Some lovely cherry blossoms in St Mary’s church, Salehurst. I visited the church as part of a walk in the countryside, which can be found below. I had an funny little encounter here too. I was visiting on a Sunday so there were services going on and I had arrived shortly before the services. I stepped in for a minute, but as things were getting ready for the service I didn’t stay too long. I didn’t want to disturb the events and so spent most of my time in the cemetery and garden where I got a few lovely pictures. As I stood taking these photos an older gentleman, assisted by another younger gentleman entered the garden. They came from the rear of the garden passing the tombstones towards the church. The older gentleman clearly needed assistance walking and therefore needed access to the small stone path that I was on. Noticing them approaching I stepped out of the way. I also deliberately lifted my camera lens upward so it was pointing away. It had been somewhat pointed towards them and I thought this may have felt rude.

At this point the men were slowly approaching. I smiled gently at them and offered a gentle church-yard like ‘Hello’. Now the elderly man stopped, straightened up and addressed me. He said in a booming, cliché, posh, old Englishman’s voice, ‘Do you want to take my picture?!’ I presumed this was because I had previously had my camera pointed towards him. I offered a polite explanation, ‘No, I’m sorry. I was taking a picture of the tree.’ gesturing towards the tree. Sizing me up a bit, he boomed again, ‘Well why not?!’ Befuddled, I was left between laughing and explaining myself. I mumbled something like, ‘Well, I can take your picture if you like but…’ At this point he interrupted me with wide eyes and a loud, ‘Humph!’ before proceeding gingerly on his way. His assisting companion had never spoken a word. It took me a moment to digest that the old man was just having a laugh and I continued to explore the churchyard in a lighter mood.

http://www.stmarysalehurst.com/

http://aboutrobertsbridge.org.uk/Salehurst%20church.htm

https://www.walkingclub.org.uk/book_2/walk_20/index.shtml