BeenThere-DoneThat Blog

After last years excuse for a summer we were hoping for some drier settled weather this year especially as the Meteorological Office predicted a warmer drier summer this year. Since our last trip to Houghton at the beginning of the month we’ve been waiting for a weather forecast which would give us at least four to five days of reasonable weather (what the weather forecasters laughingly call ‘Sunny Spells’) and we’re still waiting. We have even reduced our requirements to three days (two nights away) and we’re still waiting.

We have had some sun - and cloud, and rain. The weather seems to be so unsettled and unpredictable with the weather forecasts changing even on the same day. Yesterday the weather was cloudy and rainy and today was forecast to be better with some sun and indeed when we woke up it was to a clear blue sky so we decided to have a short trip out.

When Marie was over here we went to Nayland and Stoke-by-Nayland for a brief visit at the end of one of the days and I had wanted to go back again to try and get some more photographs, particularly in Nayland, in the hope that some of the streets wouldn’t be quite so choked with park cars. That previous visit was on a Sunday and my reasoning was that more residents would be home at the weekend so more parked cars. Perhaps during the week when a lot of the residents would be at work there would be fewer parked cars? Wrong! In Nayland there were at least as many as before and possibly in some places even more so we didn’t stop but went on to Stoke-by-Nayland.

When we were in Stoke-by-Nayland before I was able to get a nice photograph of one of the ancient timber-framed buildings with the light being just right but I didn’t photograph the church because I would have been shooting directly towards the sun. This time, however, we arrived in the morning with the sun in a much better position.

So we get out of the car, the sun goes in and we feel a few spots of rain. We head for the church and arrive at the porch just in time to miss the start of a very heavy shower which then turned in to a thunderstorm. Looking out of the porch door towards the direction from which whis weather approached there are dark clouds as far as the eye can see with no sign of a break. However after about ten minutes there were signs of the clouds breaking up and soon I was able to get a good photograph of the church.

We headed further north for about a mile and a half to the village of Polstead which turned out to be a pleasant enough village but nothing special. Amanda wanted to look at the church before we moved on so we drove to a point nearby and walked up to the church gate. At first sight we both thought that it must be victorian because it was small and oddly proportioned with a very short tower surmounted by an odd little stone steeple.

Well we were both wrong and it turned out to be Norman! That was a surprise. There was quite a nice view from the churchyard with the tower of Stoke-by-Nayland church showing on the horizon to the right (you can just about see it).

This funny little church was built during the reign of Henry II around 1160 and there is a Norman archway to add to its authenticity.

Just as we were leaving we noticed that a number of sheep had gathered in the shade under a tree, laying on the grass, since we’d arrived. I don’t know why. It certainly wasn’t to shelter from the sun, it wasn’t especially warm, and it wasn’t raining. One of those mysteries of life.

Another four miles onward and we arrived in Boxford. A pleasant little village with a number of interesting buildings including these timber-framed houses stuffed into this narrow little lane called Butchers Lane.

Looking out of Butchers Lane we can see the church in the distance.

Quite an imposing church when seen up close and with an imposing South Porch.

From inside the churchyard, close to the porch, the ancient dark ochre coloured timber-framed house in Bridge Street shows up quite nicely.

Inside the church there were two, that we could see, medieval wall paintings of which this, above the Chancel Arch, was one.

We decided that it was now time for a ’smackerel’ of something (apologies to Pooh Bear) and went into The Fleece for lunch. The Fleece is the cream coloured building just beyond the bright salmon pink building. Having had lunch, and bearing in mind that the weather forecast said that the weather would deteriorate this afternoon, we went home.

We are still waiting, and hoping, for at least three consecutive days with a good amount of sunshine (Sunny Spells remember?) and we may still be waiting at Christmas.

Marie and Lisa’s trip to Great Britain didn’t go according to plan. A short while before departure Lisa contracted an infection but decided she was well enough to go and they both arrived in Colchester on Wednesday 1st April as planned.

On Thursday Amanda and I travelled to Colchester and all four of us walked round Colchester and saw the castle, Timperley’s, the Balkerne Gate and the roman wall, the timber-framed cottages by the river and Castle Park. Our final location was the ruins of St. Botolph’s Priory. I haven’t included photographs of the places that we visited as they can be seen on the web site Colchester pages however just to prove that Marie and Lisa were really there I’ve included this picture.

We arrived in Colchester next morning, Friday, expecting to take them both out for the day only to find that Lisa’s infection had flared up again and she’d had very little sleep. She had decided to go back home the following day, Saturday, and to stay in their rented cottage while we took Marie out. It was such a shame that, having come all that way, she was having to go home because of some rotten ole bacteria.

