Rained off ?

As I approached Ed following our evening walk around the Muckleburgh Military Collection site yesterday, I could feel rain in the air, ten minutes later it was hammering it down !

I had a lucky escape there as I`d left 90 minutes previously in warm sunshine,  no phone, no money and only in tee shirt, shorts and sandles. 
I would have been soaked to the skin and wetter than a wet thing if it had come sooner.

It continued to rain all night and blew a hooley.

It was still raining this morning and the forecast is for only a brief respite this afternoon before another storm comes in for tonight !

I decided we`d leave Weybourne and the Fox Hill site and follow the Norfolk coast round to the Sandringham Estate.

It was still raining when we got there so the gardens would have been out of the question, so did we want to just go in and look in the house ?

Or is it a Palace ?

Trip Advisor reviews were aplenty and most gripes were about the small number of rooms you could actually visit !

That made our minds up, we`d just knock it on the head and set the sat nav for home.

We didn`t fancy another storm cooped up in Ed, so heading home made more sense, so that’s where we are now.

It`s been a good break, I loved Suffolk in particular, we had some excellent warm and sunny weather, 23 / 24c most days and I`ve just enjoyed seeing a parts of the country I`ve not been to before.

The Dedham Vale ANOB in particular (Constable Country) was very beautiful.

So all in all a great break.

Wroxham, North Walsham and Cromer

We left the River Waveney Centre this morning and headed across country to explore Norfolk.

The countryside is of course very flat and agricultural but id nevertheless very beautiful. There are some lovely villages and of course lots of water.

Our first destination was Wroxham, known locally as the capital of the Norfolk Broads. It was very very busy with what looked like lots of organised boat trips leaving of the Broads.

It didn`t look like it was our sort of place so we carried on to North Walsham.

We parked up and had some lunch then a wander around the town. It was a nice enough place to spend an hour but nothing out of the ordinary really, so back to Ed and onward.

Next stop was Cromer, back on the coast. We parked on the west promenade clifftop car park for a reasonable £1.50.

We had a wander around the town and down to the pier.

Cromer is a traditional English seaside resort with a mixture of typical pubs, fish and chip shops, bucket and spade shops, Polish shops and Charity shops.

It seems to be living on past glories and has now seen better days, but it`s still ok for a short visit.

It was interesting to note that Cromer is one of the few places where if your hotel window faces the seafront, in Summer, you can watch the sun rise in the east and set in the west from the same window !

Our chosen site for the night was, or seemed, as there was nobody to ask, booked up full, so I drove to a little village called Weybourne and we are on a site called Fox Hill (GPS 52.941872   1.133643).

It`s a very small friendly site and is situated next to Muckleburgh Military Collection, This seems to be a private museum collection of tanks and guns.

After tea I went for a circular walk around the Military site, down to the beach and along back through the pretty village of Weybourne to the campsite.

There were anti-aircraft gun emplacements pointing out to sea, I wonder if they know something we don`t ?

It`s been blowing a gale today although it seems to have subsided in the last hour but we`ve had a bit of light rain in that time.

No photos for today, I forgot to take the camera with me to Cromer and it was far too gusty anyway to stand still enough for photos anyway !

Dunwich and River Waveney

Dunwich and River Waveney

First stop today was to rewind a little and go back to The Walled Garden and Nursery that was closed yesterday.

It is quite an interesting nursery, set indeed inside a walled garden, so no surprise there then.

There is also an adjoining garden you can have a wander through and was a pleasant way to spend an hour or so.

We bought a pot for the garden but no plants today.

Next it was Dunwich beach for some lunch by the sea, followed by a walk along the beach to blow the cobwebs away.

It was blowing a hooley today and the cobwebs were well and truly blown away.

It is very warm and sunny though so we`re not complaining.

Our destination for this evening is the River Waveney Centre (GPS  52.48204  1.66867) in Norfolk west of Lowestoft.

It`s basically a river Marina with adjoining campsite and it`s a very nice destination with lots to see and do.

Just down the lane from the campsite is a most unusual church called St Mary the Virgin Burgh St Peter.

It`s brick and flint stone construction with a thatched roof and an extraordinary, if a little ugly tower.

A bit of digging around and it seems the tower was rebuilt a a result of a request by Reverend Samuel Boycatt  Rector from 1764 who decided to apply for a Diocesan Faculty in 1793 to “Repair and build up the steeple which has long been in a ruinous condition.” 

