Redgrave and Lopham Fen

While Little W was being monstrous, the rest of us took a picnic to Redgrave and Lopham fen. This is a Suffolk Wildlife Trust site with a visitor centre and tea-room, but the facilities are only open at weekends (10am to 5pm). It is just a few miles west of Diss and is signposted from both the A1066 Diss-Thetford road and A143 Diss-Sury St Edmunds road.

Redgrave fen is "the largest remaining river valley fen in England and the source of the River Waveney". According to my map, it is also very close to the source of the river Little Ouse too. There are a number of signposted walks. As we didn't have long we did the red Spider Walk...


...so named because it takes you past pools where the rare Fen Raft Spider can be found.

We didn't find any of the spiders, but we did see the wild konik ponies and lots of damselflies..

Little Monsters

Over the years the kids have been to parties at various locations with play areas around Bury St Edmunds - there's Activity World at Rollerbury, just next to the station,
Jaspers Jungle at the Rushbrook Arms in Sicklesmere,
and The Giggle Factory in Sudbury,
but on Sunday Little W got to go to a new one on us : Monsters Ltd at Diss. Like the Giggle Factory, it's on an industrial estate, but once you get in that doesn't matter.

As you can see, he dressed up as a monster to go, only to find he had to take his dragon suit off before they would let him in! Some little monsters can be just too scary.

Infra-Red Bury St Edmunds

An idea I picked up from The Camera Shed when I fixed the spot in my photos, was to get an Infra-Red filter for my camera. So I did. And today I went into Bury St Edmunds to take a few pictures using it. Now, have you ever seen Bury St Edmunds looking like this?

As the filter blocks out most of the light, all these pictures have quite a long exposure. So the ducks that are zooming about look a bit blurred.


The trees and grass reflect rather than absorb IR so look bright. Here's looking across the play park from the other side of the river towards the abbey ruins.


I had to use a tripod to keep the camera steady enough. I got a few curious looks while wandering about with it!


The flowers lose their colour, but doesn't the clear blue sky look dramatic?


Moyses Hall Museum looks radiant. I had to time this shot carefully to avoid vehicles moving across.


I could only upload a few of my photos for this post. For some more, why not visit the Flickr Bury St Edmunds Group?

Virtual Interview

I was contacted yesterday by Corinne Roper, Web Editor for the BBC Radio Suffolk Website. She is putting together a piece about blogging and wanted my views on some questions. So here are her questions and my answers...

Why write a blog?

This one's quite hard to answer. Let me try the other ones first and then come back to it.

What prompted you to start?

I first started blogging about 3 1/2 years ago as a means of capturing some context around web links and bookmarks I found useful or interesting in doing my job - just for myself. I then realised this would make a useful tool for a team to share such information and I created IS Architect Resources and then The Aspire Conundrum Blog. I later discovered Wikis, which I think make a better collaborative tool for a team, but carried on blogging.

Then two things prompted me to start doing a (public) personal blog.

I decided to apply for the voluntary redundancy programme the company I worked for was running. I felt in need of a break, wanted to get fitter and healthier and lose some weight, and to spend a bit more time with the family. As I’ve always found writing things down a good way of working things out, I thought a blog might be a good way to help me decide what I wanted to do.

Then one day, about the same time, I was looking for information on bottle banks so I did a web search on “Bury St Edmunds recycling” and I came across Don't Bury the Problem which got me reading the brilliant Ruby’s blog. (That article also gave me the idea for the name of my blog).

And then I realised there are lots of great places to visit and things to do around Bury St Edmunds, so I decided I would share what we as a family get up to, as others might be interested.

Have you any background in writing?

Not really. Only that I used to do quite a bit of technical writing in my job.

Where do you get your stories from?

Places I go, pictures I take, things I do or have done, things I read. Just personal experience, really.

Why is blogging good?

It provides a means of self-expression and easy sharing of information/knowledge/experience. Blogging software makes it very easy to create and publish articles. Clicking the publish button and then seeing a neatly formatted article displayed gives me a sense of achievement.

Do you know of any other bloggers in Suffolk?

Ruby's blog has a number of links to other BSE-based blogs. There’s also the Bury Free Press Editor’s blog .

I’m sure there must be more, but I’ve never really gone looking for them – the blogosphere is huge (see here).

How did you hear about blogging?

I don’t remember exactly, but it was through trying to keep technically current, about 3 ½ years ago, probably on some of the technical websites I used to frequent.

