We set off for Parkham towards the end of September and, as we passed the 'Welcome to Devon' sign on the M5, spots of rain appeared on the windscreen. It was a sign of things to come as showers were a major feature during our time in North Devon. We did still have a couple of sunny days and plenty of opportunities to get out and about.
As we walked the lanes we were delighted to find just a few blackberries remaining in the hedgerows, enough to provide a topping on our morning cereal. We were also surprised to see a few swallows and house martins around the village on 3rd October. However, this ties in well with a report here in Knutsford that a substantial movement of swallows was seen flying over Tatton Park on the 29th September, bearing in mind that they fly around 200 miles in a day when migrating.
We enjoyed several walks along the coast and on the beach and this always gives us a real boost. Although we are less than an hour from the coast here in Cheshire, we seem to have too many other things to do and few opportunities to visit. Probably the same applies to Parkham residents, many we speak to rarely visit the coast.
It was the weekend of Harvest Festival at St James's in Parkham. The congregation were reminded that it was the Rev Hawker of Morwenstow who came up with the concept of Harvest Festival in 1843. In that year he issued a notice to his parishioners to draw their attention to the duty of thanking God for the harvest, and of announcing that he would set apart a Sunday for such a purpose. Regular readers will remember that I mentioned this gentleman a couple of months ago when we visited 'Hawker's Hut', the National Trust's smallest property.
After the well-attended Harvest Festival service we were able to enjoy an excellent buffet lunch served up in the church. It was great to see a large number of harvest contributions collected for the Food Bank in Bideford.
On our last visit we were a little restricted in visiting friends by having family members with us. We used this occasion to catch up with those we had not seen for a couple of months. We also met up for a meal in The Bell with friends we had not seen for around twenty years! A former work colleague understood that we spent time in Parkham and suggested that we met up in The Bell, not realising that we lived next door. Luckily we still recognised each other and enjoyed catching up over a meal. In fact they decided to stay the night and enjoyed the facilities and breakfast in the pub.
We returned to Knutsford in early October feeling relaxed after an enjoyable break and ready to face the next project on our Knutsford home, replacing the roof. As I write this the scaffolding is up but work has not yet begun.
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