You never know when you make friends with someone where the friendship will go. Many, many years ago I met Julie at a mothers and toddlers group called Prampushers. Her baby son was two months older than mine and although that’s nearly twenty years ago, the two boys -young men now, are still best friends, and so are Julie and I. Every year Julie and her family come on holiday to Uphill and we always enjoy getting together. Now the children are older she and I can go off and do things on our own.
We decided to go to our county town of Taunton, and luckily the weather remained fine while we wandered around
We wandered up and down the High street, in and out of bookshops and I bought a guide to soft cheese making… this is going to be my next cooking adventure… but I’ll say more on that another time!
Lunch! I took Julie to Pain & Vin, a nice little café on the corner of St James Street; we sat on high stools at a little table round a pole, looking out at the world and enjoying our generous and inexpensive lunch.
As Julie had never been to Glastonbury and as it is one of my favourite places, we decided to go there so off we set through lovely Somerset countryside and along the top of the Polden Hills.
We wandered down the High Street, drifting into bookshops and some of the interesting and decidedly different businesses there. I pointed out the baker with the funny name ‘Burns the Bread’, and Ralph Bending the estate agent with the amusingly honest description of their properties for sale or to let, ‘Tarted up apartment in posh area. No mingers.’ For more gems, visit their website: http://www.ralphbending.com/
Of course it soon became time for tea, and obviously we went to my favourite Glasto café, the Lazy Gecko. Refreshed, we wandered round the little street market and we couldn’t help but notice what we called Glastonbury chic.
These clothes aren’t for special occasions or fancy dress; up and down the streets of Glasto you can see people of all ages, from little babies to elderly men and women wearing flowing robes, with long hair, piercings, tattoos, and circlets of flowers or semi-precious stones on their heads. I think they are delightful and different, eccentric maybe but in a harmless and fun way!
Lois Elsden 
Nice post
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Glastonbury’s one of my favourite places. As an ex-hippy, it’s got vibes.
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It certainly has!
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I love those clothes!! Especially the second photograph of the clothes for sale at that market. There’s nothing like that around here. Of course, people rarely wear long sleeved dresses or tunics here, so they’d only be worn in the absolute dead of winter.
…oh, and I find those pictures of churches fascinating. One of these years (when my children are old enough for international travel) I would really love to visit some of the old churches and cathedrals of the UK and Europe. Eh, that’s a dream that probably won’t ever happen, lol. I can still dream, though!! ;o)
Thanks for sharing your pictures!
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You’re welcome Dana… Glastonbury is a lot of fun – and of course the Olympic opening ceremony included Glastonbury Tor (the big green hill, which is even bigger in real life, obviously and has a ruined church tower on top!)
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i have just finished reading a novel set in Glastonbury so this was a most appropriate post – than you.
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Oh, what was it? Was it any good?
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The Chalice by Phil Rickman. I don’t know if you have read any of his books but I love them – The Chalice is a big fat book and at times it did seem to lose its way but overall I really enjoyed it. Phil Rickman transports me, especially with his Merrily Watkins books. The Chalice isn’t one of these – if you like the supernatural, it’s definitely worth a read.
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Sounds interesting – I’ll have a look for it!
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He also has written a really good novel about John Dee.
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I’m definitely going to have a look for him!
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Yes, he really does know how to spin a tale.
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