Do you recommend blogging?

Yes. It works for me. I’ve always felt more fulfilled in my professional life by producing something myself rather than just managing other people to produce things. A blog helps satisfy my urge to create, albeit in a rather minor way.

What's the best thing about it?

The best thing is getting comments from people who have come across the blog and found something interesting, useful or entertaining about what I’ve written.

What are you most proud of on your blog?

Not sure really. Perhaps Chilli Farm post. What do you think I should be most proud of?

How often do you update your blog?

I try to update it several times a week. There are always more things that could go on the blog than there is time to write down (or sometimes I can’t get into the study to do it if the wife’s working in there).

So back to your initial question…

Why write a blog?

For me, it’s a combination of a number of things. In my professional career, I’ve always been keen to share my knowledge and experience with others and encourage others to do the same. A personal blog extends this to the rest of my life. So it’s for friends and family to keep up with what we are doing, but also to provide other people with information on things to do around here. Secondly, leaving my job after nearly 19 years with the same company was a big step, and creating the blog and sending my ex-colleagues a link, provides a simple way for those who want to keep in touch to do so. And then it is a way for me express what I’ve done, am doing and want to do, so I can work out where I want to go. And, finally, in the longer term, it is provide a record to go back to to supplement the memories of great times had in and around Bury St Edmunds.

Constable Country

Although 15 years old the Ordnance Survey Jarrold Pathfinder Guide Norfolk and Suffolk Walks book has some great country walks. (Separate Norfolk and Suffolk Walk books have since been published, but I haven't got round to getting them yet).

Yesterday I decided to do no. 5 - Constable Country. Although it looks a fair distance from Bury St Edmunds on the map, it only took me about 40 minutes down the A14 and A12 to get to the start of the walk at Flatford Mill, now a field study centre.



Ah, yes, I couldn't resist it. One of the things I noticed at the Suffolk Open Studios exhibition, was how many artists are making use of digital techniques in their art. So I thought I'd see what I could do with Constable Country with my simple photo-editing software. (You may need to click to expand the pictures to see the effects better).

Here is Bridge Cottage...



...and here is Willie Lotts' House...



The walk goes across the fields, up the hill into East Bergolt, then back down to Dedham Vale...



into Dedham (the mill is now a block of flats) and then back along the River Stour...



...to Flatford, where I ate my packed lunch on a bench by the National Trust tea room. An excellent walk, with great scenery. Now, if I print them out big in full resolution and frame them, what do you think people would pay for my pictures? No more than the cost of the frame, I suspect!

Squashed

As the Health Club has 6 squash courts and a squash league of 27 divisions, I thought I'd take it up again. I last played about 5 years ago when we were previously members, but after about 5 months I started working away all week, so had to drop out. Before that, I last played regularly about (gulp!) 25 years ago.

So I put my name down to join the league and was put into league 26. I organised my matches and went to my first one. Hmm. Perhaps I should have had a bit of practice first. It took me about 2 1/2 games before I started hitting the ball. But it was too late to avoid losing 3-0. I looked at my racquet. No it didn't have a big hole in it. I looked at my opponent James' racquet. Then it dawned on me... I wasn't playing with the new racquet I'd bought 5 years ago, but the one from 25 years ago. Can you spot the difference?

Zoom

We live quite close to Rougham Airfield. Yesterday they had the annual Wings, Wheel and Steam Country Fair.

There were plenty of planes came zooming over the house on their way in to land. We drove past the airfield later and there looked like there was lots on and a lot of people there. [Note to self : must remember to go next year!].

Bach Choir in Bury St Edmunds

Yes, I know Bury St Edmunds has its own Bury Bach Choir, but the real Bach Choir came to town on Saturday with a performance in the cathedral. My old school chum and best man at my wedding, Andrew, sings with them so I invited him to come and stay and got myself a ticket to the concert. I should have got a ticket sooner, then maybe I would have been able to get a seat with a view of the whole choir (as you can see I was stuck off to one side).

But never mind, the singing, under David Hill's expert direction was excellent. The programme was:

Howells Requiem
Morten Lauridsen O Nata Lux
Buck Variations on The Star-Spangled Banner (for organ)
Bernstein Chichester Psalms
John Rutter Requiem

It will be repeated in Winchester Cathedral on Friday 7th July.

