Aldeburgh - Pt. 1

Having spent the morning in Woodbridge we have now arrived in Aldeburgh. The North Sea is choppy, the wind is blowing and the rain is beating down. Bracing to say the least, but therapeutic to listen to the surf crashing onto the beach.



Aldeburgh was once an important East Coast harbour but now is a quiet resort famous mainly for the Annual Music Festival founded by Benjamin Britten, who is buried in the town. Quaint old cottages and elegant Georgian houses (another post) line the main street. It has been a dignified seaside resort since the early 19th century, but the shingle beach is popular with fishermen (another post) as well as holiday-makers.

The North Sea

Our hotel

The turret at the top on the right was our sitting room

that led through to our bedroom with a hall into our bathroom

It's warm and welcoming inside

We are about to take the lift to our room but I happen to glance across to one of the lounges. I do a double take. Sitting there having afternoon tea are 2 evangelist friends from Ohio,USA with another friend from Indiana. They were as surprised as us and as Americans do, squealed with delight.They had been attending a conference and had been taken by their host to spend the afternoon in Aldeburgh, ending up with afternoon tea at our hotel. In the past they had been guests in our home for 6 years running and we did know that they were in the country, but this coincidence seemed particularly amazing as Aldeburgh is on the coast and off the beaten track and not somewhere that you would just 'pass through'. Having checked our room we sat in the lounge with them for a while before they had to leave.

We have an unusual room, our bedroom faces the marshes at the back but then we have a corridor that leads to a small turret sitting room that faces the sea. It's my birthday and I get up and check the sea soon after dawn. After yesterday I am surprised to see it as flat as a mill pond. If the cloud breaks up it is going to be a lovely day.

After breakfast I go outside and the clouds have cleared and we are just left with a sea mist.

Looking from the back of our hotel the mist is slowly clearing and the marshes and River Alde are coming in to view.

I'm off for a walk and a beautiful day beckons.You are welcome to join me.

A power station on the horizon

The ancient lifeboat station

The modern lifeboat station

Somewhere to sit

If you double click on this you will see that it was erected to commemorate

the Coronation of King George V

Elegant loos (restrooms) on the beach

The Moot Hall. Originally this was seperated from the sea by 3 roads which have since been washed away.This early 16th century building of stone,timber and brick is a reminder of the days when Aldeburgh relied for its prosperity on trade, exporting cloth to Flanders and the Low Countries. The local council still meet in the upper part of the Moot House.

The war memorial

We have now arrived back at the hotel for coffee.It's November and we are able to sit outside without a jacket, what a blessing. One can get away from most things here, but not everything!!

When we have finished coffee I will show you some of the town,(another post). As the weather is so good we have decided to stick to the coast today but that will have to wait until after lunch and yet another post.

I left the cards at home

A Walk Around Woodbridge,Suffolk

I'm glad that I took the Autumn photos of the garden because since then we have had some atrocious weather. Our firework party took place in the rain (later post) but yesterday we had gales with gusts of up to 70 miles an hour in places and torrential rain squalls all day. My Rose beds and borders look like a lake.



Back to Monday of last week when we spent a few hours in Woodbridge on our way to Aldeburgh. We arrived in time for morning coffee, which we had close to the river, and then had time to walk around the town before having lunch.Woodbridge stands on the River Deben and owes much of its prosperity to the industries of shipbuilding, sail-cloth and rope-making.

Suffolk is a county of pretty colours as you will see, even in the mist and drizzle.

The Tide Mill has stood here since 1170

It was the last working mill of its kind in the country

continuing in use until 1956

A Thames Barge

These barges worked up and down the Thames river many years ago

We have left the river and are now walking towards St. John's church (at the top of the hill) in the centre of town.

So often in these small towns where the ancient church takes such a central place, one sees houses where the backs open right onto the ancient graveyards.

There's that man again - he's a saint really

Gives a good perspective of the size of the entrance

Out from the side directly onto the town square

with an ancient well and water pump

Popped in to chat with this Violin maker

Drinking and eating

The Angel Pub

The Shire hall still in use by local magistrates

Another pub

See Paddington Bear peeping out this house window

Another pub

These pubs are often the best places to eat for good, homely and cheap food

We are now going to have lunch and then make our way to Aldeburgh another half hour away. Will probably stick to soup as we will be enjoying a 3 course dinner at our hotel this evening.

We have no idea at this point of the surprise we will receive when we get to our hotel

(nothing to do with my birthday!)

Autumn Views from My Garden

Having got back quite late Thursday and then family over for further celebration followed by a Firework Party with several house churches together tonight, and possibly no opportunity tomorrow because of important meetings, I have yet to sort out any of my photos from my birthday celebration trip. So what have I done, gone straight out into my garden to capture some of the Autumn beauty to share with you in the meantime.

