Mettingham Castle

Tags

Bungay, Mettingham, Mettingham Castle, Suffolk, walking, Waveney Valley

Last May, just over a year ago, I had to take my car to the garage to have new brake discs and pads fitted.  Instead of going back home to wait for the work to be done (which would have meant Richard having to get involved) I decided to stay in Bungay.  Bungay is a pleasant market town but it doesn’t have enough to amuse me for two or three hours in the early morning.  It has a couple of places where I could have a tea or coffee, a museum, a castle and a few useful shops none of which were open.  I decided I would go for for a walk out of the town.  Bungay is situated in the Waveney valley right at the border between Suffolk and Norfolk.  It is surrounded by water meadows.

My route took me up Annis Hill towards Mettingham.

Annis Hill, looking down towards the town

The day was perfect; the first really warm day of spring last year.  The birds were singing and everyone I met was smiling.

I took this photo of an oak tree on my walk (the 6th May 2022) and I can see that greening was more advanced then than it was on the 6th of May this year, which has been quite cold so far.

I loved this long narrow field, almost a ‘ride’ with high hedges on both sides.

Photo-bombed by a bee!

At the top of the hill the road is level and in places the views of the surrounding countryside are wonderful.

I looked over the Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) to the wheatfield beyond. Many people in Suffolk call Cow Parsley ‘Sheep’s Parsley’. My husband Richard, who grew up in rural Cheshire called it ‘Mothers Die’ as a boy.

I loved the Horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) full of ‘candles’ arching over the lane.

At the far end of this lane there is a bend in the road and I was soon at the place I had been aiming for; Mettingham Castle.  Mettingham Castle is mostly a ruin and is in private hands so I was only able to look at it from a distance.  I think the idea of owning a castle, even a ruined one appeals to many people but the responsiblities and costs are often overlooked. Here is a short history of the village, castle, college and church written by Alfred Suckling in 1846; the foundation deed of the castle is dated 21st August 1342.  Here is the Wikipedia article.  In the past the castle has been open to the public on three days during the year; I am not sure what the present arrangement is.

Mettingham Castle

Mettingham Castle – the gatehouse

Mettingham Castle

Mettingham Castle

Mettingham Castle

Plants growing on the ancient walls

I hadn’t the time to stay longer or walk further so I retraced my steps back to Bungay where I found the café next to Bungay Castle and had a refreshing cup of tea.  I then walked back to the garage and sat for half-an-hour in a rather hot and airless waiting room until my car was ready.

I remember this walk very fondly.

 

Southwold… and Fish and Chips

Tags

fish and chips, seaside, Southwold, Suffolk, The Little Fish and Chip Shop, The Sole Bay Fish Company

Elinor has been extolling the fish and chips her father buys for her when they visit Southwold together.  She tells me I would really like them as the fish is beautifully cooked with a thin crispy batter and the chips are not at all greasy.

She needed a new photograph for the (age) 26 to 30 railcard she was applying for and for the separate ID card to be used when we vote in a few days time.  We thought we could go to the nearest photobooth which is at Morrison’s supermarket in Beccles, eleven miles away, get the photo done and then go to Southwold for lunch. Last Thursday was the ideal day to do it as Richard was going cycling with his friend John and they always have lunch out together.  The forecast was for a dry but windy morning and then rain showers in the afternoon.

We set off at 10.30 am, got to Beccles just after 11.00 and Elinor used the photobooth.  We then drove to Southwold and arrived at midday.  The morning had been glorious with bright sunshine and beautiful blue sky.  The wind was a very strong and cold easterly and this was particularly noticeable on the coast!  We parked at the Pier carpark and walked along the front towards the town.  The tide was in and the sea very rough so Elinor decided not to walk on the beach or even the promenade but along the upper road at the top of the cliff.

