The gods must have been smiling on us yesterday (8th September 2020) as we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day in Woodston, Peterborough for the Iceni Meadery open day. We are so lucky having a meadery right on our doorstep and any chance to sample some of the new brews is a treat.
The sun did a brilliant job of drawing the crowds, but Bob and Jo were doing a sterling job of managing the situation and keeping people safely socially distanced while they had fun.
As well as the mead there was a fabulous range of Ale from Xtreme Ales and Mile Tree Brewery including such delights as a collaboration honey beer and a rhubarb and custard beer. I would have loved to try all of them but there were simply too many, especially with the mead samples as well!
There was live music throughout the day with the artists performing well known songs you could sing along with. The food on offer was pretty impressive too, there was a barbecue offering hot dogs and hamburgers, Victoria’s Little Kitchen had a cake stall with a huge selection of tasty treats, Weasley’s Sweet Emporium had an impressive range of pick n mix type sweets and my personal favourite, the magnificent samosas, bhajis and curry from Jiva’s Cuisine. We were definitely well fed and watered.
We were also joined by some talented local artists, Ruth Baldry had some beautiful paintings on offer, clearly a woman of talent. And she does lessons for those of us who only make a mess. John Elson was doing live caricatures, MartinaK had some great arty and textile items while Soulshine Holistic were catering to the more spiritually inclined.
As a part time viking it was especially nice for us to see Dave from Fire Monkey Forge actually twisting lumps of iron into useful shapes. He makes axes and blades as well as the decorative and useful items he had for sale.
Next to us was our friend Jenny from Drakos Dottir who was tempting us with all sorts of lovely hand made Viking style things. I think half our group have had their Viking clothes made by her which is about the best recommendation I could give anyone.
Of course the main attraction was the meadery itself and the chance to see Bob & co’s set up. All those demijohns happily brewing away with future meads to look forward to. You can tell Bob has been busy.
As for us, we did a bit of crafting, did a lot of chatting, sampled a lot of mead, met some lovely people and generally had a fun time. Einar was being rather cheeky, but no-one seemed to mind. I expect we’ll soon see his report on Youtube.
These little local events are always so relaxed and enjoyable. It doesn’t compete with the thrill of a huge battle at a big Viking show with dozens of warriors, but they are brilliant ways of meeting people and contributing to the local community, we love shows like this. There is something so energizing about seeing youngsters picking up an axe and glowing with excitement seeing things they’ve heard about in school for real. We saw quite a few Vikings from other groups having a wander round which gave a least a taste of the camaraderie you feel at Viking events.
Iceni Meadery’s next open day is planned for December 5th with a festive theme so if you’re near Peterborough and fancy a fun outing give it a try, we’ll be there. Or if you have a local event that would be up for a small Viking invasion get in touch and invite us along.
Odin's Aett 
it was a lovely day lots of mead, music and merriment we had fun
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