No official meeting for August didn't stop us from having a get together anyway! Carolyne kindly invited us for a return visit to her family's farm at Avon, and it proved a popular move judging by the number of attendees and photos taken. We were blessed with a warm evening and soon were split into two groups for tours led by Carlyne's husband Irving and son Joe. They were full of enthusiasm for what they do and answered lots of questions from their eager audience. Lexie had given birth that very afternoon so there were new piglets to see!
The evening was rounded up nicely with plenty of chat, tea/coffee, freshly cooked sausages and lashings of cake; not forgetting Carolyne's daughter's display of cards for sale. We wish the family success in getting their Brown Swiss cattle registered as a pedigree herd. The introduction of this breed - in addition to the traditional Holsteins (aka Friesians) we saw - is designed to increase the protein and buttermilk content to the overall milk production. We look forward to another visit and in the meantime we've pledged to support our own local farmer by eating lots of Cadbury's chocolate!
Elsewhere this month the Book Club revealed their Reading Challenge choices; the Crafty Crew had some more fun with FIMO; and the Our Town/Flexi Club mashup enjoyed Chippenham Museum's first history walk so much, they attended the whole series! Carolyn returned to Denman for their open day with HSL and learned a lot from the osteopath in attendance how important the right seating is for good posture and minimising wear and tear on the body. Finally there was just enough time left in the month for Diane to show us her favourite walk from Pewsham into Monkton Park and back.