There is no definitive explanation for the design of the tower but it seems it will have replaced something much more conventional.

The attached link gives more information on the church and has some interesting photographs of details around the church.

Louis and I had an enjoyable walk along the river and sat watching the river boats passing by and the local bird life of which there is plenty.

The Walled Garden and Nursery

The Walled Garden and Nursery

The Walled Garden and Nursery

The Walled Garden and Nursery

The Walled Garden and Nursery

The Walled Garden and Nursery

Dunwich Beach

River Waveney Centre

Dinner for two on the Poop deck ? 

River Waveney 

River Waveney Centre

St Mary the Virgin Burgh St Peter Church

St Mary the Virgin Burgh St Peter Church

St Mary the Virgin Burgh St Peter Church - Priest`s doorway

St Mary the Virgin Burgh St Peter Church - Main Door

St Mary the Virgin Burgh St Peter Church

Thorpeness and Southwold

It turned out to be a very good place for a peaceful night in Aldeburgh even though it was a freebie.

It had been very windy in the late afternoon and I feared we were going to be rocked all night by the wind. But by bedtime it had subsided to a gentle breeze and it was very quiet all night.

Only the workers trudging wearily to work on a Monday morning woke us at about 7.30 as they drove past to get to the boat yard at the Marina.

As soon as they`d gone it was back to sleep for another hour or so.

A brisk morning walk along the promenade was taken before breakfast, after which we set off up the Suffolk coast.

We had found a garden to visit called The Walled Garden at Saxmundham, but unfortunately it`s closed on Mondays.

Instead we went to a small coastal village called Thorpeness.

There`s not a great deal there but it has an interesting boating lake called The Meare.  

It was dug by hand over the winter of 1912-13 on the instructions of the Ogilvie family.

It covers six and a half acres and has a depth of two and a half feet, hard work for someone !

The Ogilvie family were friends of JM Barrie, author of Peter Pan and many features from the book were created on the lake and islands.

These included the original Wendy House and the Pirates Lair.

All for the enjoyment of the village children as I don`t suppose there were many tourists in those days.

Later, on the drive to Southwold we passed a field full of large hutches. Not sure what they were at first, all was revealed when we saw the Pigs.

Each one has it`s own hutch and many had a family of piglets following mother around !

I guess they`re classed as free range and they seemed very well looked after and in beautiful surroundings.

Happy piggies !

Southwold is a popular seaside town in these parts and with good reason.

We parked close to the town`s old water tower and walked the short distance to the High Street.

It has a good selection of independent shops and artisan bakers and almost every shop has a dog bowl of water outside so Louis was happy. One even had a bowl of dog biscuits as well !

Later we walked down to the pier and had a drink of luke warm overpriced coffee.

It was very windy on the sea front, so we headed back for the town, through the Church yard.

There are not too many camping options in Southwold as there is only one site in the town, Southwold Camping, so that’s where we are. (GPS 52.316347 1.672481).

It`s convenient for the beach and the harbour where we had a walk around this afternoon.

Tomorrow I think we may head back to The Walled Garden unless anything else catches our eye.

The weather has been excellent today with warm unbroken sunshine but it`s been windy here in exposed places but it seems we`re all going to get a good buffeting from Storm Helene in the next 24 hours.

So batten down the hatches and stay safe ! 

Thorpeness Meare

Thorpeness Meare

Thorpeness Meare

Thorpeness Meare Cafe and Shop

Thorpeness Beach

Southwold Town

Southwold Promenade

Southwold Town

Happy piggies near Southwold

Southwold Lighthouse

Southwold Pier

Southwold colourful beach huts

Southwold from the pier

St Edmund King & Martyr Church Southwold - who ?

Our parking for tonight at Southwold. The beach is just the other side of those trees.

View of Southwold from the harbour

Southwold Harbour shopping, love it ! Apparently the council want to redevelop the harbour area. I bet it would lose all it`s charm if they did.

Southwold beach dune grasses in the late afternoon sun

Southwold Electric Picture Palace - cute or what ?

Woodbridge and Aldeburgh

We enjoyed a very peaceful night as expected at Flatford Farmhouse Campsite.

It seemed to go dark very quickly and it was very dark indeed, no light pollution around here. Sadly it was also a little cloudy after dark so no night sky display unfortunately.

After a leisurely breakfast I planned our route for today.

I had thought about a scenic route through the countryside around Ipswich but Google Maps indicated many road closures around the town.

A quick search revealed today is the Great East Run around Ipswich ! Who`d have thought it ?

