Aldeburgh

"I hadn't realised how close Framlingham is to the coast", said the missus as we set off from Framlingham. "Why don't we go to the b-e-a-c-h?", she asked quietly so the terrible trio couldn't hear. "Well, as we're here, why not?", I replied.

So off we went to Aldeburgh.

We parked at the beach car park, quite close to the famous Scallop sculpture by Maggi Hambling.

I can't understand why so many people objected to it. I think it looks great. You can maybe see there is a family inside using it as a beach tent.

After a bit of paddling we walked along to the town, passing the fishing boats.

You can buy fresh fish from the fishermen's huts by the beach.

The Moot Hall was built in 1520 at what was then the centre of the town.
The flowerbeds around the market cross next to it are quite colourful - they must be getting well watered.

Little W loved the nearby boatpond, with half a dozen or so model yachts sailing gaily about.

"Can we got on of those boats, please? Please." was the inevitable request.

The seagulls looked on, unimpressed.

We went home boatless and it wasn't just Lttle W who fell asleep in the car. Mum did too.

Framlingham

"Where shall we go to today?", asked the missus, painting completed, expecting rain today. Well the rain, such a it was, seemed to have been and gone. "How about Framlingham?", I replied. Another place we had been past a few times but not stopped to visit. "It's ages since we went to a castle." And someone in the family is mad about knights.

From Bury St Edmunds, we went east along the A14, north up the A140 and then east onto the A1120 tourist route, turing right at Saxstead Green, just by the windmill. We followed signs to the castle and parked in the castle car park.

Framlingham Castle was built over 700 years ago and is still quite an impressive sight, with its complete curtain wall and 13 towers.

We bought a family ticket for £11.30 and did the tour, each with our own audio guide.

This includes a circuit of the walls. Hold onto your hat if it is windy.

The building inside the walls was a poorhouse for many years.

At the end of the walk, Little W found a book to read.

"No. You can't take it home".

We did the ditch walk round the outside of the castle. It gives you a good idea how hard it would be to attack the castle. Then, after lunching at the Castle Inn, just by the car park, we went for a walk about the town.

Queen's Head Alley goes through a half-timbered house just off Market Hill. Quite picturesque.

Well worth the visit.

West Stow #2 - King's Forest

Missus Michaelangelo was finishing the outdoor woodwork. "I don't want you children running about near my ladder", she shouted. Hmm. I'd better take them away, I thought. I'd spotted in my new Ordnance Survey Explorer map 220 - Thetford Forest in The Brecks (just published in March this year), that there was a waymarked walk in the King's Forest at West Stow. Time to try it out.

We headed towards Thetford on the A134, turned left onto the B1106 at the end of the dual carriageway and right at the next roundabout towards Culford. Just before Culford we went straight on where the road bends to the right. In the centre of West Stow we turned left towards the Country Park and Anglo-Saxon village and then right just after the end of the village to the car park at Forest Lodge.

"This is a con. You said we were going to West Stow", said Big Miss. "This is West Stow", I replied. She thought we were going to our usual haunt with the playground and cafe. But she soon cheered up once we got going. The walk is quite varied, with mixed as well as pine forest, of various ages. These trees were the tallest.

On the ground we could feel no wind at all, but we could hear the rustling of the branches up above.

The little ones enjoyed choosing cones to talk home to Mum.

There were plenty to choose from!

One flower we found in profusion in the more open areas along the walk, was Field Scabious.

It is well known as a butterfly plant and, sure enough, we saw plenty of butterflies too. Here's a Painted Lady.

Then, just before the end of the walk, we made a delicious find - some wild raspberries.

Yummy.

Yes. Definitely a walk to add to our list of favourites. I bet it will be good for our mushroom spotting forays in the autumn. It totals about 2 miles and took us just over an hour.

Greene King Brewery Tour

Uncle David joined Auntie Jane to stay with us on Thursday night and yesterday we all (apart from Little W, still at nursery) went into Bury St Edmunds. David was interested in seeing the Greene King Visitor Centre and Brewery Museum, and even more interested when he found we could have a tour of the brewery.

The museum has a new video - playing as a silent movie as they haven't got their entertainment licence sorted out yet. It is quite hilarious, especially silent, telling the story "Trouble at Mill" in black and white, set in a pub called "The Mill", where the landlord gets a dodgy temporary manager in while he goes off to Felixstowe on holiday. Great hammy acting. The pub in the film is instantly recognisable, to those who have been there, as The Fox Inn on Eastgate Street.

