Anglesey Abbey

This Sunday we took an annual pilgrimage to Anglesey Abbey. It's only about 1/2 hour drive from Bury St. Edmunds (along the A14 towards Cambridge and take the first Cambridge exit and head through Stow-cum-Quy following the brown signs).

It has a fantastic winter walk and masses of snowdrops and winter aconites. There are some lovely scents too...

I was amazed to find some daffodils out before the end of January.

These birch trees look surreal. Maybe it's the brown mulch that makes it look like a location from Lord of the Rings.

If we had been on the Saturday we would have seen the Lode Mill in action. But even static it is a fascinating building. We bought some wholemeal flour and oatmeal that had been milled there (and later made some delicious Parkin with the recipe leaflet that came with the oatmeal).

But the real drawer of crowds is the mass of Snowdrops.

They are countless.

The snowdrops are out about 10 days early this year, so do go soon to be sure of seeing them!

By the way, you can find a bunch more of my photographs of Anglesey Abbey here on Flickr.

Cavenham Heath Revisited

"Where shall we go for a walk this morning", I asked. "Lets go and do the other walk at Cavenham Heath", said the missus. She was rather taken with the place when we went recently.

We did the Woodland Trail.

This trail shows the process of succession
within both wet and dry woodland and the need for management to prevent the
woodland encroaching onto the heath.

says the leaflet you can pick up there on from the website (
**here**). The trail is quite an easy walk. Or rather it should be. We found this tree crashed across the path. You can walk round it, but it is more fun to climb over it.

Further along it was rather swampy.

A far cry from the desiccation we saw the first time we visited.

In places, the path itself was flooded. Here Little Miss needed a helping hand.

Great fun!

Frozen

With the colder weather this week, I was reminded that a year ago I was in Bern in Switzerland and experiencing the coldest temperatures I'd ever encountered.

Yes. Even the fountains had frozen.

Snow-Set

Big Miss and the Missus had been to town. I was getting the tea ready as they accosted me. "Dad...", said Big Miss, "We got this leaflet in town". She handed it to me.

Snow-Set.
Learn cool new moves at Snow-Set holday resort and ski centre.
Product/Service Information

it said on the front. "What do you think?", she asked. Oh heck. What's this? Has the missus decided she wants to go on a skiing holiday?

I started glancing through the leaflet. I spotted the company address. Ascot? What's a company from there doing handing out leaflets in Bury St. Edmunds? The girls had a funny grin on their faces. "Well?". The back of the leaflet had a map of the ski-runs.

"Ha Ha" Fooled you!". Big Miss had produced the leaflet for a school homework project! I looked at it a bit more carefully. The phone numbers weren't the right format and the graph of the temperature couldn't be right. Very funny, and good work!

Happy Feet

We don't go to the cinema very often. But for weeks I'd been meaning to take the little ones to see Happy Feet. We went this Saturday. Excellent film. "Can we get it when it is out on DVD?", they pleaded afterwards. Yes, I think it could become one of their favourite DVDs.

Wind Damage

While I was away this week I missed the worst of the winds at home. We had lost our back and side garden fences. Flattened. Time to get them replaced. Well a couple of years ago our neighbours replaced their fence adjoining our garden. That fence was fine. Really sold. So there was only one logical solution - go to the company that replaced their fence - Beyond the Garden Gate.

So the Missus phoned them up. Actually, we had use them before - impressed with the job on the fence we got them to lay a new patio and erect our greenhouse (home of many of our chillis).

Saturday morning Paul visited to survey the work that need to be done. It turned out that 3 more of our neighbours had also contacted him. I showed him the damage. "This fence is alright, though", I said. "But, of course, you built that.", I added. He looked suitably chuffed.

Update 2nd Feb: The work is finished already. Lovely job!

Fox & Hounds - Thurston

I was working from home. The Missus was in school even though it was closed to pupils - the wind had destroyed the entrance porch. I was about to reach for the phone when it rang. "How would you like to meet up for lunch?" she asked. Yes! a chance to visit the Fox & Hounds at Thurston. Not just is the food good, but the beer is always excellent. I'd been there a few times, but the missus never had. It didn't disappoint - she was well impressed. Highly recommended!

Cavenham Heath in Winter

The chicken was in the oven and the timer set. "Who wants a Sunday morning walk?". "Me!", said everybody. Well that's a change! I fancied a heathland walk. This was a chance to take the Missus to Cavenham Heath - when we went there before, in the height of summer, we went without her.

I decided to drive down to Temple Bridge, rather than the car park at the end of the woodland walk. Oh oh...

This is the sort of road you need a Land Rover for. (In fact we saw one later merrily bouncing along through the puddles). So we stopped less than halfway to the bridge. But that meant we could follow the heathland trail through the birch wood.

I think it looks a bit sinister in winter, like the setting of a Tales of the Unexpected story. I bet Big Miss could come up with a creepy script...

Anyway, we emerged from the wood, and crossed the heath to Temple Bridge - closed to traffic these days as it is more than a bit rickety. Here we saw an unusual sight - the Rive Lark in torrents. It was fairly thundering over the weir.

Mind you, it had been pretty wet over the previous few days.

On the way back we met up with some riders. Little Miss got excited - she had a very horsey Christmas.

Hmm. Must remember to post a picture of her riding Twilight.

We were nearly back at the car. It had been pretty cloudy, but, despite the forecast, had stayed dry. Then we saw the sun shining weakly through the clouds across the heath.

A very East Anglian winter look, I thought. The Missus thought it was a great walk. One for out list of regulars now, I think.

"I'm going to be really hungry when we get to the car", announced Little W. So it was home to the roast chicken with sharpened appetites. Mission accomplished.

Lynford Arboretum & Lakes

It was Christmas Eve and I needed to get the over-excited kids out to get rid of some energy. A perfect opportunity for an overdue visit to Lynford Arboretum and Lakes in Thetford Forest Park. It's about 1/2 hour drive from Bury St. Edmunds. We took the A134 from Thetford and turned right at the sign for Lynford, then left at the crossroads to get to the start of the forest walks.

We followed the 1 1/2 mile Blue Walk. The lake at the western end of the Zig Zag covert looked very peaceful.

We continued to the double rowed avenue of Sequoias, planted in the 1800s to honour the Duke of Wellington. Here the little ones had a race to the next markers of the blue walk. At the end of the avenue is Lynford Hall, now a hotel and conference centre, but we followed the walk round to the right. At the bridge ove the covert, though, we turned left to go around the main lake to the arboretum. Here we saw a cygnet with its parents.

The Hall (bulit in 1858) is over the other side of the lake.

At the eastern end of the lake we crossed the bridge into the arboretum. In the late 1940's, trainee foresters started planting the older trees that are now found in the Arboretum. Since then the Arboretum has grown and has over 200 tree species, with future plans to increase the collection. Every tree we came to Little W said, "What is that one called?". By reading the labels I was able to avoid saying "I don't know".

Here is some bamboo.

And yes, Little Miss and Little W are pretending to be pandas.

It was a good walk and not too muddy. We must come back in the spring and autumn to see the woodland flowers and autumn leaves.