Fete des Fleurs 2011

Once again a young lady from Radlett was transformed into a Princess in France!  This year our representative at the annual Féte des Fleurs in Louvecinnes was Jessica Laxton. Her mother, Jane Poyser, who accompanied her provided this account of their visit:

My daughter Jessica her friend Anna and I had the privilege of being invited to the annual flower festival at Louveciennes. We drove down Saturday morning catching the 8. 20 train. With clear roads we drove down arriving 1. 30 at our host Benoit's house. After being greeted by the family we were treated to a whirlwind tour of Paris. Benoit in a previous life had been a

limousine driver for the rich and famous and knew Paris inside out. We visited the Eiffel Tower, Place de Concorde, Le Louvre and some very exclusive shopping areas which had 5 foot chocolate pencils and £65.00 boxer shorts!

That evening we joined the torch parade back at Louveciennes, in the pouring rain. This did not stop the local student band  playing enthusiastically but it did stop one of the tractors getting up the steep hill ! The rain stopped in time for one of the best firework displays I have ever seen in my life. Backdropped with beautiful trees and set to classical music, it was breath taking.

The next day there was a lunch which the whole village attended! We met many lovely people in Louveciennes all of whom knew of Radlett, many of whom had visited! All of them spoke beautiful English. Jess disappeared with Madame Rachel, the German princess and French queen to be transformed!

Anna and I took the chance to walk around the fun fair and the beautiful and historic village. At 2.30 the floats were loaded and started their journey around the town. The theme this year was impressionists and the floats were all decorated with thousands of dahlia heads. Jess was in the last float with the "Queen and German princess, looking gorgeous despite being covered in confetti and "sticky string". (a custom to shower the floats in stuff!) We were

entertained by bands and majorettes who amazingly kept going for the two and half hours! The evening finished with presentations by the Mayor and Jess received a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a silver bracelet. We were all overwhelmed by the amount of effort and time people had put into this amazing weekend, it really felt a huge privilege to be part of it.