Autumn reflection through a bathroom window

Looking out

Zooming out

Random shots outside

Combined with a touch of Summer (Rosebuds)

Three Score Years and Ten!

It does not seem possible that I will be celebrating my 70th birthday next Tuesday, I have found it difficult coming to terms with this. I look at some of the cards I have received so far that have a large '70' on the front and I cannot connect with it, that would have been for my Grandmother, not me! I do of course realise that what I can celebrate is reaching this stage in life when so many family and friends have not, and others who are unwell cannot enjoy the active life that I have. So all that is a blessing I know. My dear husband Alan who will be 77 next Saturday never gives it a second thought.





We do not usually make a big fuss of birthdays, but my children thought this one was worth celebrating. I turned down the offer of tea at the Palm Court in the Ritz with my family and preferred for that money to go towards a break at the above hotel in Aldeburgh on the Suffolk Coast. We have a bedroom that faces the river and the marshes at the back and a small sitting room that faces the sea. One can walk around the town of Aldeburgh in 10 minutes and there is little else but the fishing boats and the sea, but that is the beauty of it. Add to that the wildfoul reserves and walks along the rivers and marshes and we are all set for a relaxing break. The food is good too with lots of fresh caught fish so looks like we will be walking, eating and reading. especially as it will be dark soon after 4.30 pm this time of year. Aldeburgh is less than 2 hours away which adds to a relaxing trip. We will be there from Monday to Thursday.





We will be venturing outside of Aldeburgh to Snape where they host music festivals and there are castles and such in the area, and other little harbour towns and villages. The forecast at present is for rain every day and we are right on the North Sea so we will be taking our warm and wet weather clothes without a doubt. The time to dress up will be for relaxing in the hotel restaurant in the evening.





Next Saturday will be spent with the family when I will cook them all a special meal. And yes, I will be taking my camera.

Aldeburgh rooftops -photo courtesy of Janie





And what I turned down


The Palm Court at the Ritz

Afternoon tea

Photos courtesy of the website

Now and Then or Then and Now!

I answered the bell of my front door at about 9.30 pm last night to be confronted with a guy, certainly not a child, standing on the step wearing a hideous mask on his face. I rather jumped at the unexpected sight of him and was so glad that both my son and husband were not too far behind me. I courteously declined a 'trick or treat' at which point he walked away and took off his mask and walked up the street.



I got to thinking how this Halloween thing has come from America and become big retail business in recent years. Whole areas of grocery stores taken over with hideous costumes and anything to do with witches and the like.



It took me back to October 31st when I was a young child. We did not celebrate All Hallowes Eve, this being a night of the supernatural, and the occult side at that when witches and evil spirits were believed to be roaming freely. What we did have was 'duck apple night' where parents filled a large container with apples and the only way to get one was to duck for it with ones hands behind ones back. We also had apples hanging on string from some high beam and again had to eat them with hands behind backs. Sometimes there were home made toffee apples. It was soon after the main apple harvest season so I guess apples were more plentiful.



Continuing the picture of then and now took me to Guy Fawkes night which is celebrated here on 5th November in rememberance of the foiled Gunpowder plot to blow up parliament in 1605. Some Catholics led by Guy Fawkes were out to murder King James I.

Today there are very few private bonfires and people go to hugely organised bonfires and watch masses of very sophisticated fireworks where 'health and safety' play a huge part. Added to that there are fireworks being set off every night for some time before this event and well afterwards with the odd ones going off right into the New Year or later.

Wind back to my childhood. Just about every street had a bonfire in the middle of the road (very few cars around then) and the only fireworks would be maybe a small catherine wheel or rocket and maybe a couple of penny 'bangers'. Mostly we had hand held Sparklers. Children would build a 'guy' by stuffing old clothes with straw and he would be taken around the street where neighbours would hand out small change with which we would buy fireworks. What we did enjoy very much were the potatoes that we would roast in the fire. No baking foil then, just a potatoe shoved in the fire. If the fire got too hot it was not unknown for a window pain to shatter and the houses nearest to the fire would be showing blistered and peeling paint on the front door the next morning. Lots of innocent fun and I was too young to wonder what happened about the paint. I'm sure there were complaints but childhood amnesia is a good thing.

Ending this little tome brings me to an interesting conversation I had recently with a 23 year old friend. She is a bright third year medical student and this conversation brought home to me how little our young people are aware of our recent past.

Some of the young people in our house church were talking about things one had to go without when camping. When I said that we did not have central heating when I was young, one 35 year old asssumed that we must have heated the home with an electric fire. She could not believe it when I said that we did not have electricity, the only heat was from a coal fire. We discussed some more of the things that we did not have, during and just after the war, and when I explained that we had to cut newspaper into squares for lavatory paper, my 23 year old friend very seriously said, "Why didn't you use kitchen roll (paper kitchen towels)". She was serious.