So we left the girls watching the video and went on the tour. It was only the two of us, but our guide didn't seem to mind. The tour takes about an hour and a half, and starts by going up to the roof where the water tanks are.

The view from there is rather good.

We worked our way down the building, past the malt mixing and screening and hop floors to the mash tuns.

We then went across the road to the site of the original Wright's brewery, bought by Benjamin Greene in 1799 to start it all. Here we got to see a number of the 69 fermentation vessels. The smells were very enticing. We even got to look in on a brew, fizzing away like mad.

There is no mechanical agitation or assistance, that is purely the yeast at work.

The tour ends in the brewery tap, where we got to sample 4 beers on tap (Ale Fresco, Speckled Hen, IPA and Abbot) and 2 in bottle (Beer to Dine For and Suffolk Strong Ale).

Well worth the time - we got to hear lots of interesting stories as well as sample some excellent beer. We even got a souvenir tasting glass each to take home. It was with regret we had to tear ourselves away to stagger off and meet the girls.

Tassel Road Childrens' Day Nursery

Today was the day. Little W's last day at nursery! He has been going to Tassel Road Childrens' Day Nursery ever since it opened last year, and, like his sisters, before then in it's previous incarnation - as Mount Farm Nursery next to the Moreton Hall doctors' surgery (now redeveloped as a beauty salon).

It has been really handy, being a mere 5 minutes toddle, and I've always thought the standard of care to be excellent - as confirmed their Ofsted Report Feb 2006.

A bit of an end of an era for us, with the last of the children finishing nursery, but a welcome reduction in household expenses....

<grumble> BTW, I think it is ridiculous that nursery costs are not tax deductible expenses - the missus earned barely enough to pay for his nursery costs last year. </grumble>

Anyway, Little W took biscuits in for the staff and icepops for the other inmates (which were very popular). He didn't seem upset to be leaving. "Where's my school jumper?" he asked as we were walking home. Ah! The impatience of youth!

Ixworth

We decided we would take Auntie Jane to Wyken Hall, but first of all called in at Ixworth, which is on the way - just off the A143 about 7 miles North-East of Bury St Edmunds.

Ixworth may have been the site of the roman fort Sitomagus, but these days is one of those typical Suffolk small towns/large villages, with a blend of old and new.

You can find a number of old buildings like these...

...as well as some tasteful modern development.

I like this old pump just by a house on the High St.

Actually, we were really there to go to
The Pykkerell,

a 15th Century Inn with restaurant on the High St - a favourite place of the missus for a meal out. It was quiet and the food (and beer) were as good as ever.

Round the back of the inn, there is this rather lovely barn.

Typically Suffolk, I think.

Fed and watered, we headed on to Wyken Hall. Auntie Jane loved it - I knew she would. Here is a picture of the hot border.

Apt for this weather, perhaps?

Auntie Jane particularly enjoyed the shop and bought us some of their Bacchus wine to go with our dinner. Yummy.

River Lark

This is a bit of an experiment to see if I can post video on the blog. The video was taken on my mobile phone in June at West Stow Country Park. I've just uploaded it to YouTube.

Video resolution is pretty crummy, but that's the camera in the phone. The sound is OK. Yes. It seems to work.

Thetford Forest - High Lodge

Auntie Jane is coming. So Missus Mopp ordered us out of the house so she could clean it 'properly'. "And I don't want you coming back for lunch.", she said to me and the girls.

So time for an expedition, and a chance to take bikes for us all.

Three very different shaped bikes, but I got them on the car roof no bother* and we set off for High Lodge, at the centre of Thetford Forest. It is easy to get to from Bury St Edmunds. Drive up the A134 to Thetford, go straight across the A11 when you get to it onto the B1107 towards Brandon and there is a turning to the left after a couple of miles. It costs £5 per car.

You can hire bikes there and there are 4 waymarked cycle trails to follow. We chose the green Family Trail. Now even this was being a bit bold - Little Miss had been riding her bike without stabilisers for only 2 days. But she did brilliantly and the tassles were flying.

In the distance you can see Big Miss waiting for us and peering up into the trees. She was watching people Go Ape.

Hugely popular, I've not done it myself, but the missus did on a girls' day out a couple of years ago. It is great fun, whizzing from tree to tree.

We got back safely to the High Lodge centre where the air-conditioned restaurant was very welcome, even though the food choice wasn't great.

Outside, the grassy area looked more like a desert than a green and pleasant land.

