Four Days in Suffolk - Day 3

On or second full day we had a pleasant duty to perform. Getting the Christmas presents for our friends. I have no worries about detailing it here because after years of getting the same presents none of them will be greatly surprised. We headed to the Shawcross vineyard. As we arrived a rather distracted woman also arrived, in order to avoid an accident I let her go in first, so while she was being served, we were ushered off to look at the vines.

I have no idea whether 2016 is a good year or not, but I was impressed with the yield on most of the vines.

They grow quite a few varieties, and it was a pleasant walk around the edge of the vineyard, although not at all challenging. On returning to the shop we sat outside while the tasting was prepared.  All the wines were good, but as is always the case, the final selection was a compromise.  Jo and I have very different tastes.  We had tried six different wines and then placed our order.  Having loaded the boxes into the car we were offered coffee, which was a welcome refreshment, and it being a pleasant morning we sat in the yard for a while longer.

We then drove to Framlingham to see the castle.   I thought that I had visited all the English castles, but cannot remember ever seeing this one before.  It is an impressive place, so we picked up the free audio guide and climbed the stairs for a walk around the wall. 

 When we arrived we had parked in the shade in the overflow car park with the coaches.  The castle was full of school children, most of whom were enyoing the good weather and playing on the steep banks.  I assume the trips were 'educational', but in reality just being in the castle is educational, and hopefully will spark a lot of questions.  The castle building has a fairly unusual history, as can be seen from the houses built inside the walls.  They now house the exhibition.

There is no cafe in the castle, but you can come and go as you please, so we wandered down into the town to get some sandwiches to take back to the castle to eat.  We passed plenty of places where we could have stopped, but there seemed to be no take-away until we got to the Co-op.
A short walk around the town, then back to the castle to eat our sandwiches.

After lunch we took a longer walk around the town, and came across some Alms houses, we also walked through the meadow under the castle, which it is believed was once flooded, and provided fish as well as defense.
 

Later we drove to Southwold and strolled along the sea front, and through the town.  We ate fish and chips from the Sole Bay Fish Company - by far the poshest take-away fish and chips I have ever had.  It came in a custome made bag, which was lined to keep the food warm and included a slice of lemon.  They also offered us some of their home made tartar sauce.  Sadly though, no protection from the gulls that constantly swooped overhead in the hope of a chip.  A lovely evening on the top of Southwold cliffs.

Four Days in Suffolk - Day 2

Following a surprisingly good night's sleep and after a good English Breakfast, we are off to Minsmere. I remember it is a rather long and strange drive out to the reserve, along narrow roads through the woods, never quite being sure where the reserve starts.  Still we get into the car park and it really isn't that busy. At the entrance we are given the map and a brief explanation of the site. We have decided to buy another pair of binoculars, for me this time, so we head for the shop first.  After a little while browsing we get offered help.  Do they watch you to decide if you're serious before offering help?  Anyway, we weren't far off what we eventually bought, and the staff kindly offered to repair Jo's pair, which they did in a few minutes, and for free.  Great service from the RSPB!
We took the longest route first, out to the mere and spent a while in various hides, only one of which had a lot of birds.  We identified a very few, and puzzled over even more, we are only beginners, but I thought we could do better.  Later I would find out why we didn't, when we got to the last hide before the walk back.  In that hide were a couple of RSPB guides, and they showed us different birds and explained how their plumage was changing for winter.  That explains the difficulty, so birds are in transition - very confusing.

On the way back to the reception area and cafe, we stopped off to visit the dig at Leiston Abbey.  Very interesting it was too.

 The Abbey had been repeatedly flooded and eventually the monks were given some land further from the sea and moved the whole Abbey 'stone by stone'.  This must have cost a fortune, but their money making schemes were quite profitable and even at the time decidedly illegal!  They seem to have diverted ships from the real port and unloaded them, and charged the appropriate taxes etc. None of that money left the Abbey, it seems.  There were various law suits against them, but that doesn't seemd to have made a difference.

We spoke to a number of the diggers and heard what they had to say.  Most were older people, so there's hope for me yet maybe.  Many had paid for the privilege, because the dig was being run by DigVentures. From discussions about how to determine what is worth getting out of the trench, to the very obvious changes in the colour of the soil, and the constant references to the ground radar that is so helpful in showing where to dig, I was fascinated. 

We eventually returned for Lunch.  Simple food was available, soup, jacket potatoes, sandwiches and the like.  The jacket potatoe was OK, but not that hot, and the order wasn't correct, although that was quickly fixed.  We sat just outside the cafe, but still under cover, not to keep warm, but to stay in the shade!

After lunch we walked round the other two circuits (together, shorter than the first) and saw almost nothing in the bird line at all, which was very disappointing.  We did see some rather impressive Red Admirals on the blackberry bushes, and I managed to get a reasonable picture.

On our way home we vistied the 'new' Leiston Abbey.  Still a ruin, but MUCH more to see.

According to the information plaques: "The abbey was of the Premonstratensian order, a very strict order who favoured remote locations (like Minsmere) well away from towns. The order was started in 1119 by Saint Norbet or Premontre in northern France.  The inmates wore black and white robes and were ordained priests unlike the monks of mother religious orders."

Norbet / Norbert just set me thinking - shouldn't have really!

After a walk on Thorpeness beach we headed for the Parrot and Punchbowl in Aldrinngham (where, we later found out, two of our friends were married).  We had a lovely meal, and a very long chat with some sitting at the next table, who clearly wanted someone to talk to.

Four days in Suffolk - Day 1

For various reasons our Holiday this autumn was truncated to just 3 days.  We left on Tuesday and headed to Suffolk, to a small village called Yoxford, near Saxmunden.  On the way we stopped in Wickham Market to get some lunch, and found a little tea shop - The Tea Pot Tearoom, where we had a light lunch - a ploughmans followed by a piece of cake, and a pot of tea.  Which while very nice, was a little on the expensive side. After lunch we walked around the town and vistied the church, which is our regular habit.

To our surprise it was open, so we took a look inside. What a lovely updating of an old church, I don't think I've ever seen one this good.

Outside again I was talking about how impressed I was with how they had updated the inside of the building, when I saw the notice board, and realised they had also unlocked the secrets of time travel!

As we arrived at our B&B - Oak Tree Farm, the rain had just started.  The hosts came to rescue us, and we sat in the breakfast room for about 90 minutes before the rain stopped and we could unload the car.  I had been reading about Labrador Retrievers, and watching the bird feeder out of the corner of my eye.  Plenty of birds, none of which seemed to mind the weather. 
Once we got into our room we had to find somewhere to eat for the night.  The Griffen didn't look like it was still open so we elected to go back to the A12 and try the Kings Head.  A nice large car park, but quite a small pub, still the importatnt thing is that they served food.  The specials board was amazing, loads to choose from , and the started in particular I struggled to choose.  Rarely do I find so many things I like, and am (just about) allowed to eat.
After a very good meal we drove out to Dunwich to see the dark skys and try out the constallations app on my phone. The app was not great, so maybe I need another, or more practice.  The dark skys are darker than at home, but still the Milky Way was not as bright as I have seen it (a long time ago), and the clouds soon meant we had to return to the B&B.