We took Marie to Finchingfield and Thaxted and tomorrow, Saturday, she was going to London with Lisa and was going to do some shopping before returning to Colchester. We arranged to take Marie to Dedham Vale on Sunday.

We heard that Lisa arrived home without problems and is, apparently, on the mend. The three of us went off to Dedham on Sunday, walked to  Flatford then up to East Bergholt and back to Dedham. As we had some time to spare we decided to explore the nearby villages of Stoke-by-Nayland and Nayland and both turned out to be picturesque little villages with some very interesting old buildings including this one in Stoke-by-Nayland.

After looking around Stoke-by-Nayland we moved on to Nayland.

That person on the pavement desperately trying to look like a local and failing dismally is, of course, Marie. After leaving Nayland we took Marie back to Colchester and Marie decided that tomorrow she’d like to see Cambridge.

On Monday we collected Marie and drove to one of the Park & Ride sites around Cambridge. They do have a very well organised Park & Ride service in Cambridge with buses leaving the car parks very frequently.

Most of the places we visited are listed on the Cambridge page but one view that isn’t listed is this one:

A spy-in-the-sky view of Marie and I taken by Amanda from the top of the tower of St. Mary’s Church. We were all quite tired by the end of the afternoon and had agreed that Marie would come over from Colchester by bus to our house to do a little local sightseeing on her final day in England.

On her last day, Tuesday, Marie came over to us and we all walked on public footpaths to Layer Marney Tower. On the way we saw a lot of Wood Anemonies in flower and heard a Skylark in the distance. After looking at Layer Marney Tower and exploring the local Tudor church we came back to our house for lunch and then, after lunch, we drove the short distance to Tollesbury.

I’ll leave you with this picture of Amanda and Marie about to be run down by a very large lightship.

That was our last day with Marie, leaving 3 pairs of very tired legs, after which she went back to Colchester on the bus and left for home the next day. She arrived home without problems albeit after a long and tiring journey.

Another lovely day yesterday saw us arrive at the free car park in Dedham where we intended to walk around the area where John Constable used to paint. A short walk from the car park brought us here.

Just above the cattle you may see a horizontal line in the grass - that is the path we intend to take which follows the River Stour to Flatford.

After crossing the road bridge over the river we joined the footpath and set off beside the river. After only a short while we stopped to look at a small shoal of small fish, about five inches long, near the bank. We are no experts when it comes to identifying fish but we thought that they could be Gudgeon. The jury’s out on that one.

This is the public footpath a little further on.

We soon reached a footbridge which we needed to take to get on the other side of the river where the path continued. We stopped again, by the river, and could see numerous bright blue damsel flies together with some powder blue dragon flies (Libellula) and some very small fry in the shallow water near the bank. We imagine that they are probably Minnows.

A little further on and we could see the bridge at Flatford in the distance with people leaning over looking at the river.

A very short time after there we were at the bridge with the thatched Bridge Cottage beyond.

From the bridge we could see, looking back, the path by which we had arrived.

The National Trust, who own most of the properties here, run a small tea room attached to Bridge Cottage where we had a short break and some coffee. One thing that can be said about National Trust tearooms is that they know how to charge (one pound and 45 pence for a cup of coffee).

After our break we walked past Granary Barn (thatched) and Flatford Mill, which John Constable’s father used to own, to reach Willie Lott’s Cottage.

There are other pictures of this area on the web site on the Dedham Vale pages.

After looking around Flatford we walked about a mile up the lane to East Bergholt where John Constable once had a studio. We had a look in the church and in one place we could hear a pitter-patter noise above our heads in the roof. We decided that, from the sound of it, it must be a rain shower. There had been a few clouds about and some of them, although small, were rather dark. I went outside to check and found that it was still brilliant sunshine and there was no sign of rain. We never did find out what that noise was.

This church does not have a tower because they ran out of money when it was being built so they decided to build a small wooden building on the ground to house the bells. Very unusual.

At least there is something to catch the water in if the roof ever leaks.

We walked back to Dedham from East Bergholt for a late lunch, at about 2:00 PM, in the Marlborough Head which dates from medieval times.

After lunch we had a good look around Dedham starting with the church. Have a good look at the church door. Quite a nice bit of carving although it does look a little worn but then it should do as it’s been in place since the church was built in the 15th century. There can’t be many church doors around which are 400-500 years old.

Just opposite the church is the Sun Inn built in the 15th century and walking through the archway into the yard behind you see this.

