Sojourn in Tewkesbury

Such a delightful weekend....well prolonged weekend really........

Excellent mooring spot, delightful town, plenty of good places to walk Barney and reasonable weather........what more could one want.

On Friday we had a family wander and introduced Boe to the delights of the Abbey.  Part of the afternoon had to be given up to Wimbledon as it was mens' semi-finals day...or should I say gentlemens' semi-finals as they now seem to call it!!

Boe in the Abbey

The Abbey is beautifully kept but I was amazed at the heating system.  There are two giant Victorian looking boilers.  One of the guide ladies confirmed that this was their sole heating which ran on oil and that they all brought blankets to the services in the winter as it was so cold!!

As well as the normal delights of the town, this weekend we had the Medieval Festival
when they re-enact the 1471 Battle of Tewkesbury the last battle in the Wars of the Roses.

Gill Smith, Ronnie Dunn and I spent Saturday afternoon wandering around the large variety of stalls which were either depicting life at that time or selling articles related to that era.   It was a vast area and extremely interesting......and quite hard on the back and feet!!

Later we made our way to 'Bloody Meadow' which is where the enactment of the battle takes place.  It was extremely crowded but we managed to get a spot near the front alongside where all the soldiers marched onto the field

Geoff & I went to the Abbey Sunday Communion which was held in the battle encampment.
The service was followed by coffee & homemade cheese and bacon scones......very welcome

Later in the morning there was a parade through the town

After all that activity Sunday afternoon was another day of tennis......much to Geoff's disgust.....

It is the only sport I really care for on the TV so compared to the amount of football & rugby he watches!!!!   Anyway it is all over now for another year.

Onward tomorrow.......heading for Gloucester.