Torteval Scarecrow Festival 2009

We arrived at Torteval Church at 12.35pm. Our destination was the sixth annual Torteval Scarecrow Festival.

The car park is in a field which is on a jaunty angle to say the least. The Bumble Bee'rs were STARVING (as I do not feed them you know) so we headed for the food tent for hot dogs for everyone else and a 'filled' roll for me. Filled apparently means grated cheese and Branston pickle; to be fair there was ham but they had run out. The lady was very apologetic and if I'm honest the cheese and pickle was tasty and it came with some mysterious 'free' tomatoes. Why exactly they were free remains a mystery, perhaps they are some mutant genetic experiment tomatoes and I may expect to see those extra arms I've always fancied growing soon. You never have quite enough hands as a Mum :)

The kids played a few games on our wander through the village green. They each won something on the lucky bottle stall (thank goodness or you would have heard the wailing back in Australia) and I managed to buy another cookbook, that makes 96 and counting, Antonio Carluccio's Italian Feast. The lady only wanted 50p for it but I felt guilty paying that as the book is in such good condition so I paid £1.00. Mr Bee thought it was outrageous, so there you have it he is a better charity shopper than me.

You pay your entry fee to two friendly ladies and they give you the route map. They have a clicker to count the number of people who have visited the scarecrows thus far; before us ventured 791 scarecrow lovers.

You could pick up these sheets which displayed photos of things you would see along the way with their Guernsey French names underneath.

You amble along the lanes until.......

you strike scarecrow gold! No. 10 The Queen of Heart with her tarts; this was B2's favourite and she voted for her. At the end of the walk you get to vote for you favourite. B3 also voted for her because she was a 'princess', which is B3's current obsession!

What a gorgeous day; the sky was clear, the sun was shining and the corn was waving in the breeze. Thank goodness there was a breeze as it was a scorching 21*C today. The Bumble Bee'rs demanded air-coniditioning for goodness sake! Are they little Aussies or what??

B1 thought No. 14 'Monsieur Le Crunch' was a fraud as in his opinion a bale of hay does not make it a scarecrow.

I thought No. 20 Green Crow's Pipe was very clever. Please remember to click on the photos for a better look.

No. 23 Mr Scare and Mrs Crow won my vote. They very well made and they just appealed to me.

The cows were mooing and the tractors were chugging along with hay bales in tow.

The hay baler was working hard to keep the tractor busy.

No. 31 Eyes on the Road was fab. The driver has crashed into a hedge vege and was covered in squashed tomatoes. His eyes should have been on the road but instead they had wandered...

...........I can't imagine why.

Poor old Goliath was getting this butt whipped in No. 34 Stoned.

No. 36 Strictly Come Scarecrow came complete with....

...........hosts and judges.

This entry had B1 literally jumping up and down on the spot, No. 41 May the fleece be with you. Of course he voted for this one.

No. 44 Torteval's Got Talent had a mixed bag of acts (I would have voted for the bongo playing dog myself).

Piers, Simon and Amanda were of course in attendance, although Amanda really should change hairdressers!

No. 46 The Postman was great and made me laugh out loud; although I am very easily amused.

We ended the afternoon with an ice-cream cone, sadly not a Guernsey Farmhouse one, but tasty none the less and a jump on the bouncy castle; the kids not me.

Last year my Mum was here for the festival and the Bumble Bee'rs missed her not being there very much. If I remember correctly we had to put the car air-conditioning on that day as well...didn't we Mum ;)