Goldhanger is a small village, in Essex, not far from us and this weekend they hold the annual ‘Goldhanger Gala Weekend’ and we paid them a visit yesterday (Saturday) morning.

They have a second-hand book sale in the church, an art show in the village hall, a display of classic cars, Morris Dancing etc. We didn’t see the Morris Dancing because it didn’t take place until the afternoon and we left about midday.

It’s a nice little village as you can see and the pink house on the left has ‘1750’ moulded onto the wall.

There were a number of classic cars crammed into the rather small village and things were, it has to be said, a little chaotic.

The green one in the foreground is a ‘Talbot’ although I don’t know the model or the year of manufacture. The church and pub, The Chequers, can be seen beyond.

We had a look around the book sale where Amanda bought a few books and on our way out through the church porch we heard a little cheeping sound. Looking up near the roof we spotted this.

Three hungry mouths – baby Swallows – waiting to be fed and the parent birds did vist fairly frequently whilst we stood there. It seems unusual for a brood to be produced so late in the year; after all they have to build up enough strength to fly to Africa for the winter. I did ask them to post a trip report on the forum when they get back next summer but you can’t trust these birds so don’t hold your breath.

After leaving the church we decided to go for a walk along the river wall and went out of the churchyard via this unusual stile.

We made our way down to the river and although the tide was out leaving large areas of mudflats exposed I took a picture simply beacause I liked the colours and the same for the view over the fields.

This is Amanda on the river wall as we make our way back to the village seen in the distance.

We said our goodbyes to Goldhanger and went home. Goldhanger is near enough that we could come back anytime for a walk round and I hear the the pub does very good food.