A Concert at St Mary’s

This afternoon I attended a concert at St Mary’s church, Ickworth. Hexacordia early music ensemble were performing Music for a Golden Queen.

The music was wonderful, interspersed with an outline of Queen Elizabeth I’s life that drew on poetry and letters of the time Hexacordia had a range of gorgeous Renaissance instruments and a lovely soloist. Listening to the concert while sitting in a medieval church and watching the light fall onto the mellow old stone and woodwork definitely added a frisson to the experience. And best of all I thought to take an inflatable cushion, so I was able to focus on the music and the ambience without being distracted by my gluteal discomfort.

Afterwards I visited the nearby Walled Garden with its sustainable flower meadow* for a few minutes. i made a short video of a poppy dancing in the breeze but it’s distorting when I upload it. Here is a static photo instead.

* We aren’t allowed to call it a wildflower meadow because it has been sown, so it isn’t wild in any meaningful sense.