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Trans-Atlantic friends

Trans-Atlantic friends

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Last friday we had arranged to meet an American couple, who were staying in London, at our local station at around 10:00 AM in order to take them round some of our local places of interest.

Joe and Carolyn were from Oregon and the local countryside here reminded them somewhat of home. It was their first visit to this country and today was their first experience of English country roads. They were particularly interested in the roads because, in a few days time, they will be travelling by train to North Wales where they will be hiring a car.

I think that they were a little surprised at how narrow the roads were in places and that the hedges were 'wing mirror clipping' close!

Our first stop was Coggeshall which is only about 3 miles from the station. We walked from the little local car park up towards the church where we saw the 15th century Woolpack Inn which was built before Columbus discovered America.

Then, as it was literally next door, we looked around the 15th century church.

Walking back down Church Street we stopped to examine and admire various old buildings such as this timber-framed house of jettied construction and with oriel windows.

Having walked to the bottom of Church Street we walked up West Street to have a look at Coggeshall's most famous building – Paycockes.

You'd have to go a long way to see another 16th century house this good. We walked, from here, up Grange Street to Grange Barn which was built around 1140 for the Cistercian Abbey of which little else remains.

Crossing the road into Abbey Lane we walked along to see what remains of the abbey (not much) and then on the public footpath across the fields to East Street.

Again there were plenty of interesting buildings and features to stop and look at including a house with an intricately carved beam with the date 1585 carved into it.

It was nearly lunchtime by now so we went back to the Woolpack Inn for lunch. They have a good selection of meals there and I think that we can all vouch for the fact that they were very tasty.

After lunch it was back to the car and on to Thaxted via Great Bardfield. As we drove into Thaxted and turned right to go to the car park we caught a glimpse of things to come.

After parking the car we walked past the church down Watling Street into the town centre where we had a good look at the Guildhall.

Then up the little lane to the right of the Guildhall, Stoney Lane, where we saw Dick Turpin's cottage. Dick Turpin was an infamous highway robber and, so I understand, a nasty piece of work!

Stoney Lane leads into the churchyard so we had a look at the church. This is an amazingly impressive church for a small market town. Joe was particularly interested in some marquetry inlay in the pulpit and he had plans for producing something similar when he got home – I wish him luck. I wouldn't have a chance of doing anything like that.

We walked from the church to the windmill going past some thatched cottages on the way. We had seen numerous thatched cottages on the way here but this was the first time Joe and Carolyn had been able to see thatch at close quarters. The tower mill that we were going to see was the first windmill they had seen. This picture shows Amanda, Carolyn and Joe wondering whether they will end up with severely strained necks.

It is sometimes open to the public but, unfortunately, today was not one of those times.

Back to the car and on to Finchingfield where we stopped for a much needed cup of coffee or in Amanda's case – tea. After refreshments we walked round to have a look at the post mill – a different type of windmill from the one we'd seen at Thaxted.

There were also a number of thatched cottages clustered around this part of Finchingfield – very pretty.

We walked back across the village green to the car.

It was getting a bit late but I thought we would have time to go via Castle Hedingham to get a glimpse of their first medieval castle. When we got there all we could see, because of tree cover, was a little bit of the top of the Keep. We then had to leave for the station and because the rush-hour traffic slowed us down somewhat we managed to miss their train by about 4 minutes. Luckily there was another train in about 40 minutes.

We thought that Joe and Carolyn were really lovely people and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and I hope that they did too.

Lavenham again

Lavenham again

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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) and owned by the National Trust.

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.

Angels, Windmills and Porridge

Angels, Windmills and Porridge

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Yesterday was a lovely sunny day and the back roads called. We headed north-west towards Braintree, by-passed Braintree to the north, then off west through Bocking Churchstreet. We passed by the windmill in Bocking Churchstreet, which we have visited before, and made our way through the tiny back roads passing through the villages of Panfield, Jasper's Green and Shalford Green before arriving at our first planned stop – Bardfield Saling church.

Bardfield Saling is a very small village which is approximately in the middle of nowhere and all the better for it. It has a little church, built in the first half of the 14th century, with an unusual feature – a round tower. There are only 6 churches in Essex with round towers and this is probably the last medieval church ever built in this country with a round tower.

There were a number of interesting features inside including some straw platting showing extraordinary detail. We spoke to a lady in the house opposite the church who told us that the platting was done in 1880 by the mother of the previous church warden.

After leaving Bardfield Saling we meandered, and meander really is the only suitable description for navigating these little lanes, for a few miles to the village of Stebbing. You will not find Stebbing mentioned in any tourist literature which is surprising because it really is a pretty village. Lots of ancient buildings and a rather fine church.

The existing church dates from the mid 14th century and belonged to the Knights Hospitallers. There is nothing in the architecture to indicate that it was a Hospitallers church; it is simply a fine example of Decorated English seen here behind some cottages from outside the old Red Lion.