That diagonal structure is an external staircase, with a separate roof, giving access to the upper storey. When this inn was built such staircases were commonplace but there are very few of them left.

Our last port of call was ‘Southfields’ the earliest parts of which date from the 14th century.

A wonderful old building built in quadrangular form with a courtyard in the centre. This is the view through the main doorway into the courtyard.

Time to call it a day. We thoroughly enjoyed our walk - I hope you did too.

I little while back I said that I would post some photographs that Antonello took of the two of us on our Suffolk jaunt when he sent them to me. They arrived yesterday and here they are.

The first one is outside the Guildhall in Lavenham and the second is in the churchyard at Long Melford. That was a good day trip and I look forward to meeting Antonello again!

Yesterday, Sunday 22nd July, I left home at 9:30 AM and drove to Thaxted where I had arranged to meet Antonello from Florence in Italy. He had been staying in Thaxted for 3 nights, having already been to Rye in Sussex, and was moving on to Long Melford in Suffolk to stay there for 3 nights before travelling up to Northumberland.

This was the first time that we had met and probably won’t be the last as he comes over to Britain 2 to 3 times each year. I was going to drive him to Long Melford with a few stops on the way and we were going to make a day of it.

He was sitting outside Thaxted Guildhall in the sun when I arrived and I recognised him because I’d seen a picture of him on the web.

We weren’t going straight to Long Melford and Antonello suggested Kersey so Kersey it was. We found our way through the back roads with a few stops to look at the map and, no, we weren’t lost!

We stopped in the main street, ‘The Street’, as there isn’t anywhere else. You cannot really ‘walk round’ Kersey as there are no other streets - it’s a small village. It is really picturesque with the village running down each side of the small valley to the stream at the bottom which runs across the road to form a ford.

The church, quite a big one for such a small village, is perched on the valley top on one side of the village. There are plenty of pictures of Kersey already on the site.

After looking around, sorry, along Kersey we moved on to Lavenham. There are also pictures of Lavenham on the web site.

As the car park is near the church we started with the church then walked down Church Street into High Street and up to Market Lane on the corner of which is an old house where the gable end leans out in a most alarming way. Up Market Lane into The Square where we couldn’t possibly miss The Guildhall and Little Hall.

We stopped for a light lunch in ‘Sweetmeats’ in Water Street after which we went on to Long Melford.

We first had to find Antonello’s B&B and so asked a local, there seemed to be very few about on a Sunday, who didn’t know where the road was. Nothing for it but to resort to technology! Out came the GPS navigation thingy and after entering the name of the village and road it gave us a street map with the relevant street shown - hooray!

After Antonello had put his luggage inside we went for a walk around Long Melford including the rather impressive church on the hill and Melford Hall (Tudor).

After this it was time for me to head back home so we said our goodbyes with the expectation that we would meet again. I certainly hope that we do. Antonello is a very pleasant young man and we both have a strong interest in Britain’s heritage. Antonello took a couple of pictures of the two of us and has promised to let me have copies which I shall then post here.

A very good day.

We headed north, today, over the county border, and the River Stour, and into Suffolk. Our destination was Pin Mill - a small waterside community on the River Orwell.

We drove as far as the village of Chelmondiston where we parked in the small, free, village car park. The walk down Pinmill Road was an easy one and we arrived at the riverside close by the Butt and Oyster Inn.

The tide was out when I took this picture and I imagine that with a very high tide this inn only just manages to keep it’s feet dry!

It was about time for morning coffee so we went in to the pub for coffee. The view from inside the bar across the river was very picturesque. Whilst we were drinking our coffee we noticed that their lunch menu had a very good range of dishes which sounded positively delightful but, unfortunately, we would have to leave before lunch for our next intended destination. I don’t know how good the food is but it certainly sounded nice.

After finishing our coffee we walked along the small hard which you can see next to the stream in the picture above and looked back to the Butt and Oyster.

After a walk round we set off up the lane back to the car but, part the way up, we met this fella walking by the side of the lane.

Isn’t he lovely? This is Britain’s largest beetle, a male Stag Beetle (Lucarnus cervus) which you won’t see very often. If this chap gives you the creeps then there is another piece of information which you should know - they can fly and do - frequently.

Amanda decided that he wasn’t terribly safe right next to the lane so she picked him up and put him on the verge.

We arrived back in Chelmondiston and set off in the car for our next waterside destination - Mistley back over the border in Essex.

The half mile stretch of road between Manningtree and Mistley runs alongside the River Stour and it is possible to stop anywhere by the roadside so that one can get out and look at the river which is over a half mile wide at this point.

