St Johns Church ,Little Gidding

On the last day of Maurices holiday last month ,we decided to visit a' little' church ,nearer home,well as the crow flies ! and over the A1 in the county of Huntingdonshire are 'The Giddings'..Steeple Gidding ,Great Gidding and Little Gidding,at the latter is a very small church set in a field,we have been before ,but it is such a nice peaceful place to visit ....We drove up the narrow road little more than a cart track ,past the cottages that are used as a retreat,and onto the car park ,down the little path to the church, here we met a gentleman putting a poster onto the notice board ,he told us he and his wife live in the adjoining house ,where the Ferrar family who had restored the church,in the 1620's had lived,The Pilgramage and Retreat house offers hospitality to visitors to the church.Many people are interested in the connections with T S Eliot or George Herbert.When he asked us where we came from ,he exclaimed he was reading a book by an Author who had been born there .a favourite of mine too ! Sybil Marchant ,and when I looked her up on the internet, I discovered she had died only last year .I felt bereaved as though I had just missed her some how, her books are set in the 50's and 60's when England was changing and are of course set in the Fens ,and about the familys who lived there during those times ,and before ,and she captures the dialects and colloquialisms perfectly ,I am reading 'Nest of Magpies again ',and plan to read others by her a set of four but unfortunately ,I am missing the third one in the series 'Strip the willow'Miss Marchant also wrote charming books from her late fathers diarys ,one called 'A Silver New Nothing '.....after our visit into the church we sat awhile in the gardens of Ferrar house after going for a look inside ......

If you care to check out this site you can visit the church for your self   http://www.littlegiddingchurch.org.uk 

Gidding is probablythe oldest place name in Huntingdonshire,It derives fromthe same Anglo Saxon root as the word 'giddy',and refers to singing and dancing-and means being possessed by God,Giddings was my maiden name !

and another nice thing! I opened my mail on Saturday morning and found Sugar had sent me this charming siggy which I feel fits this entry so well ....thankyou dear Sugar .....