It was here that we saw some angels.

There were a pair of angels, one each side, between each of the main supporting beams of the roof structure. That, however, was not the most interesting feature of this church. It has a stone rood screen, most are made of wood, and is one of only three left in Europe. One of the other two is in Great Bardfield, of which more later, and the third is in Trondheim, Norway.

We walked back into the main part of the village along this road.

With a last look at some of the old cottages we moved on to our next destination.

Wending, or should that be winding, our way through yet more back lanes we headed for Thaxted going out through Duck End and past Porridge Hall on the way. Don't you just love those names? I don't know whether the hall has any association with Porridge or whether it's a corruption of an older name.

I stopped to take this picture on our approach to Thaxted because the little town looked so nice nestling in it's valley. You can't really miss the church and the windmill can you?

We arrived at Thaxted in time for lunch. There are three tea rooms in Thaxted that we know of. One, which is Egon Ronay recommended, had apparently closed down and of the other two in the main street opposite the Guildhall we chose the one called "Parrish's". Amanda had fish and chips and I had omlette and chips which was fine and the only comments that I would make are that the meals arrive on plates the size of manhole covers, I couldn't finish all mine, and the 'background' music was a bit too foreground for me – too loud.

However, thoroughly fortified, we sallied forth to explore. We have been to Thaxted before but there were some parts we had not explored. We walked up Stoney Street which leads from the Guildhall up to the churchyard.

Through the churchyard past the Alms Houses and along the footpath to John Webb's Windmill.

This is a conventional tower mill built in 1804 using local materials. The bricks being made and fired locally using clay from a local pit. The windmill is fully restored and is now in full working order and capable of grinding flour.

Back along the footpath running alongside the churchyard we headed into the town centre.

Back to the car and off to our next destination – Little Bardfield Church next to Little Bardfield Hall. Somewhere between Thaxted and Little Bardfield we go past Furthermore Hall and I don't know where that name comes from either. The little church of St Katharine's at Little Bardfield dates from 1042 which means that, in case you can't work it out, it is a Saxon church. The tower really does look quite large for such a small church.

Onward for one and a half miles to Great Bardfield. Great Bardfield was at one time a small market town but is now a village that retains some of the trappings of its erstwhile importance, for example, a 'Town Hall'.

We parked in the High Street near the the war memorial and this view is from the war memorial looking down Brook Street which was the road we used to get to the church.

There are some nice ancient buildings here from the medieval period onwards as evidenced by this large thatched cottage. It is particularly interesting because a small part of the roof at the front is tiled.

Further along we went past the green, with its colour-washed houses, towards the church.

The 14th century church is interesting for a number of reasons. One is that the lower part of the tower is actually Norman.

Another reason is the stone rood screen. This is late 14th century whereas the one we saw in Stebbing is mid-14th century. So now you've seen two out of the three remaining stone rood screens in Europe. If you want to see the third you'll have to pop over to Norway.

This is yet another reason, should you need one; one of two elaborately carved chancel tie-beams including the date of 1618.

Leaving Great Bardfield we head for Finchingfield where we arrive in time for afternoon tea with scones, butter and jam. Yum! On a previous visit we went into the Causeway Tea Rooms but they are closed each Thursday and Friday so we went into Jemima's Tea Rooms, near The Fox Inn, instead. Good tea and coffee – lovely scones!

Finchingfield, like Thaxted, is already featured on the web site but we wanted another look around and there is always the chance of a different view like this one

We wandered across to the windmill which is the smallest post mill in Essex dating from the 1700s.

This is part of the village near the windmill.

.. and so we headed home after another long, sunny and interesting day. Some of these places will, in time, appear on the web site with their own pages.

Autumn Jewels

Autumn Jewels

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As I mentioned in my previous post we went to Epping Forest last Sunday to see the autumn colours and were certainly not disappointed. With the sunlight and the colours of the leaves the forest was just beautiful – stunning – breathtaking. Look I'm running out of superlatives here – surely there must be more? The small photographs included here don't really do justice to the scenes but I will be adding the same pictures to the Epping Forest pages on the site in the near future which will include the usual larger versions. People who are registered on the Updates Mailing List will be notified automatically as soon as the new pages are added.

We drove to Baldwin's Hill in Loughton, an hours drive from home, where we parked the car and started our walk at about 11:00 AM.

Baldwins Hill map

This is the view that greeted us and it was where we started our walk.

If you look at the above map you will see the road called Baldwins Hill. We left the road and walked downhill across the open grass that you can see in the above picture and were very soon in the forest. I managed to step in a nice area of liquid mud which came over the top of my boots. Good job I was wearing walking boots as they kept my feet dry. It didn't take us long to reach Baldwins Pond.

From Baldwins Pond we followed The Clay Road for a short while

then struck off into the forest through all these lovely Beech trees. Each one of those groups of trunks is just one tree.