The sea at Southwold

Looking towards the Pier

Rough sea at Southwold

Looking down at the sea from the upper road

We noticed quite a large piece of driftwood had been thrown up by the sea next to the groyne.  If you look closely you will see that it is part of the trunk of a long-dead tree.  The woman in the ochre-yellow coat has her hood up against the blast of the wind.  We too, had our winter coats on and hoods up!

Ten minutes walking brought us to the road into the town and the ‘Little Fish & Chip Shop’ in East Street.  Here is a link to the shop.  You will see from the link that this shop is part of the Sole Bay Fish Company which has a restaurant and wet fish shop at the harbour.

The shop is very small with extremely limited seating; one isn’t really expected to ‘eat in’ here. Our order for ‘two haddock and chips’ was taken and we were given pagers which would bleep when the food was ready.  Some people go off and do their shopping and others wait on benches provided in the side alley next to the shop.  We decided to wait.

The view from our bench

There is a wisteria arbour strung with lights and lobster pots and in the summer the shade under the wisteria must be welcome.  The little lights shining in the evening as one waits for one’s food to be cooked must be very pleasant.  As we waited in the chilly alley we saw that the wisteria was just coming into leaf and there were flower buds appearing.

The view from our bench out towards East Street

Collen and Clare, the shop you can see on the opposite side of East Street has managed to survive the pandemic.  It is a shop I might go to if I had a special occasion to buy clothes for.

At last, after fifteen minutes wait, our lunch was ready.  All freshly cooked and looking very good!  We added a little salt to the fish and chips before we left and went to find a bench to sit on while we ate.

Fish and chips!

Elinor was quite right.  I did enjoy my fish and chips and how often does one get parsley and a slice of lemon with take-away F&C?  The key to good fish and chips is frying in lard.  So many shops these days fry in vegetable oil but it does tend to make the food so greasy and the batter soft.  I understand that many people do not wish to eat animal fats or pork products and lard is not particularly good if one is worried about cholesterol.  However, I have take-away fried fish and chips very rarely and a treat now and again is extremely welcome.

By the time we had finished eating, clouds were beginning to appear.  I had a small purchase to make in the stationers before we made our way back to the car.  With the cloud quickly covering the sun and blue sky and the wind becoming even stronger it was a cold walk and we had to bend forward into the wind to get along.  Fortunately, we managed to get all the way home and I’d even made myself a cup of tea by the time the rain started.  Richard arrived home from his cycle ride shortly after that only having got a little damp.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to Southwold!

 

 

Huntingfield Church, Suffolk

Tags

Huntingfield, Mildred and William Holland, painted ceiling, St Mary's church, Suffolk

For a number of reasons I have not posted anything on my blog for about a year.  Problems with the internet last Easter, an old laptop, a camera that needs servicing (or replacing), health issues and hardly any walks and journeys to share with you are the main reasons.  The almost complete absence of internet for ten days or so last Easter forced me into the hiatus and when the wi-fi returned I felt strangely unwilling to resume my WordPress and other internet activities. I obviously needed a break from being on-line; not that I am on-line a lot but I was finding I was becoming stressed because I didn’t have the time to read all the posts I wanted to and wasn’t able to comment fully on those posts.

During the last few months I have rediscovered not only the joy of reading all sorts of books but also the satisfaction I get from knitting.  Unfortunately, the gardening came to a halt during the hot summer drought and many of my garden plants died.  I am having to rethink how I will tend my garden in the future.  Richard and I were able to get away for a week’s holiday in early September to the Peak District in Staffordshire; our first break since the summer of 2019.  What a pleasure it was to revisit favourite places and to meet up with Alice and Elinor on my birthday.  Elinor stayed with Alice in Sheffield while Richard and I had our holiday.

Elinor finished her time at the University of Suffolk and was awarded a First Class Honours degree in Graphic Design (Graphic Illustration). We all attended her graduation in October on a very wet and chilly day; how proud we were!

I now have a new lap-top which has made life much easier but as yet, I haven’t been able to do anything about my camera.

