Elinor and I went to Beccles the week following our chilly walk in Halesworth. You might think Beccles (rhymes with freckles) is a strange name for a town: according to my Dictionary of English Place-Names the name probably derives from the Old English for ‘pasture by a stream’. Other derivations put forward are from the Brittonic for ‘small court’ or a contraction of ‘Beata Ecclesia’, the name of a Christian temple erected here c.960 AD. Take your pick!
Elinor needed to buy her Grandmother a birthday card and gift and Beccles has a greater selection of shops than our more local towns. We also wanted to have a walk by the river where I used to take Elinor when she was very small. We used to go there as a place to rest and recuperate after visits to the dentist, which she found extremely stressful.
We were successful with our shopping and then, because Elinor was hungry we bought her a panini to eat in the car. Unfortunately, it exploded and she and the seat belt were covered with runny cheese! We often have these events which are sent to try us apparently, but they also make life that bit more interesting! We then drove to the Boat Station car-park taking a couple of wrong turns on the way just to add to the excitement.
The weather was completely different from the week before. It wasn’t warm but the sun was shining brightly and there was that something in the air that spoke of Spring and warmth to come.
Beccles is part of the Broads. Not many people realize that the Broads stretch south into Suffolk, but they do. A few people leave their boats at the Yacht Station at Beccles Quay over the winter. There are WCs, shower and washing facilities (with points where one can empty chemical toilets), places to dispose of rubbish and a café, all provided for people travelling by boat wishing to stop here and enjoy visiting Beccles and its environs. There were many people working on their boats when we visited or they were sitting on deck enjoying drinks, hot and cold. There are boats and yachts for hire and we saw a few people out on the water.

Beccles Quay The strange floating building is one of the glamping Pods for rental from the boatyard.
Elinor and I returned home much refreshed by our visit to the Quay and the river.
How lovely! Thank you for this report of your visit to Beccles with Elinor!
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Thank you very much, Linda. It was so good to be out in the sunshine and watching the boats on the sparkling water.
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What a beautiful day to be out and about. Thanks for sharing with us, Clare. Your photographs are lovely.
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Thank you very much, Jill. It was a perfect spring day! ❤
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What a great post, you make me really want to visit. Perhaps I will some day.
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Thank you, Susan. It is a lovely place to visit.
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What a lovely day out. I think I would have enjoyed seeing all the boats and having a walk by the river.
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Thank you very much, Sue. It is a fun place to visit with plenty of benches provided for sitting and watching. The town’s pleasant too, with interesting shops and cafés.
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Oh, I love a bench – I wish there was one outside every store! 🙂
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🙂
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What a lovely place sparkling in the sunshine! It looks very neat and orderly. ..”shipshape” perhaps 😊
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Hehe! Yes, it’s all kept very tidy and even looks good on a dull day. Thank you!
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What a lovely place! I love boats and marinas. Thank you, Clare. 🙂
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Thank you very much, HJ There’s always so much to see there. 🙂
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Another lovely post and photos, though I have a feeling that Elinor wasn’t too thrilled at having her picture taken 😉
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Haha! You could be right, Clive! Thank you very much 🙂
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I would have loved that, as long as I didn’t have to actually get on a boat.
You had a beautiful day for it too by the looks, though it may have been a little chilly if I go by Elinor’s coat.
Too bad about the panini. I hope she at least got to eat some of it before it exploded!
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Haha! Yes it did make a mess but she managed to eat most of it. The seat belt has never fully recovered. It was a chilly day so we couldn’t sit for too long, but so beautiful after such a dreary winter.
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I’m glad she at least got to eat some!
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Oh what fun! I love days like that, when you just go for a drive and explore the countryside. ❤
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Thank you very much, Lyn. It was a perfect day! ❤
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I had several happy holidays on the Broads when but a lad but I never got as far as Beccles. It looks as though it would have been worth a visit.
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Thank you, Tom. It’s a very pleasant place.
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I loved it. It wasn’t so busy then of course.
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❤️❤️❤️
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❤ ❤ ❤
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How lovely and uplifting!
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It was lovely there! Thank you, Cindy! ❤
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What a lovely trip, no wonder you both felt refreshed! 🌸
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It was wonderful! Thank you so much, Liz! 🙂 ❤
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Such a long time since I’ve been to Beccles. I always enjoyed my visits when I was at university in Norwich. Grand pictures.
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Thank you very much, John. We often shop there but we hadn’t been to the quay for about eighteen years!
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Arthur Ransome portrays it rather nicely in Coot Club, I always think.
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Clearly much pleasanter weather for this trip. I am pleased the panini cheese was cleaned off before you photographed Elinor 🙂
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Hehe! Her coat looked disgusting! I keep ‘wet wipes’ in the car for just such an eventuality. We mopped her up as best we could but the coat went straight in the wash as soon as we got home. Thank you for your comment, Derrick 🙂
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🙂
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I was thinking along the same lines as Derrick. Elinor looked very tidy and clean in the picture. Always fun when food explodes, especially when you are in the car. 😉 Beccles looks like a great place to visit. Life on a boat sounds pretty darned good, as my Yankee husband would say.
