The Mr and I took ourselves off to a local village a few weeks ago to take a look at their well dressing offerings. Well dressings have a history deeply rooted in the tradition of honouring water sources and their natural world. Originally a pagan ritual and in my opinion it still is a pagan offering to the water gods. Large scale pictures entirely made of nature's bounty, what's not to like?
I think the Jane Austen well dressing is the best I have ever seen, absolutely wonderful in it's detail.
These particular dressings were in the village of Eyam, which is known nationally as a plague village. It is a well known story of the villagers cutting themselves off from contact with other folk during the worst of the bubonic plague, to halt the spread of the terrible disease. Very noble people. The village is considered almost as a 'museum' village with lots of interesting stories about the individuals who lived there at the time. It's no wonder they keep the well dressing tradition going.
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