May I take this opportunity to thank you all for your kind wishes and thoughtful comments on my posts.  I had no idea that I would spend so long away from my blog and I apologise for not explaining my absence earlier.

I have decided to ease my way back in by sharing a visit Elinor and I made to Huntingfield church last November.

Huntingfield church

This was the first time we had visited this church, which is surprising as it is only just over seven miles from our house.  Years and years ago, my father used to attend mid-week mass here helping the priest as a server or acolyte.

The church was begun in the 11th century but most of the building we see now is from the 15th century.  It is in good repair and has had a number of works of restoration done over the years.

The porch and main door

The church is known locally as the painted church.

Painted ceiling of the nave

detail from the nave ceiling

Detail from the chancel ceiling

Detail from the chancel ceiling

I took more photos of the ceiling with my phone but they weren’t a success. As you can see, the decorations are of more recent date than the church.  Any painting and decoration the church had had originally would have been destroyed or removed during the reign of Henry VIII in the 16th century or during the time of the Commonwealth in the 17th century.  The ceiling was painted in the mid-19th century by a woman called Mildred Holland who was the Rector’s wife.  She worked on the painting of the chancel from September 1859 until April 1860 with no apparent help from anyone other than local tradesmen who put the scaffolding up for her and prepared and primed the surface of the ceiling.  She also had advice from a Mr. E.L. Blackburne F.S.A. who was an authority on medieval decoration.  Three years later she began painting again, this time in the Nave and the scaffolding eventually came down in 1866.  It is said she did most of the painting while lying on her back.  She ordered the angels and other figures from a specialist tradesman and had them fitted for her but painted them herself.  Her husband had received an inheritance just before they arrived at the parish and this money was spent on repairs, new windows and furnishings as well as all the equipment needed for his wife’s painting work.

Pew end

Pew end

We visited shortly after Remembrance Sunday

Pew end (and a glimpse of Elinor!)

Pew end

Pew end

Pew end

Pew end

The font with its ornate cover

Top of the font cover

Font cover

William Holland presented the church with this font cover in memory of his wife who died in 1878, twelve years after she had finished her painting.

A scrap of the original decoration on the wall

Fragments of a Saxon stone coffin and standing cross from the 10th century

Church door

The table tomb of William and Mildred Holland to the right and a standing cross in their memory to the left

The church has never been long without patrons who help to find funds for restoration work.  I was surprised to see that the guide book to the church is illustrated by the artist David Gentleman.

Here is a link to more information about the church.

You could also read a novel based on the story of Mildred and William’s work in Huntingfield church.  It is called “The Huntingfield Paintress” and is by Pamela Holmes.  I read it out of interest and found it well written aand well researched.  It was too romantic for my taste but other readers have been very pleased with it.

 

 

Walks With Elinor – Hen Reedbeds

Tags

Hen Reedbeds, reedbeds, River Blyth, River Wang, Suffolk, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, walking, Wolsey Creek

Elinor and I took this walk nearly ten months ago, a week after the walk I featured in my last post.  I hadn’t been at all well after my second Covid vaccine which I had had a couple of days after the previous walk so my only stipulation for this walk was that it be short.

Hen Reedbeds

Hen Reedbeds was opened in 1999 and is looked after by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust in conjunction with the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) and Natural England. It shows what can be done with land affected by coastal erosion and rising sea level.  It has a mixture of freshwater wetland habitats – reedbeds, dykes, pools and fenland and is home to many wading birds and raptors.  It was developed specifically to encourage the breeding of Eurasian bitterns.  Unfortunately, Elinor and I didn’t see many birds at all on our short walk which was only part-way along the Eastern trail.

There is a car-park just off the road which bisects the reserve but it is easily missed.  Luckily we had no trouble finding it because, despite never having visited this reserve before, we drive along the road quite often and even drove past the entrance to the carpark on our way to Reydon Wood the previous week.  There is a short walk from the carpark through trees, scrub and then reedbed to the road which separates the east and west areas of the reserve.

