A Deer Instead Of A Bear

We didn't venture far today but took a very short trip to the village of Bearsted, just a ten minute drive away from home.
It's a very traditional English village with 59 listed properties, many surrounding the idyllic village green, and more importantly two pubs. We decided to try the one which we have not been to before called The Oak On The Green. What a lovely characterful pub with friendly staff that serves a good pint. We're planning to go back to try the food soon.
After imbibing our pints we went for a stroll around the gloriously atmospheric village green. The village even has its own cricket team that has been playing on the green since 1749.
Unfortunately, we didn't see any actual bears roaming around Bearsted's green so today's image of this soft toy deer's head which was somewhat incongruously affixed to a wrought iron gate leading to someone's garden. It just made me smile!

When we got back we watched the third and final episode of Pilgrimage: The Road to the Scottish Isles on BBC iPlayer. Over three episodes it follows seven well known personalities of differing faiths and beliefs - they include a "non-conforming pagan", a practising Sikh, an agnostic, a muslim and a lapsed Christian - as they embark on a journey of religious and spiritual awakening travelling 1600 km by foot, road and sea from Ireland to Northern Ireland and Scotland following in the ancient footsteps of St Columba - an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland.
They start their journey in Donegal in the Republic of Ireland and travel on to Northern Ireland and the West of Scotland visiting places of worship - pagan stones, an early Christian cave, a contemporary mosque and a Sikh temple - on the way and ending at their final destination of Iona, a tiny island in the Inner Hebrides and the sight of St. Columba's most revered monastery.
This would not normally be my kind of programme but it was fascinating, enlightening, moving and thought provoking.