The Old Vicarage B&B, Little Ouse

Each year, we choose a theme and have a party in the grounds of The Old Vicarage for friends and family. This year, we have moved our usual date forward from August to be nearer Bastille Day.

This year, The Old Vicarage will be transformed into a French Town Hall.

I used an off cut of hardboard from last year’s party and painted it. The letters were then printed in A4 and I cut around them to make templates and then went around each with a marker pen, before finally painting them.

Next the Town Hall shield and flags. A piece of hardboard and a couple of blocks of wood fixed to the back with holes drilled through the wood blocks to put the canes with the flags on. The flag posts are bamboo canes from the garden painted blue. Offcuts from the renovation of the house were used.

The next item is more Allo Allo than Bastille Day but will go on the food marquee. As with the previous signs this was a piece of hardboard that had been used to protect the floor in the house renovation. It has now been repurposed. I created it the same way as the other signs made a stencil and then painted it once I had marked it on the panel

Probably, the largest and heaviest item but very simple to make, a guillotine. It sort of works and the main structure of it was made from roof struts that were not used in the renovation as they were too kinked. The blade is a piece of painted hardboard.

Now I just need to get the ladder out and position everything. The overall cost was minimal. Other than a small tin of blue and red paint, everything else, including fixing were left over from the renovation and were destined for the bonfire. Even the rope for the guillotine had been used to secure tarpaulin while a roof was being repaired during the renovation.