Grazyna Tutak on a quilting exhibition at Caldecote Church

Over the weekend of 22/23 July we played host to the Icknield Quilters, a group of enthusiastic patchwork-quilters, who meet regularly in the Baldock Community Centre.

Apart from sewing evenings they also hold talks, demonstrations and workshops led by visiting tutors.

Some exhibition items were finished specially for the occasion: their size and complexity of design a testament to long hours and infinite skill and patience put into sewing tiny patches of colourful fabric together into intricate patterns. One could also admire “typical” examples of the group’s patchwork quilt designs and wall hangings, cushion covers and blankets.

For the first time in Caldecote, we also welcomed Pop’s Plants II - members of the Southern Auricula Society, growers and specialists in these remarkable plants.

Auriculas are alpine plants, easy to grow with an enormous range of colours and forms.

Their history contributes to their fascination, stemming back to mid-1500 Vienna.

Huguenot refugees brought auriculas to Britain in the 1600s and they are now grown by specialist collectors around the country for their stunning display of colour and shape. Our guests were on hand to advise how to grow auriculas and were a true fount of knowledge and interesting facts about them. For example, did you know that auricula has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit?

As always, volunteers in the Refreshments Marquee were on duty with their mouth- watering choice of homemade cakes and refreshments. Inside the church, a guide offered interesting insights into the church’s 600 year history, interspersed with some tantalising facts that “not a lot of people knew”.