By Frome's bonny banks

Today has been a rare treat: a day of walking, sightseeing, shopping in local markets, flavoured with a hint of Christmas and mulled wine! After the pressure leading up to yesterday's craft fair, this was much appreciated. Cowgirl and her partner Sav came up to visit for the day. Leah/Cowgirl had visited before, on August bank holiday, but of course, things change... they have bought a house in the Midlands now, and won't be in the West Country much longer. We started with Leah's mince pies and coffee, then walked along the canal improvements to admire the views of Capel's mill viaduct and Capel's mill, and the engineering of the raised canal.

At this point we decided to walk along the banks of the river Frome to the outkirts of town. The banks are a designated nature reserve, so very much left as they are, with a bit of essential path maintenance. Sav saw a kingfisher and I saw a little brown/black bird just skimming the surface of the river. All this just 2 minutes' walk from Waitrose and the A419! My shot shows a stretch of the reserve, now threatened by a new housing development on Rodborough Fields.

In town, we browsed the market stalls (things were closing up, as we were quite late) and I wandered over to a stall selling raku fired pottery and ended up buying a bowl that cost me more than a day's wages in my part time job. Oops! But it is beautiful, as one would expect at that price. I may blip it one day. Then it was off to the church to see the exhibition of Christmas trees. I was pleased to see that the Conservative MP had upped his game this year, his tree being a bit more supportive of local charities rather than his business pals! There were also no photos of him on it. Clearly my run-in with him last year did some good!

After a lunch that CleanSteve laid on while we were out, we drove around Stroud's valleys, taking in Brimscombe port, where the river and canal again run side by side, Chalford village, Bisley village, and Sheepscombe village, where we attended an upmarket Christmas fair at the village hall. I bought a roll of brightly coloured tissue paper in 19 hues, and some of my friend's letterpress printed Christmas cards. The same printer friend may have solved my excess-stock problem by offering me an indoor stall at a selling event on 15th December. So, the panic is over. All the aromatherapy goods may yet be sold by Christmas. I sold a couple more items today. If I can just keep that up...

There are so many delightful things I saw today that I'd like to share them all with you (especially the mulled wine) but I am sticking with the Frome shot, as it is an oasis of serenity in this busy season.

CleanSteve's account of the day

The river Frome in summer. I prefer today's shot.