The interesting point about this part of the river is the swans and it’s not just a few swans it’s a lot of swans. This is just some of them but there are more.

I spoke briefly to an Australian lady who said she’d never seen so many and why were they there? I wasn’t able to answer that question at the time but I can now. There are malting buildings by the river in Mistley where barley is malted in preparation for making beer and up to at least fifty years ago the barley was unloaded from barges at the quayside. The local swans soon realised that the barley which was spilled during this process was a constant source of food and there was obviously enough of it to support a large number of swans and so their numbers increased to form the colony here today.

We walked further into Mistley to look around and then made our way back to the car only to find an impolite lout strutting along the pavement as though he owned it!

He looked a bit put out when we walked past without so much as a ‘by your leave’.

Back to the car and we leave for our next, and last, destination - Harwich.

Harwich used to be a bustling, working port and a little on the rough side I think. Now, however, all the big stuff such as the international container ships and passenger liners have been moved around the corner to Parkeston Quay and Harwich has become a quiet, picturesque and interesting little town. If you are interested in things maritime then Harwich is the place for you and even if maritime history doesn’t hold you spellbound there is still plenty of interest.

There is remarkably little traffic in the town and there are narrow backstreets with many old buildings. There is lots to see on the waterfront including the Ha’penny Pier, Lighthouses and a Mayflower exhibition - the Mayflower was built in Harwich. This is me being friendly with a young lady I met inside the Mayflower Exhibition.

After Harwich it was back home. We enjoyed today very much and lots more photographs from this trip, together with many new pages, will eventually appear on the web site in due course. If you want to be notified about updates as soon as they appear then see the updates page.

We are now back from our trip to Lavenham and you may have noticed the absence of a blow by blow account. The hotel did have free wireless broadband available to guests but, as happened in Norwich, it wasn’t working properly and so I couldn’t use it. It was still out of order when we left.

Sunday 29th April 2007

We arrived in Lavenham on Sunday last at about 11:30 in the morning and, as we expected, our room at the Swan Inn wasn’t going to be ready until about 2:00 in the afternoon. So we left our luggage with the hotel and wandered off around the town.

In case you wonder what the Swan is like then this is it (built in the 1400s).

One of the nice things about Lavenham is that whichever street you choose to walk along it will almost certainly have a lot of ancient buildings in it. This time we chose to go out of the back of the hotel into Lady Street and up a short way to the Square to look around the many and various nice old buildings including the Guildhall (built in 1530).

By now it was time for lunch and we went back into High Street and found a little teashop called ‘Chilli and Chives’ and had a light lunch including cups of tea and coffee.

After lunch we walked north along High Street and back admiring all the inevitable ancient buildings and then turned up Hall Road just to see if there was a ‘Hall’ and indeed there was. A lovely, large old house with very attractive grounds including a small lake with black swans.

We noticed that at the bottom end of the hall’s grounds there was a public footpath running towards the church. Following that we emerged in the churchyard and so went into the rather cathedral-like church.

It has a rather imposing entrance porch.

It’s even more imposing inside but I didn’t take any interior pictures on this visit as it would require a tripod and that was still in the hotel. I made a mental note to return tomorrow with the said tripod.

It was coming up to afternoon tea time so we walked back to the hotel. After a brief visit to our room we sat down in one of the cosy lounge areas and ordered scones with butter, jam and clotted cream. Whilst we were waiting for our tea to arrive three other people came in and sat nearby. We couldn’t help but overhear what they were saying and deduced from their accents that they were Americans. They chose to have the larger version of tea so that, in addition to what we had, theirs included finger sandwiches and pastries. When it arrived, on a tall cake stand in three layers, they seemed so pleased with it they were taking photographs of each other to include the cake stand. They obviously couldn’t take a picture with all three of them in it so I volunteered to do it for them and they gratefully accepted my offer.

Our scones were some of the best we’d had - very yummy with jam and clotted cream.

After tea Amanda decided to have a bath so I went out for another walk around. Whilst wandering around the Square again I met the same three Americans from the hotel. It turned out that they had come over to collect their daughter from Law School in London and because the man had been stationed near Lavenham with the American air force about 20 years ago they had driven up here to look at old haunts and they felt that little had changed.

So back to the hotel to try the broadband.

I had, as mentioned earlier, to take my laptop into the lounge to try this and using the information given to me by the hotel tried to connect to the Internet. After fiddling about for 30 minutes I had to admit defeat. I went back to reception and asked to see their connecting instructions again. “Are you having trouble” said the receptionist - I said that I was. “Ah”, she said, “we appear to have a problem with that”. I wish I’d known before I started as it would have saved a lot of frustration. They were supposed to be getting a man in next day to fix it.

