On Saturday (28/08/2021) Steve and Vera walked to Napton Post Office Store to get the Telegraph and some delightful bacon and sausage crusty rolls for breakfast.
The store was opposite the Napton Christadelphian Meeting Room which offered bible readings on Sunday (God willing)! By all accounts they were a miserable lot with puritan lifestyles devoid of fun. They were saving their joy for the second coming of Christ.
They would say that the Christadelphians are a worldwide body of Christians that place their beliefs wholly on the Bible. The name ‘Christadelphian’ simply means “brothers and sisters in Christ” and was adopted over 150 years ago. Our aim is to live by faith in Jesus Christ, according his teaching and that of his followers from the first century.
The Christadelphians are a restorationist and millenarian Christian group who hold a view of biblical unitarianism. Christadelphianism traces its origins to John Thomas (1805–1871), who emigrated from England to North America in 1832. Following a near shipwreck he vowed to find out the truth about life and God through personal Biblical study.
After breakfast we walked passed the Christadelphian Hall and walked up the hill to the church of St Lawrence, which was originally built during the Medieval period. It was largely restored during the Post Medieval period and the tower added during the Imperial period.
The 12th century church probably consisted of chancel, nave, North and South transepts, nave and West tower. It was rebuilt 13th century, when the aisles were added, and at a later date, probably 17th century, a vestry and porch were built. The tower has been completely rebuilt in recent times. There was a priest at Napton in 1086.
There were lots of interesting grave stones in the churchyard. Note the comment on the back of the gravestone on the right.
On the way up we were passed by Sandpiper, the narrowboat that our friend Keith used to have a share in until he sold it earlier this year.
We continued to the top of the hill of Napton-on-the-Hill fame and found this lookout point.
We got as close as we could to the windmill which is now a private house.
A local girl has set up a business growing flowers for sale in the P.O. & Store and we recognised bunches of them on the picnic tables at Napton Cidery. We chatted to people with a rescue greyhound called Hercules. There seemed to be a pet dog under every table here. We passed the place where she was growing them, on a hillside allotment.
The flowers made for a pleasant environment in which to enjoy a cocktail of Napton Cidery Recipe No.5 blackcurrant cider and Cotswold Dry Gin. It was probably sacrilege to add black currant cider to the gin which the makers describe on their website:
Our Cotswolds Dry Gin is a delectable blend of nine carefully-considered botanicals, including local lavender from nearby Snowshill and freshly-peeled pink grapefruit and lime zest. Due to the unusually high volume of botanicals we use, our gin causes a beautiful pearlescent cloud to appear when ice or tonic is added.
In the evening we joined what seemed to be the whole of the village (probably not the Christidelphians) in the al fresco dining area that was now the Folly Inn. Difficulty in recruiting chefs and hospitality staff meant that there was a limited menu and customers stepped up to the mark to serve people at the very busy bar.
We had an agreeable meal with Nigel and Gina. Despite the eclectic range of drinks on offer Carlsberg lager seemed to be the most popular summer evening tipple.
On Sunday (29/08/2021) morning we walked down to the P.O. Store where a Jeremy Clarkson-like chap was showing off his Goggomobil car. Google explained, via Wikipedia, that Goggomobil was a series of microcars produced by Hans Glas GmbH in the Bavarian town Dingolfing between 1955 and 1969. Glas produced three models on the Goggomobil platform.
He went on to criticise the “ludicrous” electric car program in this country as the answer to global warming, presumably leading to the suggestion that a new generation of Goggomobil would be the answer, but he was interrupted by a van driver asking for directions.
Gina kindly made us Sunday lunch and in the afternoon we revisited Napton Cidery, where once again dogs got us chatting to other patrons. The cider tasting platter, with samples of the full range of ciders, was selling like hot cakes.
On the way back we saw how the mini car had become anything other than mini. Even the grey one would dwarf the original made by the British Motor Corporation in 1959.
The weather was a bit cold and gloomy but there were still narrowboats moving through the locks.
We walked over the bridge and down into the Folly Inn for a drink before returning to The Duke to watch television before going to bed. Since we have been on the boat we have adjusted to getting up early and going to bed when it starts getting dark.
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