We eventually, after lots of 'oohs' and 'aahs', arrived at Blackweir Pond. Luckily we had some 'oohs' and 'aahs' left to use on the pond.

Leaving Blackweir Pond we went back through the forest constantly admiring the changing views coupled with the changes of light and colour.

We were now heading for Loughton Camp (All these places are on the location map link above) and reached The Clay Road again, walked along it to near the junction with the Green Ride, and went off the path into the forest again towards Loughton Camp. Leaving Loughton Camp we followed the path towards High Beach and came across these Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare) fungi on the way.

Continuing on the path

we soon reached High Beach with it's views across to London.

High Beach map

On the above map you should be able to see the Epping Forest Field Centre and the King's Oak PH (Public House) at High Beach. We had some lunch, a hamburger and hot drink each, from the kiosk at the side of the pub. We sat outside and ate our lunch as it is only a kiosk and does not provide indoor seating. Although it wasn't exactly warm it was comfortable enough when wearing warm clothing. After lunch we set off back to Loughton via the Clay Road.

On the path back we met some horse riders.

This section of The Clay Road seemed particularly colourful although by this time, about 1:30 PM, the sun was getting rather low in the sky and was being obscured by the tops of the trees. You may notice that apart from some small splashes of sun on the path only the upper parts of the trees are now in sunlight.

I took this last photograph looking back down The Clay Road as it climbed Baldwins Hill

and we reached our car at about 2:00 PM and arrived home by 3:00 PM after a very pleasant walk (typical British understatement) in the forest.

Norwich – Tuesday

Norwich – Tuesday

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Today dawned cloudy with a forecast of possible showers so 'inside' looks good. We made our way over to the cathedral to look round the inside as we saw only the outside yesterday.

The Nave is the second longest, after Winchester, in England. Whilst we were in there we saw a young blackbird perched on a ledge in one of the aisles alongside the nave giving a plaintive cheep ocassionally. A little later on all the lights went out and it turned out that they were trying to encourage the bird towards a bright door opening that went straight to the outside. They apparently succeeded and shortly after the lights came on again.

Norwich Cathedral Nave

In the North Aisle there is a small exhibition of Church Plate in a loft near the Jesus Chapel and within that loft there were some medieval paintings on the roof and part of the walls.

Norwich Cathedral Medieval Wall Painting

A little later we noticed a strange rushing noise had started and suddenly realised that it was heavy rain – an excellent time to be inside. We decided to have a break and retired to the Cathedral Refectory – very bright, very modern and built alongside one wall of The Cloisters. You can see part of the Refectory on the left and the Cloisters wall on the right.

Norwich Cathedral Refectory

Afterwards we looked round The Cloisters and the maze within it then decided it was time to move on – Dragon Hall called!

We had a street plan with us and, believe me, you would never find your way around the maze of city streets without one. We managed to find King Street and there was Dragon Hall!

Dragon Hall

An extremely interesting medieval merchants house and trading hall. They even had some medieval clothes for visitors to try on so Amanda took the plunge.

Medieval Clothes

We went back to the hotel to un-emcumber ourselves, well me really, of the rather heavy tripod used to support the camera inside the two buildings. After some refreshments and a short rest I decided to walk along to Carrow Hill to look at part of the old city wall whilst Amanda decided to stay in the hotel.

Norwich City Wall

I returned to the hotel and that is where we stayed until the next day.

We got there in the end!

We got there in the end!

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I'm not talking about Norwich when I say 'We got there in the end' I'm talking about connecting to the Internet from the hotel. I had a lot of trouble yesterday, after we arrived in Norwich, trying to connect via the hotel's wireless broadband and the receptionist could not give me any advice on what might be wrong. The manager wasn't in yesterday but she was in today and after hearing of my problems suggested that she reboot their computer – and here I am connected.

I am now a bit later than I intended in updating the Blog. We arrived in Norwich yesterday, Monday, about mid-day after an uneventful journey and found the hotel quite easily. It is situated near the inner ring road which encircles the city centre and we are probably within walking distance for most things.

We transferred our luggage to our room and went straight out into the sunshine. Making our way towards the cathedral we went via Elm Hill.

Elm Hill

Elm hill is a perfectly preserved medieval cobbled street. The white building on the bend is The Britons Arms, a coffee house and restaurant, where we had lunch. We both had Home Made Pork Pie with salad and it was the best pork pie we had ever had. If you have had a pork pie from your local shop then forget it – this was absolutely streets and streets ahead of that. On that meal alone we would strongly recommend this restaurant.

Then we walked onward and into the Cathedral Close. This cathedral has the second highest spire, after Salisbury, in the country.

Norwich Cathedral

After leaving the cathedral we walked along the Riverside Walk by the River Wensum.

River Wensum

Turning back through the city centre we went past the castle.

Norwich Castle

I have to say that Norwich seems to be very good shopping centre where one could so easily be encouraged to spend lots of money.

Monday was very warm and much too humid for our liking but there was plenty of sun and blue skies.