Meeting the Vicar of Dibley!
It was the first day out on the new Giant Explore E bike and I headed into the Chilterns for some hills and practice. In the Hambleden Valley is Fawley church with a John Piper stained glass window.
We arrived as the funeral of 104 year old Daisy was finishing. There was her photo on the order of service with a big smile and an ice cream. Daisy got it right!
The vicar said “Hello Timmy, I’ve stayed in your dad’s room at Gladstone’s library!”
Stephen Southgate is the priest in charge of half a dozen country parishes in the Hambleden Valley and proud to tell me that one of them is the tiny church at Turville where Dawn French starred as the vicar of Dibley.
“I’m the vicar of Dibley!” he declared “Don’t miss the Bull and Butcher pub, and if you are going through Hambleden you better stop at the Stag and Huntsman.”
So we did, and it was brilliant, and over some delicious refreshments I got out my paints.