Linton Festival (and Churchyard!)

John and I just got back last night from my weekend of festival work. To make a change from the train, he chauffeured me around, which was rather nice. I spent Saturday morning doing an illustration workshop for the Derbyshire Festival, then after lunch we hot-footed (hot-wheeled?) it down south, to the very pretty village of Linton. 

It was a gorgeous day, really hot and sunny (a little frustrating seen through the windscreen!), but we did manage to grab a couple of hours for a potter round in the sun at the end of the day. The colours and shadows in the low, golden sunlight were amazing. I sat on a tomb in the churchyard and tried to capture it, whilst my head was bitten to death by midges from the nearby river!

On Sunday, while I spent the day doing my events, John went off walking in another day of glorious sunshine. The countryside round there is very pretty, especially at the moment with the rape and hawthorn in full bloom, so I was rather jealous, as of course I was indoors again the whole time!

It was worth it though, as my events were lovely: everyone was so friendly and appreciative. Since it was a weekend, the Linton Children's Festival were using the local secondary school. I was in the art room, so we were surrounded by all sorts of interesting objects, sculptures and drawings. 

I had a storytelling in the morning, where I read Bears on the Stairs and Stinky! then a couple of children from the school did fantastic job helping me to completely re-organise the room for the afternoon's workshop, humping great wooden tables around and carrying in umpteen stools. 

I had originally suggested about 30 tickets for the workshop, but we stretched it to 40. The thing was, when it came to it, more and more people just turned up. I didn't like to turn them away and besides, it felt so lovely to be in such demand! So I let them all in until the room was bursting. By the end there were even people listening from the corridor - how brilliant is that!?

John and I booked another night's B&B, so we wouldn't have to rush back, which meant I got another hour in the churchyard's sun that evening.

We were going to spend Monday in Cambridge but it poured with rain (typical!) and, since all the museums and galleries were shut, we gave it up and just came home via Ely Cathedral (which is pretty amazing).