For me this image typifies rural life on Dartmoor. The Moretonhampstead Benefice comprises the churches of the Dartmoor Parishes of Moretonhampstead, North Bovey, Manaton, Lustleigh, and the chapel at Doccombe. Every year a different Parish church hosts an early morning Ascension Day Service for all the Parish churches in the Benefice, and often – weather permitting – it is held in the open, followed by a hearty breakfast of coffee and bacon rolls.
For this particular year the Service was hosted by the Parish Church of Manaton, and held on the farm of one of the Manaton Church Wardens, Chris Butcher, seen here helping the vicar, Simon, with setting up the Communion items.
The weather was a typical Dartmoor May morning – almost clear blue skies with bright sun in one direction, and a few passing white clouds in the other. If you look closely you can see a few raindrops – just as Simon was setting up there was a very light sprinkling of rain for about a minute – but the rain soon passed to give a glorious fresh and bright sunny morning, with bluebells in the lanes, the sound of skylarks and even a cuckoo in the surrounding hedgerow. About 30 people attended, parking their cars at the top of the field – it was like a LandRover used car dealership – and sat on hay bales and camping chairs around the makeshift altar. The coffee and bacon rolls afterwards in the farmhouse made up for the 07:30 start, one could not wish to live in more glorious surroundings!