Andrew turned out to have solo spots in both the Howells Requiem and Bernstein Chichester Psalms - very tastefully done too. (His backing vocalists weren't bad either!) I was surprised he didn't get a mention in the programme, but apparently he was only asked less than two weeks before the concert and, traditionally, solos taken by members of the choir are not acknowledged alongside the pros anyway. Shame. So, instead, here's a picture of Andrew managing to avoid banging his head against the light in our entrance hall. (He is quite tall).


I knew all the music but the Lauridsen (in fact I had a piano piece written for me based on my contribution to a performance of the Bernstein some years ago - but that is another story). The Howells was beautifully crafted, the Lauridsen sonorous, the Buck a bit of a hoot, the Bernstein joyous and the Rutter smoochy. Quentin Beer, the treble soloist was brilliant, especially in the Rutter.

So, Andrew, come again soon, and those other singers would be welcome back too!

Hardwick Summer Fayre

It was Hardwick Middle School Summer Fayre on Friday evening.

It is organised for the kids by the kids, and Big Miss and two of her mates had a stall! And very popular it was too, by all accounts.

I didn't get to go - someone had to collect little W from nursery and make the tea, but I did see the preparations in the kitchen and the missus took her new phone to take some pictures.


You may be wondering what those buckets are for. Perhaps if I show you what is in one of them you might guess the horrible sticky truth.


Yes, it's porridge. And the next bucket contained lots of baked beans. But no, they are not to feed the hungry hordes. Instead, they are for the perennial favourite stick-your-hand-into-something-horrible-and-find-what's-in-there. You get one go of sticking your hand in and have to find all the marbles to win a sweety prize. Lovely!

Similarly with the beans. At least they provided a couple of buckets of water and some paper towels for people to rinse off the goo. Fortunately I didn't get to see the end result in the porridge bucket as people had a go in both buckets but only washed their hands after the second. Big Miss said it went a bit of a yucky colour. I don't think you would want to see it either, so instead here are some cakes on another stall.

Enterprising Ideas continued

The chilli plants are doing well, but we wont have a crop for a while. So I've got no home produce for pickling either, as yet.

So, time for some more thoughts on future money making opportunities. Here are some based on my musical interests.

#3 Piano Tuner - One of the little jobs around the house on my list was to get the piano tuned. So I phoned up the nice man who did it last time and he came round. An hour later the piano was again well-tempered and I handed over my fee. "Lovely pianos, those Yamahas.", he said. "It tuned up very nicely." Hmm. Maybe I could do that myself - I've got the gear...

Many years ago, while I was a student I bought myself a piano. I couldn't afford a good one so I got a bit of a wreck. It worked OK, but I discovered it was tuned a tone flat (and pretty out of tune at that too). So I decided to retune it. Not a great idea. It took me hours, ad the piano wouldn't stay in tune (which was why it was a tone flat to start with!) so I got plenty of practice at trying to keep it tuned. But, now I come to think of it, I never did get it really in tune, so I don't think I was very good at it, which is why I pay someone elese to come and tune our piano now.

#4 Music Editor/Publisher - The Abbot Consort gets a lot of the music it performs from the Choral Public Domain Library. A great resource - over 7800 scores of music from over 1100 composers. One of the tools people use to create the scores is the free Lilypond music notation tool. A few months ago, I thought I'd try and do some myself. There's a piece I've wanted to perform for some time (Josquin de Prez - Missa L'homee Arme), so I thought I'd produce an edition of my favourite bit of it. It took me about an hour per page. I wonder if anybody would pay me to do this? I suspect not.

#5 Musical Instrument Maker - Ever since I became interested in Early Music, I've had a hankering to get (or build) some early instruments. But they are a bit expensive. The Early Music Shop has a great catalogue. But wait a minute... What are my carpentry skills like? Pretty rubbish. I can just about assemble flat-packs. I think this one will just stay a pipe-dream (or should that be crumhorn-dream?)

Wyken Hall

It's years since I last visited, so, with a lovely afternoon and a couple of hours to spare before picking up little Miss from school yesterday, I decided to take a trip to Wyken Hall, near Stanton - only about 10 miles away.

A quintessential Suffolk estate once occupied by the Romans and recorded in Domesday. A romantic Elizabethan manor house, home of the Carlisle family.

says their website. Quite so, although I'm not sure there are a lot of estates with vineyards. The gardens are quite delightful - the scent in the rose garden, where this picture was taken is wonderful.

The Leaping Hare Vineyard restaurant has been in the Good Food Guide since 1994. I rather liked this sign they had by the doors...


