Slindon Pumpkin Festival

For over 20 years, The Slindon Pumpkin Festival  has drawn people from all round the counties. The Upton family decided that their meagre pumpkins needed to be dressed up and marketed differently, so Mr Upton came up with the idea to use the vegetables to create pictures and displays.

Every year the family design and work hard at using the various coloured gourds and pumpkins to create a picture. The displays started out being on he roof of one of the barns, but soon a special display stand was made to house it.

Cleverly, they have a market stall to sell their pumpkins and all things related to pumpkins. 

This year the theme looks at the Battle of Britain.

Previously the display has depicted scenes from Star Wars, Venice and Cinderella.

Located on Top Road in the beautiful National Trust village of Slindon, other homes have also cashed in on the pumpkin festival offering pumpkin related goods to visitors.

We bought bought pumpkins to carve for halloween.

The local church hall offers a good range of refreshments and there is a nearby community-owned shop and café, Slindon Forge on Reynolds Lane.

We visited the local potter too, busy making pumpkin related things. We to sucked into buying some miniature pumpkins and some christmas tree decorations.   I don't actually mind buying locally made crafts. They always bring great memories of travel. 

Downe House.. Charles Darwins home

We haven't done alot in science lately, so when I discovered that Charles Darwin's house was only 'up the road' from our latest housesitting job, it went straight to the top of must sees.

The top of the family home is set up as a museum and learning centre, tracing Darwins life and discoveries.  Its a shame we as a society remembers him as a crusty old man. By all accounts, he was an extremely hospitable, jovial man, who loved a good laugh and ( unusually for Victorian times) was a loving , demonstrative father. 

Some of the things I liked to see pointed out was that he was an undistinguished scholar, despite that, his curiosity and love of collecting and classifying things, drove him to go exploring for five years around the world. 

He was fascinated by the hummingbird - and has dozens and dozens of them ( stuffed) in glass cases.

I also didn't realise that he kept his book "Origin of the Species" back 20 years before publishing it. He knew it would cause such a stir, that he may be burnt as a witch and heretic.  An incredible fact is that the book has never been out of print.. far out.

The garden is neatly kept, but nothing out of the ordinary. The house is understated and comfortable. His rooms were kept as they were when he was alive - and really looks like he has popped out for a moment.

I hope the kids got some valuable information as we explored the hands on activities. There were alot of missing bits of information which were tied up as I wandered around, so I'm glad I took the time to explore and read the displays.

Twinning Tea shop in London

Thomas Twinning bought this little shop in the early 1700s. It makes me smile to think it used to be a coffee shop!

This historical gorgeous little shop is always packed with tourists, all breathing in the smoky aromas of the teas Twinnings is famous for. 

It has survived for 300 years - its sad to see it dwarfed amongst the steel and glass monstrosities of the modern world.