Tetbury Fayre

27th May - Monday

The White Horse near Avebury

Where did all the people in Tetbury come from? 

Market Hall 

Is that you in disguise, Charles? 

Cotswald stone house

Another bank holiday; we have had four weekends since collecting the car, and two of those weekends have been bank holidays (or long weekends)!


After another leisurely breakfast – croissants and pain au chocolat on the table as well today – we decided to risk another car book sale. However, this one was being held in the grounds of Marlborough College, so we felt confident there would be no tin shed full of junk! Access to the college is very restricted, so we felt quite privileged in being allowed to drive into the grounds and wander around the water meadow, otherwise known as the soccer ground. This really was a car boot sale, with a diverse range of goods on offer, from the very old to the hardly used, as well as a good range of plants on offer. We did find a very pretty Coalport lady figurine looking very lonely, and her owner’s daughter lives in Hobart!

Wanting a fairly easy day, and being unable to visit Prince Charles at Highgrove, we thought the next best thing would be lunch in his local village of Tetbury. Not long after passing Avebury (again), we spotted a white horse on the side! However, we hadn’t counted on today being the annual “fayre” and wool sack race! There was even a team of South Koreans entered in the race and they had a film crew with them to record the event. We found out that the sack race is actually a relay with four team members who carry a 50 kg sack of wool as they run down a fairly steep hill and then back up again. Sounded like jolly good fun to us!!! I think anyone who hadn’t gone to the seaside for the weekend came to Tetbury for all the fun of the fair. There were stalls down both sides of many streets, with wall to wall people in between. There was even a sideshow alley to keep the younger ones amused. We bought a hamburger (which turned out to be more steak tartare) from the first stall we came across, thinking this was probably the only food source, apart from the fish and chip shop and donut van. After returning the uncooked hamburger, we then discovered the next street had all the nice food – and even more people. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to stay until the sack race, which wasn’t due to be held until mid-afternoon.

We continued through the Cotswalds, with the houses in this area mostly made from a beautiful honey-coloured stone. We wound our way through more lanes and some pretty villages before heading back to Marlborough and the packing. As this is our final night in England, the suitcases will need to be packed tonight – and perhaps the present list should be checked. I am sure there will be a number of people anxiously awaiting our arrival on Thursday.

Tomorrow we intend to spend in Windsor, so I should be able to add another page tomorrow evening before we fly out.