The High-Life at Henley

On Friday July 4th I was invited by work clients to attend the Henley Royal Regatta in the Steward's Enclosure. This is one of the most quintessential British events - likened to the Royal Ascot in its aristocracy. This regatta is a rowing event held every year on the river Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames. It is organised by the Stewards, who are mostly all previous rowers themselves. You can only attend the Steward's Enclosure if you are invited as a guest by a 'member', and tickets are very difficult to obtain. The waiting list for membership of the Stewards Enclosure is several years long, although preference is given to people who have previously competed at the regatta (as our member was). As a long-established rowing event with head-to-head knockout races of rowing teams from 2-8, the races were timed to a tee. There was a new race every ten minutes. Canada didn't do well, but hey, that's okay! I missed the race anyway! I did grab a picture of this English college.
The Stewards Enclosure also has very strict 'traditional' dress rules - men in blazers and ties, and women in skirts below the knee with hats encouraged. My skirt hem came just to my knee, so when I entered the enclosure at first, the stewards gave me a once-over. I was scared that they weren't going to let me in, but thankfully I think I was saved by my fancy hat! Here is an example of the clothing worn by both men and women.
Of course, I had to represent, and found a great 'my fair lady' type hat that I felt very posh in. I got many compliments on my hat so I was well chuffed. ;o)
There are three Grandstands as well as many rows of deckchairs along the river frontage within the stewards enclosure. I particularly liked these chairs along the river as you still got to see all of the great hats that ladies wore.
We had a very fancy luncheon at 2pm within the luncheon tent - and the food was wonderful. It started with pancetta on crostada followed by salmon or beef (I had salmon) with tomato and caesar salads. They even upheld the tradition of wear inside the tent, because even though it was really hot inside the tent, the men were asked to keep their blazers on! We enjoyed some lovely New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with our lunch, and marvelled at how efficient and organised the staff were to move us through our lunch, so that they could set up immediately afterwards for afternoon tea!

The entire event is based around drinking, and most people don't even watch the rowing. Pimms and Lemonade is the drink of choice, so much that one bar even had a sign saying 'only Pimms sold here'! We drank all day and basked in the English sunshine before grabbing a long train ride home. A bonny time had by all!