The trip to Suffolk and Norfolk was good, despite illness.
On the first day, we drove to Orford, a lovely little village with a river
running around one edge. Actually, the river was once the sea,
but a shingle spit grew in front of the harbour
and became the largest vegetation-covered spit in Europe.
After depositing our bags in the B&B, we drove to Snape Maltings, a complex
of musical and crafts shops situated in an old brewery. It is by a river in fenland,
covered with reeds with some old sailing craft on it.
When we returned Louise was not too well, so she went to
bed during the afternoon while I went for a walk along the river edge.
It is unlike a normal river, as it is salt-marsh on one side and the
shingle island on the other bank. Ducks, geese and numerous wading birds
inhabit the whole area. It is not unusual to see ducks walking or flying along the
village roads.
Like many Suffolk and Norfolk villages, Orford has a huge church and also a
castle dating from the 12th century and built by Henry II.
We had a superb meal at the "Orford Butley Oysterage" that night.
It is a most unpretentious eating-house with a waitress to match.
We walked in just before another couple and she asked if we had booked.
When I said we had, she replied "Well, that's alright then." I was amused
when she asked the other couple the same question and got the reply "no."
"Well, that's alright then" was trotted out with the same lack of concern.
She had the style and grace of a bag-lady, but I suppose at 76 years of
age you can indulge your passion for indifference to fashion.
We kicked off with a mixed starter of smoked trout, salmon, mackerel,
cod roe, sweet-pickled herring and fresh oysters, followed by grilled
Dover sole and Skate (actually Thornback Ray), and a nice bottle
of Sancerre to wash it all down.
We stayed at the "Jolly Sailor" pub, which is run by a nice, friendly
couple.
We had a beautiful view from the room of the fields and marsh, especially
atmospheric in the full moonlight that night.
After breakfast we wandered around the village and bought some basketware
and smoked food from Richardson's smoke-house.
Soon after, we left for Norwich, the capital of Norfolk. It is a pleasant
city, with a large thriving market and a great cathedral.
We had a sandwich in a very good bar and got some shopping for
the holiday. It was noticable that prices for food were a lot cheaper
than London.
We got to the cottage near Aldeborough that evening, joining Louise's
family and their children.
The next day, they went to the craft fair at Blickling Hall, whilst Louise
and I went to Wells-next-the-sea.
We travelled via the tiny back roads and encountered dozens of pheasants,
plus a few hares and a few more partridges. The fields are a bit like the
Mid-West states, very large and open, but they hold
huge numbers of wildlife, possible due to woods dotted around them.
In Wells-Next-the-Sea, the sea is about 1 mile away these days. In between are
saltmarshes. The town is interesting and has some fascinating shops
to browse in. This whole coast seems to specialise in second-hand
bookshops and I bought some useful reference works.
As the weather was so fine, we decided to eat fish and chips on
the harbour front overlooking the saltings. Great tasting fish too.
We had another large meal in the evening and I then started to feel ill.
I did not sleep that night.
The next day, I wasn't even able to eat toast, but we decided to go to
Blakeney anyway.
Not far from Wells, this is a more picturesque village and also lies a long
way from the sea.
On the saltings, there are some bird sanctuaries with a large variety of
waders, ducks and geese for visitors to see. The colours are quite
vivid on some of them.
There is a raised path going from Blakekney to Cley-next-the-sea, so we
thought we should walk it.
It was very warm again and it was nice being out on a wild bit of coastline
with oyster-catchers and geese calling. As we got further out, about 3/4
of a mile, a sea mist started to roll past us, getting thicker as we continued
to walk. It got quite ghostly after a while and added to the atmospheric
feeling of the marshes. Then the path turned inland again and we could
see Cley mill. It is a windmill, built around 1780 and in excellent working
order. About half a mile from the village, the mist cleared and we were in
warm sunshine again. Our first call was to a tea shop. I felt bitterly
disappointed that all I could manage was half a scone. On the mantelpiece
were some tempting home-made cakes.
Perversely, the only thing I really fancied eating that day was a fresh
crab sandwich. Now that would be asking for trouble.
Our trip back took us through the fog bank again before re-emerging in the
sunshine again. Altogether the walk was about 5 miles.
I felt pretty done in at the end with aching limbs too. Louise was suffering
from painful sinuses, so we were a very sorry looking crew.
There are a couple of very good bookshops in Blakeney, so we spent a little
time there before returning to the cottage. I went straight to bed, even
though it was only 7pm. I slept for a couple of hours before being wakened
by one of the children screaming for mummy or daddy. That was about the
last sleep I got until dawn.
We had to vacate the cottage early that morning, so we packed up, said our
goodbyes and headed back to Suffolk.
Lavenham is somewhere we wanted to visit on our way home as it is the most
complete medieval town in England. It has whole roads of tumbledown
timber buildings built from around 1280 to the 1600's. Like much of the
county it gained it's wealth from the wool trade, specialising in a blue
dyed-in-the-wool broadcloth. The dye used was called woad.
The ancient guildhall was used as a town hall, prison, workhouse,
almshouse and refugee housing. Many of the houses are painted, with pale
pink being a favourite throughout the county. There are some good
tea-houses and I can recommend Tickle Manor tea-house.