Driving through Bollington yesterday, I was suddenly and unexpectedly transported back to my childhood, and it fair brought a tear to my eye.
Having spent a significant period of my youth in Derbyshire, where the tradition originated in pre-Christian times to give thanks for the gift of water, I remember the annual Well Dressing fondly. As a child I was enchanted and intrigued in equal measure by these floral works of art. To see this ancient tradition spreading (rather than dying out, as is the fate of so much of our heritage in these technological times) is heart-warming.
Sadly I missed the opening ceremony, which took place on the 2nd July but the Wells will be on show until Sunday the 10th July. There are trail leaflets in many local shops, as well as in the Post Office in Library.
I can’t recommend highly enough that you go along and take the children with you. The combination of floral art, skill, history and tradition is a memory I have been delighted to revisit and something well worth passing down the generations.
