Our Amy Butler evening was brilliant! I didn’t really know beforehand what she was going to talk about but I thought it would be really interesting because her work is so great. Anyway, she talked about how she started out, her family, her home and her garden; all the things that inspire her. We had lots of people who came commenting on how much they enjoyed it and how nice Amy was. There was a raffle and Amy did some book signing. She is sending us some signed book plates to put in the books we have in the shop because they didn’t arrive from our supplier in time for the talk.

Amy and me

As you might know, I didn’t think I would be in Malvern for the talk because it clashed with our Cornwall holiday. So I planned to go and see Amy talk at Cowslip Workshops in Launceston. So on the Saturday I prettied myself up as best I could given I was on a muddy campsite and was just about to leave when the heavens opened. I was dubious about whether I’d get the car over the field before that so I knew that was it, I couldn’t go. Then the Webmaster said he didn’t want to me to go and that a journey over Bodmin Moor or wherever in that weather would basically finish me off and was it really worth it.

Lovely muddy campsite

So we sat in the tent and played Old Maid with the kids and then heard water rushing. What was a ditch behind the tent with no visible water had turned into a raging torrent of a river and had risen at least 5 feet in about half an hour. We packed up all our essentials and put them in the car and just watched the river rise and then, thankfully, fall again once it stopped raining. We were lucky our groundsheet is spectacularly waterproof so we were dry but other people were sweeping water out of their tents and wringing their clothes out. Nightmare. So I was quite glad I hadn’t gone in the end because even if I’d got out before that I don’t think I’d have got back!

We took advantage of the only break in the weather to pack up the tent while it was dry the next day and came home 3 days early. Every cloud has a silver lining because then I made to Amy’s talk and I wouldn’t have wanted to miss it.