Last week I shared the upcycled home decor pieces at the pop up shops at Dalegate Market, just over the road in St Mary's Church there was a flower festival so it would have been rude not to have a look wouldn't it? As we approached the church I was taken by the colourful daisies growing out of the wall. I saw these recently at the garden centre and was seriously tempted to leave with some, I thought I'd know their name the next time I saw them too, but of course I don't. Pretty though, aren't they?
And yes that sky. How blue? Norfolk is one of those large skied counties, so when it's this blue it's really impactful. The same could be said of the flower arrangements outside the church porch, they're quite a statement too aren't they?
Inside the porch there were some gorgeous sweet peas, my favourite flowers at the moment. The arrangement was called All things bright and beautiful, no doubt many people's favourite hymn.
St Mary's church in Burnham Deepdale is famous for its round tower and mediaeval stained glass windows, but the flower festival is inspired by the Normal font, which has the months of the year on three sides, and so the flower festival depicts seasons of the year. And there were some stunning displays - and ideas.
Spring
What else for Spring other than Easter Bonnets? And it feels pretty springlike to me with its daisies, gerberas and roses and fluff-like gypsophila.
SPRING, WITH BONNETS OF COURSE
Summer
The summer display hints at long days pottering about in the garden with a colour scheme of blues, pinks and whites. The flower festival was held the third week of July, so no doubt this was one of the easier arrangements to source, but it was still stunning.
THE SUMMER GARDEN
This next display was my favourite, not only was it yellow but it was dramatic with the yellow buckets hanging from yellow ribbons, interspersed with yellow feathers. And of course, it's called Summer Holiday, what else?
MY FAVOURITE, A VERY CLEVER AND STUNNING ARRANGEMENT CALLED SUMMER HOLIDAY
Autumn
Moving to Autumn, the obvious choice was for Harvest Festival and doesn't this decorated pallet look autumnal, that's no mean feat I think for July. The other things that scream autumn are fireworks and game and both of these were cleverly incorporated into the displays.
ALL GOOD GIFTS AROUND US ARE SENT FROM HEAVEN ABOVE
Winter
In front of the altar was a display with lilies, shells and seed heads sprayed gold, and was another creative way of demonstrating a season that's, hopefully, a long way off.
The second winter display I'm including is quite obviously Christmas, and of course it's a Christmas tree. This one's quite a work of patience though, as it's made of toilet rolls stacked in a triangle and decorated with baubles and fir cones.
Isn't it clever? Let me know how you get on with this one, my empty toilet rolls are used in the garden for sweet peas!
And my final shot is of the decorations on the pews. Bark, shells, seaweed and lavender have never looked so pretty. Or so Norfolk!
It's not a big church, but they certainly packed a lot in, and hopefully they'll have raised enough money to repair the church roof.
