Sunday 12 October 2014

A conker-ing we will go!

Today, at my insistence (I do sometimes feel sorry for my family) three of us went off to the World Conker Championships in the village of Southwick, near Oundle. Mike was going to come with us but in the end he decided to stay at home (a good decision).

The weather was fine and dry but there was a definite Autumnal chill in the air. We found the village of Southwick easily and didn't really need Gladys who kept trying to take us onto another road and continually shrieked "Recalculating!" at us. Parking was in a large, very bumpy field liberally splattered with cow pats.

We headed for the Conker Championships first and marvelled at some of the outfits worn by the contestants...some of them were very strange indeed and only in England could there be such a turnout of eccentric people!





Funny hats seemed to be the headgear of choice for many people, with one man wearing a cheese on his head and he was Canadian! We saw people (and dogs) wearing conker necklaces and one man had a glass holder made of conkers!


Of course, at an event like this, the Morris Men were out in full force and we watched them as we queued up for something to eat.



I really could never see Keith dancing about with a straw hat on his head and bells on his legs, but it does take all sorts!

We had a quick drink in The Shuckburgh Arms which hosts the Championships and I chose half a pint of Brewster's Winter Draws On, which I did not like one bit. My beer was as flat as a pancake yet Keith's pint had a lovely creamy head. Still, the warming log fire was lovely to sit next to and kept the chill away and Sophie was happy with her half of Stella Artois!

After we'd had something to eat and had watched a few more conker contests, we headed home. By now the sky had clouded over and it was a real Autumnal day, perfect for sitting in the warm and doing very little!

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