Some rather sorry-looking fungus on a tree near the carpark

Common Storksbill (Erodium cicutarium) on the path

Taking our lives into our hands, we dashed across the road and entered the reserve.  The road does get quite busy at times as it is the main road into Southwold and Reydon from the A12.

When we first arrived there was a promise of better weather. The sky was definitely blue in the distance.

Unfortunately, the blue skies disappeared and we had quite a chilly walk.

Elinor strides off into the distance

The water to the left of the path is Wolsey Creek and the path is called Quay Lane.  In the past there was a fair amount of river traffic in this area but not any more.  The creek is fed by water from the River Wang.  Such an odd name, isn’t it?  I believe the word comes from the Old English for ‘open fields’.  Nearby is a village called Wangford  which obviously is situated at a crossing of the river.

Farmland beyond the reedbeds

We continued along the path until we reached a more open expanse of water.  This is part of the tidal estuary of the River Blyth into which the creek flows.

The water shone like pewter.

Blyth estuary

Blyth estuary

Observation hide.

Because of Covid, the hide was closed which was a great pity because we might have seen some of the wildlife that is supposed to inhabit this reserve.  The pathway and anyone on it can be seen for miles around and any self-respecting mammal or bird would be keeping their heads down all the time we were parading up and down.  We did see a couple of raptors in the distance.  I saw a Common Buzzard and Elinor was fortunate enough to see a Red Kite.

We turned to go back the way we had come. Elinor was getting very hungry and I was tired.

I looked towards the farm and noticed that they had brought a horse out.

Horses

Sea Purslane (Halimione portulacoides ) growing at the edge of the creek

This was an interesting place and now that spring is on it’s way and the hides will probably be open again I might consider a re-visit in the near future.

Walks With Elinor – Reydon Wood

Tags

bluebell, coppice, dog violet, Goldilocks Buttercup, great crested newt, Holly, Hornbeam, Hoverfly, lesser celandine, primrose, Reydon Wood, Suffolk, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, walk, water-violet, wild strawberry, Wood Anemone, woodland

Let me take you back in time to the end of April of this year.  In preparing this post it has been strange looking through my early spring photographs while the leaves outside are falling from the trees and most of the flowers have gone.

Elinor and I had enjoyed our two previous walks in Halesworth and Beccles but this time we wanted to get away from people and buildings and into the woods.  One of our favourite places is Reydon Wood which is cared for by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.  I have written posts about family walks in this wood a few times before but the last time we visited was about three years ago; how could we have left it that long?!

Reydon Wood

The weather was perfect, chilly but sunny and there hadn’t been any rain for quite a while so the paths were free of mud.  Spring was cold and late this year so the first leaves were only just beginning to show on the trees. The wood was full of birdsong and we soon found any number of spring flowers in bloom.  The light was strong and bright which was not conducive to good photography, for which I apologise.

The path through the woods

I love these perfectly pleated Hornbeam leaves (Carpinus betulus )

Common Dog Violets (Viola riviniana ) and a small white Wild Strawberry flower (Fragaria vesca) in the centre of the picture

Reydon Wood is quite small and would only take twenty minutes or so to walk round if one wasn’t interested in stopping and looking at anything.  We heard a couple of women approaching from behind us and stood to one side as they walked past talking non-stop.  We waited while the noise of their voices faded and birdsong re-established itself.

We saw Wood Anemones (Anemone nemorosa ) in the wood for the first time

Primroses ( Primula vulgaris) were in flower

There are plenty of coppice stools like this in the wood

Reydon Wood is coppiced each year.  Some of these trees are hundreds of years old and have been supplying wood for generations.  Here is a link which explains what coppicing is.  A copse is a wood which is or has been coppiced.

