"The sweetest sound is silence...." (B. Taupin)

The Parish church of St. John the Baptist at Padworth in the deep heart of Berkshire is a classic example of Norman church architecture.
Built in 1130, with only the windows and the roof of the nave altered since - and that was in Tudor times - the church is tucked away down a gravel lane, which leads off a very narrow country lane, which leads off yet another narrow country lane....and so on. You get the picture. You really have to know how to find it, although the adjoining `big house` and the church farm with its timeless cottages just up the road give good clues to the yeoman nature of the village itself.

Padworth has been a small community over the centuries, so there was no surprise to discover that there was ample room in the churchyard for my grandparents` resting place when they died all those years ago, having spent a lifetime in the village and surrounding area. (They died within three days of each other, such was the closeness of their marriage and their partnership for so many years.)

Their grave has become something of a family shrine - one of my aunt`s ashes were interred into the grave space when she died far too young 20 years ago. On Wednesday, the ashes of my other aunt who died last month will be placed there too. (See `A Loaf Less Ordinary` in the archive section.)

It will be a solemn occasion in a secret place - far from the madding crowd - but one I will continue to visit not only to continue to pay my respects to past relatives but also to savour the peace and tranquility of the sound of silence, which carries only the echoes of 900 years.