I went back to our room and had a look at the photographs I’d taken during the day after which it was time to get ready for dinner.

We went in to the dining room and what a dining room it was.

Oak beams everywhere and a minstrels’ gallery (but no minstrel - pity). After dinner we went back to our room and, eventually, to bed. My mistake at this point was to pull the curtains completely closed.

I woke the following morning when it was barely light and concluded that it must be around 5:00 AM but on looking at my watch I saw that it was actually 8:00 AM. The curtains were so efficient at blocking the light that the room was still virtually dark although it was broad daylight outside. Oops! The next night I left a small gap between the curtains.

Monday 30th April 2007

We had arranged to meet a lady at Little Hall in the Square so that I could take some interior photographs today when the hall is normally closed to visitors.

This is just one of the rooms.

The other interiors will appear on the web site in due course.

After this it was time for lunch and this time we went to a little teashop in Water Street called ‘Sweetmeats’. The range of offerings here was pretty amazing. I had a bouillabaisse which is described as a highly seasoned fish stew made from at least two kinds of fish and this had much more than two kinds - very tasty indeed. Amanda had Chicken Madras which she thought was very good. The tea room is upstairs, has only five tables and is run by a trained chef. This place is a little gem so if you are ever in Lavenham - try it.

Off to the church with a tripod this time to take some interior pictures. Just look at that stone carving on the wall of the nave above the arches

and at the risk of straining your neck look at the carving on some of the roof beams above the nave.

After the church we had yet another walk around the streets - we never get tired of doing that in Lavenham. Buildings in Lavenham crooked? Did I say that?

No it’s not the camera angle and, no, they weren’t built that way. I may look like that when I’m that old.

Later, back at the hotel, we decided to try the bar meals at The Swan in the less formal surroundings of the lounge and we were not disappointed. The menu was different from that of the restaurant but just as tasty and just as nicely presented.

And so to bed (No the broadband problem wasn’t fixed today).

Tuesday 1st May 2007

We left Lavenham this morning to return home but that didn’t stop us from sightseeing on the way.

First stop was Cavendish. A small village about 12 miles from Lavenham slightly south of west. This view is a well known and often used view of Cavendish to illustrate Suffolk and one can easily see why.

We love some of these names - ‘Nether Hall’. Lovely building too.

Leaving Cavendish and moving further west another three miles we arrive at Clare where we find the Old House. I hope that you will be able to see the intricate moulded patterns on the house walls.

Just in case it’s not easy to see in the smallish picture here is an enlargement of part of the same picture.

We had lunch in a small tearoom called ‘Cafe Clare’ which we can also recommend if you are ever round that way.

We made our way home from here after 3 delightful and interesting days.

We left for Hadleigh, Suffolk at around 9:00 AM this morning in pouring rain. The roads were very wet and on the winding road we would sometimes go through a very large puddle on the near-side of the road sending a sheet of water cascading over the windscreen. By the time we had parked in Hadleigh the rain, amazingly, had stopped.

We met Richard and Jane, two people from the ‘Friends of Hadleigh Guildhall’, who were going to show us around, tell us about the hall and let me take some photographs. Good weather for indoor photography.

The Guildhall is actually made from two different buildings which were once separate but are now joined - the Market Hall and the Guildhall. We started in the Guildhall which was built in the latter half of the 15th century. Notice the vertical posts which run from each roof truss up to the roof. These are Crown Posts each of which has two arched braces at the top where it joins the roof.

Between the roof trusses at the far end you will be able to see some light which is coming through a small window. This window is in an internal wall and the room behind it is on the top floor of what was the Market hall. That room also looks out over the churchyard at the front of the building and that is where we went next.

This room also has a Crown Post but with four arched braces at the top. At the far end of the room, on the right-hand edge of one of the vertical beams, you can see some of the pegs used in joining the wood sections. If this structure was meant to be seen those pegs would normally be trimmed flush.

The title of this article is a type of joint used by English carpenters from the late 14th century until around 1600 for joining horizontal lengths of timber - a useful feature for dating buildings.

We also saw a number of other interesting features which were not suitable for photographing. There is also a delightful little garden at the back and, no, I didn’t photograph it in this weather but I intend going back in better weather to do that.

We had coffee with Richard and Jane and chatted about the Guildhall from when it was in a very poor state in the 1960s to it’s later restoration. If you’re ever in Suffolk, you are missing a lot if you’re not, go and have a look round Hadleigh.

There will be more details of Hadleigh Guildhall appearing in the Hadleigh pages on the web site soon.