OUR Open Gardens weekend was the best yet, with hot sunshine and gentle breezes bringing crowds of visitors whose enjoyment was plain to see.

It’s a longish walk from one end of the village to the other and up the hill to visit more delightful gardens on the Ridgeway – many garden lovers made a two-day outing of it. With 20 odd gardens to choose from and stops for teas, cold drinks, strawberries and cream and just chatting to garden owners and each other, it certainly does take a bit of doing.

Many thanks are due to all our helpers – the Upwey Society committee for huge amounts of planning and effort, to our friends in the village who came in great numbers to help out with serving teas, transporting tables and chairs and crockery, managing the parking (helped with some suitable liquid refreshment) publicity and all manner of small jobs that help to make things run smoothly.

Further thanks are due to Mr and Mrs Silver at Upwey House for the loan of their field for parking, and to the Foot family farmers who drove their sheep elsewhere to clear that field.

The added interest of sculptors, potters and other artists all contribute to the success of a lovely weekend.

Thanks also to the Council for making such a good job of tidying up Elwell Street!

THE Upwey Craft Show is now under way at the Old School Village Hall and lasts daily until Sunday, July 25 when the raffle for the famous Upwey quilt will be drawn, about 5.30pm, with other prizes donated by exhibitors.

Do try to find time to visit. There’s a wide range of crafts exhibited and for sale – jewellery, wood-turning, paintings with wax, patchwork, stained glass and, of course, pottery.

There are opportunities for you to have a go yourself at making pottery beakers in the style of the bronze age, throwing pots on a wheel, perhaps trying out other crafts which will be demonstrated.

Entry is free and the exhibition is open daily from 10.30am-6pm.

SUNDAY, July 25 is turning out to be a very important day in the Upwey calendar, when the South Dorset Ridgeway Festival will be in full swing and details of that can be found on the website of the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

As part of this, the Ancient Wessex Network are staging an all day display of art inspired by the landscape, pottery, carving and metalwork techniques and local archaeology on the top of the Ridgeway between Goulds Hill and the main road. It follows a similar festival at Maiden Castle last September which inspired great interest.