I was wishing I'd gone earlier and had some lunch. But I bought a bottle of their Sonata wine to take home instead. It went great with our tuna steaks for dinner!

Ickworth Gardens

As National Trust members Ickworth House is somewhere we visit regularly, as the nearest NT property to Bury St Edmunds (apart from the Theatre Royal, of course - but that is closed until 2007). We went there on Sunday after the Nowton Park Country Fair.

The gardens had been closed due to an infection of the box, but they are open again now. A good counting game for little ones is to count the lemons on the trees...



In the height of summer they are put out in front of the Orangery (as you can see).

If you are lucky, you may catch sight of hummingbird moths over the borders here...



We saw one on Sunday, but I couldn't catch up with it to photograph it. They seem to love these purple flowers as much as the bees do.

The spring garden is full of wildflowers and the golden garden has some lovely foliage colours at this time of year...



Along with the stumpery, the golden garden makes an excellent place to play hide and seek. I don't suppose we're supposed to do that, but it's a great way to escape from the kids for bit - especially if we prepare for it by going in camouflage!

Out Damn Spot

For some time, I've had trouble with my camera - a nasty fuzzy dark spot appears in the same place in a lot of pictures, particularly in bright conditions. Sometimes I can even see two of them. Here's an example from our explore at Great Livermere on Saturday to show what I mean...



But then after searching about I came across an article on The Camera Shed which described the problem exactly, and, even better, how to cure it without paying £85 for it to be fixed. Yes I had got some dust on the CCD...

Dire warnings like..

It's not a simple task and I've given it a 5 star rating as you'll need a steady hand and nerves of steel and have to keep an observant eye on how things fit together when you take them apart and put them back together again.

..failed to put me off, but my first go ended in failure when I couldn't undo the 11th screw. But yesterday I had another go and, success, I got into the CCD and found 2 white specks. How on earth did they get in? Then I had the even harder job of putting the camera back together again. Boy, it was fiddly trying to get some of the screws back in, but the camera seems to working OK now. And no more spots! Yey! Excellent instructions and illustrations Matt!

And, er.. no, I don't think I'll take up camera repair work as a new career.

Nowton Park Country Fair

Today was the annual Nowton Park Country Fair - always worth a visit. We took a picnic with us and got there shortly after the opening time of 11 am.

The ginger fudge from one stall was yummy and the ice-cream from the van much appreciated by the "I'm hot"" kids. I liked the Suffolk Beekeepers Association tent the best - as well as hosting the West Suffolk Honey show, it had a display hive and beeswax candle making. You just take a sheet and roll it up around a wick. Here's little W being shown what to do.


The one arena event we saw, before the "Mum, I'm hungry" cries drove us back to car for our picnic under the trees, was the Vander Brothers' Double Wheel of Death.


You wouldn't catch me doing that!

Are Monsters Real?

We were doing an explore in Great Livermere, and wandering along a footpath that was a bit overgrown. "Daaaad. Are monsters real?", asked Little Miss. "No, of course not" I said, to head off the "Daaaad, I'm scared.", I could sense coming. That seemed to satisfy her, but it made the gravestones in the churchyard seem a bit sinister.



"Are there any zombies here?". What has her big sister been telling her? And the creaky churchyard gate was a bit spooky...



Still, we eventually found our way through the very long grass to the bridge over Ampton Water...



...and we returned without seeing any monsters. Well, after all, Ampton Water is rather smaller and shallower than Loch Ness.

But, it being Saturday, we did encounter monsters after all - on Dr. Who. Mind you, there is one small person who can't bear to watch...

Pakenham Watermill

As I didn't have time to visit it the other day I took another ride to Pakenham to find the Watermill. It wasn't open when I was there so I couldn't go in. In trying to find a decent spot to photograph it I set off along Baileypool Lane, only to find a hedgerow so high and dense that it was almost impossible to see the mill. This is the best I could manage.


I must go back some time when it is open - I should have looked at their website first!

Sports day at Sebert Wood

I think the schools in Bury St Edmunds are pretty good. Little Miss is at Sebert Wood County Primary School - following in the footsteps of Big Miss. It's a really happy place with excellent facilities and teaching.

Today was sports day for years 1 and 2, so I joined the horde of Mums and Dads to spectate. I got my camera out to take some pictures only to get the message "No Card!". Aaargh. I'd left it in the computer card reader. So I had to resort to taking photos with the new phone.

Here is a composite of the 10 events.


