Glastonbury is a few miles away, and the whole area around the cottage is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, making this character cottage a wonderful relaxing retreat.

We walked into the living room and joy of joys....

All that was missing was the broomstick by the fire! 

The kitchen was delightful....

but somehow the fridge looked out of place. 

Other than that you would have thought 

we had stepped back in time!

And this is what greeted us 

as we walked up the stairs 

and into the bedroom........

A King sized, four posted bed,

with memory foam mattress! 

Not even the jg hanging by the side of the bath

was enough to put us off...

And the copper bath soon filled up

with lovely 'Lush' bubbles...

and was large enough to swim in.....

The writing had been left on the wall.....

On more than one occasion!.... 

We spent most of our time in the town...

but went for a day out to Longleat!

There were plenty of signs warning us about the monkeys!

And we could have avoided them.... 

But we didn't listen (no change there then!)

This guy was definitely the look out!

He let 3 cars go past, before (I'm sure I heard him!)

he whistled to his mates to come 

and strip the trim off the car room!

Flapping my t-shirt at the sun roof window did not help!

However.... we got away lightly!
 Not like the Merc driver who lost his back quarter light!
One even had the cheek to hitch a ride all the way to the gates as we beat a hasty retreat!

To be honest, I was less freaked out 

in the Lion enclosure and 

felt safer there than with the monkeys! 

In Glastonbury itself we visited lots of old friends.... 

and made some new ones too! 

This is Pan (My name fr him) and his 'Pet bird Mr Corvus.

Rescued as a fledgling, the bird chose him not the other way round. My friend Kath over at Hillside House,  kindly let me use this picture as the most horrible cafe owner told him to 

(in her words)

 "Shift that disgustingly, filthy, bird 

away from my tables, before I call the Police"

I'm not even going to repeat 

the conversation after that,

but would like to say,

that I, in the same circumstances, 

would NOT have kept my cool, 

and all credit to the lad for doing so! 

We also manage to visit his glass suppliers.....we twice actually, as his stocks are getting low and he needs to make more for his website

Where he spent a small fortune..... 

thanks to me, who actively encouraged him!...

And this is what £500 in glass looks like!

 (But Steve..... the colours were so pretty!!!!)

And then we were invited to the Opening Night of

The Glastonbury Art Collective, Exhibition......

And stayed till dark... as we met and chatted

 to so many wonderful people

And that's where Steve...... met James......

James creates the most wonderful pieces of

Twisted Wire Jewellery, 

You can find his creations here

And he and Steve are going to be working in collaboration

to create some new and exciting pieces...

but I'll let Steve tell you more about this as things develop

over on his Steve Smith Jewellery Blog

We had the most wonderfully, romantic and busy week. 

We made many new contacts, drank far too much coffee and spent far too much time acting like 'real' artists...

I cry when I arrive,

and I cry when I leave.

The place just lets me shed some built up stress

and puts things right back into perspective.

The people are great,

they support each others creative endeavours.

The understand that by working together,

there is plenty to go round!

I love the place,

I love the people

and I love the way that time seems to stand still there....

no-one rushes and everything gets done.

There's no need to stress about anything!

It's called The Glastonbury Experience!