Well Dressing

As I haven't managed to go right through my Northumberland shots yet, I thought I'd put up the well dressing ones and tick that little "job" off my list.  (I reckon it must be the bird flu Sarah and I came home from Northumberland with - this time in 2 weeks I'm up there again and woe betide any puffin who messes with me this time - 6lb off in 3 days is definitely not a reasonable weight loss programme.)

The general theme this year for most of the wells was - rather surprisingly given the media coverage - NOT the 70th anniversary of D Day, which did coincide with the well dressing week.  Instead they chose to commemorate the centenary of the start of WW1.  Sadly it was the final day when we got there, that being my only chance in the week, and the flowers were fading.  But they were still impressive.  The village itself is always beautiful.  Mostly still owned by the family who own the Hall, it's kept at a very high standard, and the gardens are fabulous.  Just a couple of the little spots we liked best....

The first well we reached was Hand's Well.  Reason for name I have no idea.

From there we moved down the hill to the Children's Well - a small well that's always decorated by the children of the village.

There are other small decorations round the village that children have also worked on, but not associated with a well.  The best this year was Joseph and his dream coat  (their name for it).  The notice by it said it was done by 3 10-year-olds, a pretty good effort I think.

Moving down the hill, you come to the Hall Well - unsurprisingly situated directly across from the Hall Gates.

No mistaking that for the trenches.  The next was the Yew Tree Well, right by the candle shop.  To be quite honest, I really did't get this well at all this year.

Nice cupcakes though!

Next was the Town Well.

I love the shadows.  I've been trying to track this down - it must be a quote, and my guess is WW1 poetry or (more likely) the Bible, but I can't find it anywhere.  Just for once, Google has let me down.

The final stop was the Coffin Well (so called because of the layout of the stone basin at the foot of the well, which you can't see at all in this year's photos).  The certificate was on display outside the cottage nearest the well.

The choice of decoration was very appropriate for the Coffin Well I thought.  By the way, I did check up on this Mol, and I was right - Laurence Binyon.