Bang!

...and boy, what a loud bang it was!

I went along to Tatton Park to the Medieval Fayre today. No-one else was playing out and so I either went along by myself or I missed out...and I didn't want to miss out! Actually, I quite enjoyed my own company and I ended up staying all day....it was absolutely brilliant.

Everyone involved with it was wearing a costume and it was all authentic. They had tents with cooking pots, a smith with a working anvil, bowmen, fletchers, knights, falconers...everyone you would find in a Medieval village, especially a Medieval village that was preparing for battle. The whole day culminated in a huge battle, the rebels against the King's men.

Swords clashed, axes wielded, arrows flew, guns fired. A trebuchet flung huge balls down the battlefield and canons boomed, there was smoke, bangs, flashes and the roar of men in battle. Through the hail of arrows, the smoke and sweat of men weighed down by heavy armour I watched the blood being spilled.....well, okay no blood was actually spilled, but if you let yourself become totally absorbed like I was then you saw blood being spilled! Oh, it was all very exciting.

There was a display of guns from the earliest stick guns to revolvers. The explosion of gunpowder reverberated through my chest....and the smell was wonderful. When the canons boomed the crowd all jumped as one....fabulous. 

I watched a falconry display and a bird flew straight at me, its wings kissed the top of my head as it swooped by. Knights clashed swords as we watched them fight, musicians played and archers loosed their arrows. I loved it all.

A few more shots here


Thank you for all the lovely comments on my Meryl Streep jump yesterday. There were some fabulous entries for Film Star Friday, they can all be seen here. I don't know whether people still want me to choose a first, second and third, but I shall carry on until someone says they'd prefer me not to. I have to say it is really, really hard to judge though....

1. DramaQueen...she is the spitting image of Goldie Hawn....brilliant.
2. Ukelelehaley & happyhound...their helpers were wonderful, both the                       two legged and four legged!
3. Paola...who would have thought a chicken would be happy to dress up ha ha ha ha.

All the entries were great....well done to everyone who had a go. Three of us are on the front page of popular...yahoo. The next FSF is on 1st July.