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Hehe! Elinor’s bag was strategically placed, I think! I keep ‘wet wipes’ in the car in case of emergencies and they came in very handy. The coat went in the wash as soon as we got home and then had to be reproofed. Beccles was great to visit and so bright and cheerful. Thank you, Laurie ❤
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An interesting location for a glamping pod!
I didn’t know the Broads extended into Suffolk.
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Thank you, Helen. I wasn’t sure if that pod was permanently in that position or could be towed somewhere. There has been an explosion of glamping and camping sites with yurts around here since the pandemic began.
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Thank you. Clare for showing us more of Suffolk and sharing some memories. The places we know and love are full of them. Your photos reflect the pleasure of being beside water and with boats.
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Thank you very much, Richard. It was such a beautiful sparkling spring day!
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Sunshine, boats, sparkling water and precious mother-daughter time. What could be better?!
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Thank you, Donna! It was a good trip out ❤
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I think you caught the glow or sparkle of spring in these photos, Clare. I like Elinor’s newsboy cap – it’s Georgy Girl-ish.
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Thank you, Lisa. Elinor will be pleased about your thoughts on her cap as she loves 60’s fashions. We went to a Mary Quant exhibition in London a couple of years ago and she wore it then along with a tangerine coloured shift dress. A woman who lectured in fashion in a university in New Zealand saw her and took pictures of her posing 60’s style in front of the exhibits! I was so amused!
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I was thinking of Mary Quant, but couldn’t find a photo of her with a cap like that! Or Jean Shrimpton. But I suppose Twiggy had one.
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I feel sure they must all have had one but trying to find an image is difficult! 😀
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Enjoyed your walk around Beccles. I remember it as a pleasant town when we stayed there whilst walking the Angles Way (Great. Yarmouth to Thetford) Lots of other villages in the area to visit.
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There are. I must get around to walking the Angles Way; I keep finding bits of it in places I visit. Thank you, John.
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What a joy that the sun was shining for this walk, Clare. I don’t know about you, but I can cope with the cold better if the sun is shining. Hope your weather is getting more summery now.
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Thank you, Jolandi. Sunshine makes all the difference. We are a little warmer but still very wet and thundery. It has been too wet to work for any length of time in the garden and the weeds are waist-high!
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Oh goodness! Good luck with the waist-high weeds, Clare.
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It looks like it was a very good day, despite the panini malfunction! I always like to be beside the water.
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Thank you, Andrea. It was an excellent day out and my daughter especially is calmed by water.
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That looks like a beautiful late winter day there for you and Elinor to visit Beccles. The panini exploding added an element of surprise. 🙂
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Hehe! It certainly did! It was a lovely day – a rarity in our weather over the past ten months. 😀
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How are things going over there this autumn, Clare? It has been a while since we heard from you.
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I am well, as are the rest of the family. We have been busy in the garden this year making changes and also trying to get work done in the house which is proving difficult. We decided not to try to go away on holiday again this year because of Covid and have not done much walking or visiting either.
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Beccles looks lovely, Clare. The exploding panini was an opportunity to practice patience. Water has a calming effect which it did for me as well as for you. Bravo for a delightful excursion. Do your birthday cards have verses written on the inside? I looked for such cards when I lived and studied in Germany but alas, they were blank inside. Sometimes I search out the card sections in stores and simply read them to laugh or to find just the right one. Hope the birthday celebration was a nice one. Loved your photos too. Be well. oxox
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Thank you very much, Mary Ann. The panini made such a mess! Fortunately we were able to see the funny side of it and I always keep wipes in the car for emergencies. Some of our greetings cards have verses and some don’t. Some are completely blank for our own messages and some just say ‘Happy Birthday’; there is usually plenty of choice. My mother prefers cards without verses. 😉
Her birthday celebration was quiet but happy – her second lockdown birthday – she is now 91! Take care and keep well. xoxo
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My pleasure, Clare. How wonderful that she has lived to be 91. The stories she must have about history and what she has experienced. I just lost my 95 year old uncle who outlived all his five siblings. My father’s youngest brother. Thanks for the information about greeting cards. Most of ours have verses, but some don’t. I keep favorites from art museums to use for all occasions. I love those with a music motif. 🙂 Be well and enjoy the weekend. My time to write now. oxox
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What a lovely day! Thanks for sharing it. Elinor’s hat is adorable. And your photos are beautiful and really bring the day to the reader. xo
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Thank you so much, Luanne. Elinor is inseparable from her hat during the cooler months! It was a truly lovely day – the first real spring day of the year.
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It is a wonderful thing to find the perfect hat. I had one, but lost it at a writers conference a few years ago when it blew away in the wind.
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Oh yes! I remember your lovely hat with the wide brim ❤
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It looks/sounds as though you had a wonderful time together, Clare. Beccles seems like the kind of place you could walk around easily, and relax.
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Thank you, Mike. It is a pleasant town with a railway station and a variety of shops as well as the river attractions though, as with most places, it has suffered during the lockdowns.
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