Hares in the Churchyard

I'd read about the hare sculptures that could be found during the last week of August in the churchyard of St Peter's Church, Ellastone, Staffordshire.

We often pass through the village on the way to Ashbourne but had never stopped there.  We were able to park quite easily at the village hall and walk across the road to the church.

You can spot the little hare by the WWI soldier.  We counted twenty three hares as we walked around, all painted by local community organisations or businesses.

 My photos aren't great as it was raining, the air was misty and I was trying to hold up an umbrella as well.  I've chosen a few of the entries to show you. the last one was in the church porch.  The church itself was closed when we visited but it looks an interesting building and the views across the countryside from where it stands on a hill are lovely.

The village has an interesting history, standing as it does, on the Staffordshire/Derbyshire border.  It has a literary connection with the Evans family.  Mary Ann Evans visited family here and when she wrote her first novel, as George Eliot, she used the village as a setting.  In Adam Bede, published in 1859, the village of Hayslope is based on Ellastone.

St Peter's Church is a Grade 2* listed building which dates from about 1163.  The church tower was added in 1582 but two of the church bells sited in the tower are earlier in date.  It is believed they may have come from nearby Calwich Priory.