Another thing to do at High Lodge, is to hunt out the giant play sculptures in the form of animals. One of them is the eponymous centrepiece of the Squirrel's Maze.

We've been a few times before so we know our way through the maze now, but there were some people in there who were definitely lost.

By now it was pretty hot, so we headed for home, sneaked into the house to get our swimming things and went to cool down in the pool at the Health Club. They should be pretty tired after all that! But they can't sleep in. Auntie Jane is coming this morning.

*My cycle carrier solution came from The Roofbox Company. I have Atera GIRO AF carriers mounted on Thule rapid system aero roof bars. Expensive, but well engineered and (importantly, for the vertically challenged) easy to lift the bikes onto/off.

Walsham le Willows

"Dad, I don't have anyone to play with." Yes, it's the school holidays, but Little W is still at nursery for one more week, Big Miss had gone to town with one of her mates and missus Michaelangelo was busy painting the outdoors woodwork.

So we did some word search grids for a bit and, when the painting was finished for the day, we took a trip to Walsham-le-Willows for a short walk. It is a sizeable village, but away from main roads so is quite quiet and peaceful. We had driven past signs to it many times, but I had never been. Just what we needed for a short afternoon walk.

We drove up the A143 from Bury St Edmunds past Ixworth and turned right at the roundabout where the A1088 goes left towards Thetford. We parked at the village hall and did a clockwise walk around the village, along Church St, down Townhouse and Palmer St, and then back up the Causeway.

The village website has an excellent Historic Trail with map and description of the buildings along the way (we didn't do all of it, but saw most of the sights).

We went into Wattisfield Wines, where it was nice and cool, but Little Miss was less interested than we were with the tantalising array of bottles, so, alas, we had to decline offer of a tasting.

We noticed that even the most modest of houses had lovely garden displays.

This was opposite the deserted chlidren's playpark, where Little Miss enjoyed a swing and a slide for a few minutes.

We rather liked the pargeting on this cottage, Hunt's End.



The village name is derived from the Old English Walesam and means Walh's home in the willow trees. Yes there are still willows about - these are by the river along Grove Rd.
Leaning over the bridge on the Causeway, Little Miss spotted some freshwater crayfish in the river. Just like the ones we saw on Sunday being caught in the River Lark.

The church is impressive.

I look forward to an update from Simon Knott in hisSuffolk Churches series.

An interesting village, well worth the trip. So off we went home for a well-deserved ice lolly for Little Miss.

Cavenham Heath

Cavenham Heath is an English Nature National Nature Reserve near Tuddenham, about 7 miles northwest of Bury St Edmunds. We had tried to visit it once before from Icklingham on the A1101, but found the road impassable. But then I found the website (from where you can download the excellent trails leaflet) and discovered you have to approach it from the other direction. So yesterday we went to explore.

To get there we went west along the A14 to the Barrow/Tuddenham junction, turned right to Tuddenham St Mary, turned left at the T-junction in the village and then right at The Green - it's not obvious, as there are no signs to the reserve that we could see. We parked at the first car park, although you can drive along the Icknield Way Path to Temple Bridge, where the Wetland Trail starts.

We set off to do a combination of the Heathland (3.8 km) and Wetland (1.3 km) Trails. The heathland path goes through birch woodland and mature heathland with some mature areas of heather.

Little Miss had great fun being our spotter, finding lots of butterflies, grasshoppers, rabbits and spiders' webs.

The Wetland Trail runs alongside the River Lark to an area of fen. Near the start of the trail we saw these people dangling lines from the bridge over the river (closed to vehicles, these days).

We wondered what they were doing, so when we got back we went to have a look. It turned out they were fishing for freshwater crayfish.

As you can imagine, the heath is very dry at the moment. Just like my front lawn, but looking rather better, I think.

In all it took us about 2 hours, by which time it was getting pretty hot. We were glad we had brought along a flask of icy cold water!

Lost Pond

"This way!" "No, This Way." "Dad, I want to go this way."

Coming back from school, the local shop, or (in this case) the Doctors' Surgery (where Little W had his booster jabs - without flinch or a squeak; good for him), we often have this discussion at a fork in the path. Usually we go down the back leafy lane, but Little Miss (who came too) wanted to go and see the pond.

Woodland Ways Pond, just beside one of the paths in the famously healthy Moreton Hall area of Bury St Edmunds, is one of those places that is great for exploring, playing hide and seek, bug-hunting and pond-dipping. But look at it now.