Things have changed so rapidly in my lifetime that one forgets that young people of today have only ever known, and take for granted the little luxuries of life. I guess my grandparents would have felt the same about my generation.

Which brings me to the big '0' birthday that is coming up - more in next post - this one was just a little extra that I have shoved in!

Blogging Surprises

I finally seem to have figured out a way to access 'add page elements' which of course now is 'add a gadget'. From the very beginning of blogging I accessed it via. Dashboard which has not worked for me for many months. I have now found that I can use this facility via. Customise on the blog page. Why I could not get it when everyone else seemed to be able to I will never know.



Another outstanding problem I have is that Outlook Express is sending quite a lot of my comments from other bloggers straight to 'Deleted Items'. I do not know why but at least now that I have realised this I can keep a check on it.



Well it snowed in London this week, first time in October since 1934 apparently. Only a light dusting but in my daughter's town, just 50 minutes away they had a covering of 2 inches which then froze overnight causing quite a weight on plants and trees. Just 2 weeks ago it was so warm that people were flocking to the beach and swimming in the sea. Today in Devon in the South West the storms have caused bad flooding and the TV showed hailstones to a depth where they were half way up the sides of the cars that were trapped in them. Nothing to do with blogging but thought I'd add this little touch. Now back to blogging.





I recieved this lovely gift, all the way from California, from my dear blogging friend Sara of Much Ado about Something.Three beautiful C.D.s arranged,compiled and played by her husband who before retirement was a professional musician. Thank you Sara they are being played often.

Then I received this gift in the post, again from California. A box of rubber stamps for making greetings cards from Paula of The Baby Journals. Thank you Paula. I will enjoy using them.

Then yesterday this birthday card came through my letterbox from Oklahoma. This was from Teresa of Honeycomb. I knew Teresa had my address as she was the winner of my last giveaway but how did she know it was my birthday next week. (More about this special celebration in my next post).Teresa it seems kept a note of it from a post I did last year. Bless you Teresa.

Blogging fun of a different kind last week. I had the pleasure of phoning 3 of my close blogging friends. Sara (already mentioned), Susan of Penless Writer in Oklahoma and Vee of A Haven for Vee in Maine. Whoever thought blogging would be this much fun. It is so nice to be able to put a voice to faces, sometimes it takes a little detective work to come up with the phone numbers though.One cannot ask direct as then it would not be a surprise. It is the second time I have phoned Sara and Susan but initially there was a little detective work.

And now to my latest award. Blogging Friends Forever. I received this twice,the first came from Vee , and the second from Lorrie. The idea behind this award is that you send it to bloggers who have regularly commented on your blog and also to one new bogging friend.

The 3 people that I have chosen to pass this award on to are bloggers that came and commented on my blog right at the beginning 22 months ago and have continued to comment ever since. I have many regular blog friends now but these 3 have been here from the very beginning. Susan, Betty, and Lorrie.

For a fairly new blogging friend and regular commenter I award it to Elizabeth.

I very much appreciate all who visit and comment. You really add a sparkle to my day.

A Walk around Ightham Mote Estate

It's been a nice day so far, coffee when we arrived before touring the house and gardens and then a picnic. The National Trust do very reasonably priced home cooked type meals with locally sourced food but today we brought a picnic for a change. We thought it was going to be a warm and sunny day but half way through our picnic it began to rain lightly, the sort of thing that we call 'Scotch mist'. Having finished eating we went into the restaurant for some hot tea.

It was then time to take a walk around the estate. The landscape comprises plateau hilltops with steep valley sides dropping to Dinas Dene to the north and the scarp edge of the Greensand Hills to the south. Southwards the land is gently undulating. Woodland clothes the hilltops and the valley sides, giving the estate a secluded and intimate atmosphere. So let's go and enjoy it and take in the scenery.

Our walk begins by transcending a long and steady slope and it will take us about 35 minutes to reach the top. I thought the seed heads on this loose strife were even prettier than the summer flower.

We are half way to the top and are taking a little time to look across the corn fields, get our breath back and drink some water.

We have come down the steepest part of the hill and are now on the other side of the estate. We will cross over the style and continuing walking down a pretty steep path enjoying the scenery on the way.

Don't fall over the edge - it is steep

We are getting nice views over the Kent Weald now as we begin to leave the woods behind and are nearing the bottom of the hill.

The Estate Farm, incorporating Oust Houses. There are Oust Houses all over Kent which used to be a Hop growing area and these were used for drying the Hops.

It's been a good and exhilarating walk and in about 20 minutes time we will be back at Ightham Mote where we will have tea and lemon cake before making the journey home.