Pick your Own Sunflowers

1 Reply

Sunflower Pick your Own
Just beyond the end of the Causeway, between Abingdon and Culham, is a large field of pick-your-own Sunflowers at High Lodge Farm. Entry is free and donations can be made to Helen and Douglas House. The field is open from the August 8th for two weeks.

There is a looping track round the field, with smaller by-ways through the sunflowers for those who enjoy getting off the beaten track. Many of the sunflowers are taller than adults and dwarf children.

We followed a group of adults and children to the exit kiosk where each sunflower stem costs £1. They held armfuls of the large sunflowers. We bought £4 worth and they look ginormous on the fire grate indoors.

There were smaller wildflowers, mostly blue, which could be picked and bought by the bag-load.
Sunflower Pick your Own
The Sunflowers that don’t get picked will have a few more weeks of life in the sun before turning to seed.

No pigeons on the railings

2 Replies

Sunset
The usual gathering of pigeons could not be seen on the Wilsham Road railings.
Sunset
On the other side of the River Thames, Orion’s Star was in close proximity to St Helen’s Church.
Sunset
The Old Gaol was reflected in solitary confinement
Sunset
as the sun set somewhere beyond the Market Place.

Abingdon Country Market to close in September

4 Replies

Country Market
Abingdon Country Market were letting customers know that after 72 years their last market will be on September 11th (at the Salvation Army in West St Helen Street).

They have very much enjoyed running the Market, and have loved baking for the people of Abingdon. It is with regret that they have taken the decision to close.

The reason is a change to food standard regulations. Natasha’s Law will come into force on 1st October 2021. The law was introduced following the death of a teenager called Natasha, who suffered a fatal allergic reaction after eating a baguette bought from Pret a Manger. Businesses will need to label packaged food with a full ingredients list and allergen information.
Country Market
The person I spoke to at the Abingdon Country Market agreed this is needed for bigger businesses but will find it too difficult to do as a small concern (see example of Lemon Drizzle Cake above). Currently Abingdon Country Market provide allergen information on each package and know the ingredients of their own products. The full ingredients list and allergen information will be a large overhead where only a small number of each cake or preserve are made every month.
Country Market
Another difficulty is maintaining an ingredient’s list where ingredients can change unexpectedly. If a certain margarine is used in a cake, then the full breakdown of the margarine ingredients are shown on the cake, and where ingredients change, or an alternative is used, the change will have to be noticed and the label changed as a result.

The Country Market have known about the new law since 2019 and have waited to see whether there will be a dispensation for small producers before taking the decision to close.

I don’t know whether such labelling will be needed for cakes sold at church and school fetes.

The next group litter pick

Leave a reply

Litter Pick
The next group litter pick, organised by AbiBinit!, will start at the Peachcroft shops on 11th September.
Litter Pick
Their last group litter pick began near the Reynolds Way shops on Saturday 7th August.
Litter Pick
I was working on that day, and cycling home I was surprised to see a lot of blue bags – far more than those on this picture.
Litter Pick
The nearby garages will be demolished in the next month.
Litter Pick
The Abingdon Bridge charity supported local young people in creating a wall full of murals on the other side of the garages. Only those murals made from tiles, signed by young people, have survived. The murals painted on boards did not survive. They got replaced by newer murals, painted on board, which have not survived.