The kids anjoyed it, and so did the Mums & Dads. Little Miss wasn't the fastest at the running, but she did stop to give me a wave halfway up the straight. "You don't get that at the Olympics, do you?", said one of the Mums, with a grin.

Follow These Instructions

You know how it happens. You put something into your search engine like "bowling in Bury St Edmunds" and stumble upon something unexpected like this - (thanks, Ruby!).

In my case I was looking to see if anyone else had found problems with plastic spectacle lenses after visiting a sauna (don't ask!), and I came across Even More Instructions. Then I followed the link to to the original Follow These Instructions.

Fantastic. Started in 1998 by Bill Beatty, it is still going, collecting weird and wacky things to try out. I particularly like this recent review on Stumbleupon...

This place is simply awesome, i like doing the one where you cut a grape in half leaving only a piece of its skin and microwave it, i like the sparks, but sometimes huge flames come out too.

I think this should provide plenty of stuff for the kids to try. And me too, I have to admit.

Furthermore, now that I've stumbled on Stumbleupon I suspect I won't be short of web places to explore either.

East Wretham Heath

While in the Bury St Edmunds of Dorset we picked up a copy of the AA Country Walks in Britain for £2 in a charity shop. It comes in a ring binder, so you can take out only the pages you need for each walk. I thought I'd try out one of the local ones today.

East Wretham Heath is just a few miles north-east of Thetford. The shortish (2 1/2 mile) walk is based in the Breckland nature reserve, maintained by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. It contains some old Scots pine forest, planted around the time of the battle of Waterloo...



...and some interesting meres (created from collapsed pingos?) that are fed by groundwater. Langmere appeared to have dried up, which indicates that groundwater levels are low, so I didn't see many waterfowl. But there were plenty of bunnies about. How many can you spot in this picture?

Croquet

Now I've seen a few games played in the Abbey Gardens. But this, spotted on Sunday, is the first time I've seen croquet.


If you blow up the picture you might be able to make out the improvised twig hoops. I wonder if they are in training for the National Trust championships at Ickworth?

West Stow #1

West Stow Country Park is a favourite place to take the kids for a Sunday outing, especially since they opened the new play area a few months ago.


It's really quite tricky to get up to the tube slide (which goes from the top of the left hand tower in the picture) - you have to climb between the two towers using the hand and footholds, but little Miss has mastered it now.

I quite like the walks through the heathland SSSI (and Here's a map).

On a hot summer's day the bit along the River Lark is a bit cooler as the river babbles cheerfully along.



Thence to refreshments at Angles cafe - a welcoming haven.


It's worth knowing that it is open only fom 11am to 4pm - that's caught us out a couple of times!

Pakenham Windmill

Pakenham is described as The Village of Two Mills. I took a ride out there after sitting around slobbishly in front of the football on the tellie. I came to a crossroad. Water Mill or Windmill? I only had time for one as I needed to get back to feed the gaping mouths.

Windmill it was...


Erected in 1830, it was in regular use until the 1950s. It was refurbished in 2000. I actually approached it from the west. From that direction in the early evening, I think the sails look quite dramatic silhouetted against a clear blue sky.

Moreton Hall Health Club

We've rejoined the health club. There are others in the area, but the facilities at the Moreton Hall Health Club are excellent. I stopped being a member a few years ago when I was away from home all the time, although the wife did carry on for a while.

This time, instead of just swimming and bad squash, I'm going to be using the gym...

I had my assessment with the avuncular Richard. He asked how old I was. I told him. He asked when I'd last used a gym. I had to admit that I never had. Not once. Richard seemed shocked. I suppose I'd always thought of it as like eating salad cream instead of mayonnaise - artifical rather than natural. Whatever, I'm giving it a go now.

Richard showed me round the equipment and I had a few minutes on each piece. The calories-burned counter on the first one reached 70. "That's the equivalent of one digestive biscuit", said Richard, helpfully. Oh my goodness. How many digestive biscuits have I overeaten over my non-gym lifetime? I could be burning them up on these machines for quite some time.

Almshouses

I went past these rather impressive almshouses in Hawstead on my ride at the weekend. I decided to go back and photograph them.


I've not been able to find out much about Philip Metcalfe. I wonder if this is him? There is also a reference to a Philip Metcalfe in Boswell's Life of Johnson Chapter 36.

Seeing those alms houses reminded me of these others, dating from 1876 at Rougham Green.


James Stiff built these cottages.

I wonder how many other alms houses there are around Bury St Edmunds? I see I'm going to have to look for more.