Sunday lunch

Yesterday, I ate fish and chips off a paper plate at Cheltenham Racecourse: today by contrast it was substantial nibbles (concluding with old fashioned ice cream cornets) in Northamptonshire. We wouldn't normally make such an effort to go so far for a party, but our host was an old friend of Caroline's, whom we hadn't seen for many moons. He had recently been summoned to Cheltenham Hospital from his home, and so realised the distance for us coming the other way wouldn't be impossible. Nor it was. And who knows if and when we might meet again?

As can be judged, it was a large party, with marquee as well as jazz band. And, as often happens when you travel out of your country, we bumped unexpectedly into various other good old friends. Going back we had the most lovely drive through the quiet country lanes of North Oxfordshire: you wouldn't have thought it was a bank holiday weekend.

Maggie's Cotswold Farm

Maggie's seems to be the charity flavour of the month: hardly surprising, with its cancer caring centres being such a very attractive idea - which could benefit any of us. Next year, the Cheltenham centre, designed by Sir Richard MacCormac, is scheduled to open, and yesterday Iona Birchall kindly let hundreds into her beautiful garden to picnic in aid of its running costs.

As Colin Russell was one of the organizers, there was traditional jazz, live during the afternoon, and an ice cream stall. The sun mainly shone, but there was the inevitable rush for umbrellas at one moment. Cotswold Farm is set in an almost unspoilt stretch of countryside, North of Cirencester, with views towards the Wiltshire Downs, its flower gardens tumbling down into a secret valley. There is a huge and productive kitchen garden too: we bought lettuces.

(More photographs here)