Bignor Weed and Wildflower Festival

This is an amazing event, which is held every two years.  The organisers work incredibly hard to transform the interior of the church with plant materials.  Walking into the building at 7.15am on the Saturday morning was an incredible experience.  It felt like walking through a magical woodland glade.  The scent of the plant material and sound of bird song really made it feel as though one was outdoors.  In the chancel there was even a flowing stream and ponds.  I was so pleased I had investigated it before setting up my stall outside in the churchyard.  Later, both on Saturday and Sunday we were so busy making garlands there was no time to see anything else that was going on.


Several special moments stood out over the course of the weekend: 

• The young man who bought a garland for his girlfriend, shyly asking if she would like one.  We watched them choose it together and then saw his rapturous look as he whispered to her: 'You look like an angel'.  It was one of several romantic moments. 
• A poet and publisher Sandra Saer who bought one to wear during her poetry reading.
• A lady who watched enraptured as we were making, then said maybe she was too old to get away with wearing one, but that she didn't care....later in the day she popped back to tell us that she couldn't remember having been told how pretty she looked in a very, very long time



Busy making garlands

• Suprise visits from friends, especially Bill and Jenny who helped us to sing: 'When Spring Comes In' a traditional Sussex Song from the Copper Family's collection.

A final lovely suprise came the following week when we discovered that the Midhurst and Petworth Observer had published our photo on the front cover of the paper and another inside where the Weed and Wildflower Festival was reviewed of one of our customers wearing a garland of Scentless Mayweed, Alchemilla Mollis and Tamarisk...very pretty indeed!