On the longest day of the year, St Ethelwold’s House hosted a special event: Tea and Cake in the Garden.
There was also music, thanks to Make Music Abingdon, a local organisation who promotes music in the local community.
The event coincided with Make Music Day, celebrated in over 1,000 cities in 120 countries, encouraging musicians to make music where they are.
The garden at St Ethelwold’s House was as beautiful as ever and as always had the right flowers.
Hatwells Funfair, a regular visitor to Ladygrove Meadow in Abingdon, set up this evening and will be open from Thursday to Sunday. Entry to the fair is free, and ride tokens can be bought on-site (£1.20 a token or £10 for 10).
The family-owned and operated business typically travels to a different town or city in Oxfordshire each week. The ground was too wet in early May and so their visit has been postponed until now.
(Ladygrove Meadow is also called Ock Meadow. It is by the Ock Bridge off Drayton Road in South Abingdon.)
Work on the new Premier Inn near the Marcham Interchange is nearing completion.
This raises the question of the future of the existing Premier Inn, a quarter mile away along the Marcham Road.
That, together with the Ock Mill Beefeater Restaurant, alongside, is owned by Whitbread.
John commented that a property agent has a brochure for the sale of the site at https://www.geraldeve.com/properties/?propertyid=26682, but at the moment it has a status of ‘withdrawn’. The site is not in the current Vale of White Horse local plan (2031), and would need planning permission for change to an alternative use.
Oxfordshire County Council is currently undertaking resurfacing work in Abingdon. They completely resurfaced Stert Street, which was last resurfaced in 2007 as part of the Abits project. Contractors are also resurfacing parts of Marcham Road and Colwell Drive.