The community of Binfield have put on a scarecrow hunt every October half term for a good few years, but this year it has been needed more than ever, with the ongoing pandemic. Families desperately need that light relief, which is why we are ever so grateful to Binfield for organising this! There are a whopping 75 scarecrows on this hunt, created mostly by people who live here. It’s absolutely amazing, you have to go see this!

Details

Location: Binfield, Berkshire

Parking: Free on street parking throughout the village – be considerate and do not block driveways, pavements or block the flow of traffic. Small pay and display car park at Oakmede Place RG42 4JF

There are 3 places selling the trail maps, so I suggest parking near one of these to buy your map and start your trail from there (details below).

Cost: £3 for a map – with proceeds raising funds for the local church All Saints’ Repair & Care. Purchase the map from either of these 3 places:
– Binfield Village Store, 1 Victoria Place, Terrace Road North, Binfield RG42 5HX (near the Victoria Arms pub) open 7am – 10pm
– The Foxes’ Den Café, Binfield Parish Offices, Benetfeld Road, Binfield RG42 4EW (open 8am – 5pm weekdays, 10am – 4pm weekends)
– Crema Coffee Shop, Terrace Rd South, Binfield RG42 4DS (opening hours click here)

Food: Yes – Foxes Den and Crema Coffee

Toilets: Inside the cafes during their opening hours and if you are a customer

Pushchair-friendly: Yes

The Scarecrow Hunt

Normally I would include a map on my blog posts, but this time I won’t. You must buy a map for £3, as the money raised goes toward the village’s church repair. You can start your trail at either the Village Store, Foxes Den or Crema Coffee.

If you start your trail at Foxes Den, you will see the Spoonfield garden – where you can bring your own decorated wooden spoon to add to it. There is also a children’s playground here.

We started our trail at the Binfield Village Store on Terrace Road North, working our way up to Tilehurst Lane, Red Rose, down York Road and back up Forest Road – making it a circular route. This took us about an hour and we saw roughly 25 scarecrows.

We shocked two locals when we said we came from Slough. One was at the Village Store, and the other was one of the scarecrow creators in front of his home. I think they didn’t expect people to travel to their village for this! But it was only a 25 minute drive and a very pretty one at that, past many farms.

It was absolutely worth the drive, this was such a lovely family experience, and good exercise too. It felt safe being outdoors, and it was lovely seeing lots of other families doing it too. It was very easy to keep our distance yet still be friendly and smile. If a family was looking at a scarecrow, we would wait our turn.

The walk around Binfield had my husband and I looking around and dreaming of living in one of these character houses. There are SO MANY pretty houses in Binfield, with their cute chimneys. Add to that the scarecrows, and you know this is a lovely community living here. I could actually feel the community atmosphere in the air!

I have photographed the ones we saw, but just imagine there are 76 altogether, so many more creations. It’s amazing!

The mermaid was my personal favourite, with the “shhh, mermaid sleeping” sign. And the Trump one made us giggle. Lily loved the Coke can in his hand.

This one was Lily’s favourite. She was jumping up and down like crazy, “TYLER LOOKS ITS MARIO AND LUIGI! TYLER LOOKS ITS MARIO AND LUIGI!” The owner was outside and was so happy with that reaction! It was such a sweet moment. He said we could take a selfie and told Lily the car was Princess Peaches’.

Next we have Michael Jackson, with Lily saying he had a hand over his face because he forgot something. It’s so strange having a generation who doesn’t know who Michael Jackson is! The next house had characters they were very familiar with… Numberblocks!

So that’s a little taster of the scarecrows at Binfield. I’m sure that’s made you want to go and take a look – go on, visit Binfield! The scarecrow hunt is on until Sunday 1st November.

Let me know if you visit, and tell me which one was your favourite scarecrow!

Sabrina x