The Manor, Weston-on-the-Green

Gill's Auntie Mary was in fine form at her 90th birthday lunch here today at the Manor, Weston-on-the-Green, Oxfordshire. There wasn't much time for blipping but I nipped out with the camera as it had a nice garden with some serious topiary work on the yew hedges. I tweaked the colour for an old postcard look.

Mary made a nice speech, as did Gill's dad, Mary's brother, who reminded Mary how their grandfather, Lewis, arrived at his christening. His parents had a horse and cart that they used to drive him down a long hill to the church. Once there, his mother and father were shocked to find that Lewis had disappeared. They went back up the hill and found a woman coming down to meet them with the baby (unharmed and quite cheerful), who had been tipped off the back of the cart when it went over a bump. I love this story which sounds like something you'd find at the start of a Thomas Hardy novel.

The only other details I know of Lewis's life is that he kept two rusty nails in a glass of water by his bed. He drank the water "for the iron".

He was teetotal for all of his life until he had a beer on his death bed. It's to be hoped he didn't get a taste for it!