That plan was scuppered then, so it was strictly sticking to the main dual carriageway on the town bypass.

It was an enjoyable but uneventful drive to our selected destination town of Woodbridge on the River Deben.

We parked behind the leisure centre adjacent to the waterfront and took a short walk into the town centre. It is a quite attractive market town with a good variety of small independent shops, cafés and restaurants.

After a walk around the town and along the Waterfront, we went for some lunch in the Cherry Tree pub and a roast pork lunch was enjoyed.

We later drove to Aldeburgh which sits directly on the coast. It`s quite a popular and busy town with a famous fish and chip shop.

Sadly we`d already eaten so had to pass on that delight L

Today the sun has shined continuously all day with a mostly cloud free sky. 

It has also been surprisingly warm if a little windy.

We`re parked up on a free parking area called Slaughden, just south of the town centre. (GPS 52.143237 1.599415) . it`s a spit of land which I think has been reinforced as sea defences but it`s very convenient for the town and has spectacular views with the sea to one side of us and river meadows to the other side, what a view to wake up to.

Also nearby is a Martello Tower, these were built in the 19th century as defensive fortifications. 

This one seems to be owned by the Landmark Trust and used as a holiday let.

Tomorrow we`re going to head up to Southwold, with no doubt the odd detour to places of interest along the way.

Maybe a garden or two ?

Or a stately home ?

Woodbridge Town

Woodbridge Cottages

Woodbridge Marina

Woodbridge River Deben

Aldeburgh Parking, River meadows to one side ......

.........and the sea to the other side

Aldeburgh Museum

Aldeburgh War Memorial

Aldeburgh Yacht Club

This yacht`s not going anywhere

Aldeburgh sunset

Aldeburgh sunset

Martello Tower

Aldeburgh sunset

Back on the road again

We`ve been back home from our European trip for a few weeks now and have got back into the swing of normality again. 
I love being back home, but also miss the travelling and exploring of new places and the excitement of seeing fantastic sights this World has to offer.

Whilst back, Ed has passed the MOT with flying colours, no advisories !

He`s had a thorough clean up inside and outside, a de-clutter and boy did he need it.

An engine oil and filter change has him purring like a tiger and ready for off………

I started getting itchy feet again and longed to get back on the road, but where to go ?

There is so much of the UK I want to visit, Northumberland, Scotland (again), East Anglia, Gower Peninsular in Wales, Lake District, I could go on and on.

In the end, after Gower Peninsular was favourite for a long time, I decided Norfolk and Suffolk in East Anglia based entirely upon the weather forecast for the next few days. South Wales looks like being very wet whilst Norfolk and Suffolk dry, sunny and warm.

So that was it, decision made.

I planned a route going down to the south of Suffolk and then travel north up the coast to Norfolk.

The route was to take us around Cambridge but weekend road works have closed the A14 in Cambridge so I planned a detour to avoid it. 

However, a radio traffic bulletin reported heavy congestion all around the Cambridge area ! With no obvious easy detour to avoid Cambridge altogether I decided to go for broke and went down the M1 to the M25 across to the A12 and up towards Chelmsford and Colchester.

So it was a bit of a detour but we got to our destination Flatford about 3.30 pm.

We are parked up at Flatford Farmhouse Campsite (GPS  51.966128  1.023758)

After a tea of North Staffordshire Oatcakes, cheese and bacon, Louis and I set off for a walk through the beautiful Suffolk countryside. It was a lovely walk down to the river Stour across fields and meadows.

Flatford is famous as the setting for many of JohnConstable`s paintings and in particular The Hay Wain.

Not a great deal remains of the scene, the trees in the painting have gone as has the cottage. But it is still a very tranquil and beautiful setting in quintessentially English countryside.

There was a farmer in Flatford village called Willy Lott who allowed Constable onto his land to paint the scenery and his cottage in still there.

It has been a very pleasant evening with quite warm sunshine and not a breath of wind, just the birds singing in the trees, lovely.

The campsite is basic but with scenery like this nothing else is needed.

I think tonight is going to be very peaceful here.

 Flatford Farm Campsite

Flatford Visitor Centre

Willy Lott`s Cottage, Flatford - Almost the Hay Wain setting 

Home for a lucky Flatford resident 

Flatford NT Visitor Cafe and Shop

Flatford Bridge Cottage

River Stour Flatford 

Flatford Bridge Cottage

The Hay Wain by John Constable (1776 to 1837)