Pond. What pond? It will take more than the tiny sprinkle of rain that we got yesterday to bring it back.

Mid-Suffolk Villages Cycle Ride

For some time I've wanted to be able to take our bikes somewhere with the car, so we can go for a ride starting somewhere other than home. Last week I took the plunge and bought some roof bars and cycle carriers. Yesterday I tried them out for the first time, just with my bike, and not going far - I thought I'd do a cycle tour of some villages just this side of Stowmarket.

I drove to Tostock and parked in the Village Hall car park on Norton Road. My ride is all covered by the Ordnance Survey Map 211 - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket. Here is an online map for part 1 of the ride.

I turned left out of the carpark and left onto Church Rd through the village past the inviting Gardeners Arms. I turned right onto the A1088 and immediately right again crossing the A14, then left into Woolpit.

This is the view up The Street from the village pump in the centre of the village. Once infamous for its whiff from a nearby rendering plant, (there was no smell when I was there), it is a pretty village with an impressive church.

Continuing onto Green Rd I turned left along Mill Lane then right onto Heath Rd towards Woolpit Heath. Here I turned right towards Drinkstone, then left just after a right-hand bend, past the Drinkstone Mills into Drinkstone. Following the road round to the left, opposite the church I found another for my collection of almshouses.

I continued along Gedding Rd into Drinkstone Green (and onto this online map). Here I turned left towards Rattlesden passing some rather good-looking houses and downhill towards the Rattlesden River. Turning left at the T-junction, I followed the road into Rattlesden- another gorgeous village, full of character. I did a circuit up the High St past the church and back down Lower Rd to the Old Moot Hall below the church.

Just round the bend there, I turned left onto Birds Green and up the hill (pausing to look back at the lovely cottages at the bottom) and on towards Buxhall (and onto online map part 3). Here, by the Crown Inn I passed another of Suffolk's windmills. At the T-junction I turned left and then left again at the next T-junction, taking me back towards Woolpit.

At Borley Green (onto map part 4), I turned right, crossing the A14 towards Elmswell, turning left then right onto Warren lane. Elmswell is a growing place - according to its website it has grown from 196 dwellings in 1881 to 1344 now and there seemed to be plenty of building activity. I went stright up Warren Lane, across the road to Wetherden and up past the station towards Great Ashfield (and map part 5). This bit was along a straight flat road, as was the next bit when I turned next left towards Norton at the next junction.

At Norton Little Green, I was rewarded with the sight of Manor Farm...

...just as the postman was delivering in his van.

On my last stretch now (and map part 6), I continued to Norton, where I went straight across the A 1088, round the sudden sharp bend at Red Herring cottage and back towards Tostock and the Village Hall.

About 21 miles, it took me about 1 3/4 hours (including breaks) - a good morning's ride. And I managed to get the bike back on the car roof and home again without mishap too.

Bury St Edmunds Circular Walk

I had parked at the Manor House museum car park (close to the answer to the Lantern puzzle on Flickr). The museum is closed now. I confess I never went to it in the nearly 9 years we were here before it closed in April, so I can't really say I miss it. The ticket machine still prints out refund vouchers, though. I wonder where else you can get a refund from?

Something else I'd never done in 9 years, is the Bury St Edmunds circular walk, which starts just the other side of Shire Hall on Kevelar Way (the path that runs past St James' Middle School and over the A14 to Shakers lane and Moreton Hall). I'd been past the sign so many times thinking I must do that one day. Yesterday was the day.

It starts in the rather curiously named "Crankles" (a crankle is A bend or turn; a twist; a crinkle). This is where the Abbey had its fish ponds, growing roach, bream and pike. More recently it was planted with cricket bat willows, but I couldn't see any cricket bats growing.

The path goes along the River Linnet.

This bit of the walk was cool and shady. In some parts the river is almost dried up entirely. I did think the sandbags on this bridge over the river are a bit superfluous.

The path crosses the Linnet and takes you along the drive of the Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club to Rougham Road, where you turn left, past the BP garage and over the River Lark, and then left again onto the path beside the Lark.

Pleasant enough, but it is impossible to get a decent view without power lines and pylons. Back into the Crankles, the walk returns to Kevelar Way where it crosses the Lark. I then carried along the river crossing into the Abbey Gardens to head on into town and get some fruit at the market. My diversion took about 1/2 hour.

For a bit of a longer walk that includes this, starting a the station, see this from Michael Anderton's Suffolk Country Walks site.