We were invited to the 30th birthday party of a friend-of-a-friend last night, a traditional barn dance and hog roast held at the village barn in Chilham, about five miles outside Canterbury. No one was quite sure what the dress code was, so we all ended up dressing in various degrees of cowboy (ranging everywhere from John Wayne to Brokeback Mountain).

The party was a great success – the band was great and everyone got into the spirit of the evening. There was a combination of line dancing, square dancing, and Scottish and Irish ceilidh. And a lot of tomfoolery as we discovered that most of us had two left feet.

Finally, the pièce de résistance, the hog. Roasting all day outside, it was absolutely delicious – we ate nearly the whole thing with no leftovers to speak of.

Aude and Lina discover cowboy-chic

Matt pulls off the look somewhat less successfully

Darren, looking a little less like a cowboy without his hat

Thelma & Louise?

I have no idea who these people are, but it was a nice photo so I thought I’d include it anyhow

It’s Dirty Dancing all over again!

Aude claps along to the music

Darren flashes a grin to the camera

The Smallest Cowboy

Another cowgirl

The line dancing begins!

Orla poses with her little pink hat

Dave’s made the effort!

Why Matt has never chosen to live on a ranch

A cow-couple

Jon, the birthday boy, and a friend

Aude, Matt and Lina

The artist formerly known as “dinner”

A proud chef shows off his prowess

More line dancing

More line dancing

Aude and Darren show the onlookers how it’s done!

The band at the end of a good set and a long night