A clearing was carpeted with Primroses and Lesser Celandines (Ficaria verna )

Great Crested Newt ( Triturus cristatus)

In this clearing is a large pond which is home to all sorts of interesting creatures and plants.  The Great Crested Newt is Britain’s largest newt and has suffered in recent years due to habitat loss, especially by the infilling of ponds.

Water Violet (Hottonia palustris )

The Water Violet isn’t a violet at all, it is a member of the primrose family but the petals are a very pale lilac-colour which may be the reason for its common name.  It is usually found in sheltered ditches and ponds with shallow clear water which is rich in calcium.  Another name for it is Featherfoil because of its fine feathery leaves.

Tangled branches and shadows

The Bluebells were just beginning to flower (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)

Spring leaves

Woodland in the springtime

I always like to greet this giant Holly tree with its weeping branches (Ilex aquifolium)

A Hoverfly of some sort sunning itself on the path. With their large ‘fly’ eyes they always look like they are wearing large sun-glasses.

Goldilocks Buttercup (Ranunculus auricomus )

A spring-flowering buttercup.  The whole plant, including the stems and the leaves, dies back by mid-summer.  The flowers are usually deformed with petals missing and the upper leaves deeply cut.

Deeply rutted path

We were extremely fortunate to have had such dry weather during the week before our walk.  The paths had set like concrete and though they were uneven they were easier to walk on than if they had been wet!

With any luck I will be able to add to this short series of walks before Christmas!

Walks With Elinor – Beccles

Tags

Beccles, Beccles Quay, boats, glamping pod, River Waveney, Suffolk, Suffolk Broads, yachts

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 Quay

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 looking towards the town

Beccles Quay

Beccles Quay looking away from the town

Elinor

Path by the River Waveney looking towards the road bridge

Footbridge over the river which gives access to the town

Beccles church tower seen from the green

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.

Walks With Elinor – Halesworth

Tags

crinkle-crankle wall, Halesworth, Halesworth Town Park, Halesworth Town River, Suffolk, walking

During the spring Elinor and I decided it would be good for us both if we could go out for walks together.  The restrictions had recently eased a little so that we felt it would be fine for us to drive somewhere different to walk instead of just walking the usual lanes near our house.  Elinor had been stuck at home for months and was becoming more fearful and anxious.  We though she should see that the world was still functioning albeit in a rather muted way.

Please click on this link to access a map of the town centre and more information about the town  https://www.halesworth.net/townmap/towncentremap.php

Our very first walk was on an extremely cold and gloomy day at the beginning of April.  We drove to Halesworth, one of our local towns and parked in the central town car-park.  It was so gloomy and cold that I took hardly any photos and most of those didn’t come out at all well.  We entered the Thoroughfare from the car-park and turned left towards the church and the Market Place.

Here is Halesworth Market Place a few years ago during the Day of Dance

We walked through the Market Place and down Chediston Street until we reached Rectory Lane which has a lovely crinkle-crankle wall down one side of it.

The Crinkle-crankle wall in Rectory Lane

Rectory Lane is also still known as Parson’s Lane as it cuts through the back of the town from the Old Rectory towards the Parish Church of St Mary. The Rector of Halesworth no longer lives in the enormous rectory which was sold to private buyers many years ago.  The lane meets the Town River a little further on and used to be a place where people went to sit and chat and share their sandwiches with the numerous ducks that lived on and near the river.  However, the town’s-people have been dissuaded from feeding the ducks because this apparently encouraged rats and bread wasn’t suitable food for ducks anyway and now the ducks have disappeared as well.

The Town River

It was all looking a little sad and run-down.  The water is clear enough but there are no reeds or rushes growing here and the retaining walls are crumbling.

There were a few plants growing and beginning to flower on our side of the river.

Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens) with its blue forget-me-not flowers and Common Nettle (Urtica dioica)

Yellow Archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon subspecies argentatum)

This Archangel is a cultivated form of the wild flower and has sliver splashes on the leaves.  It usually flowers much earlier than the wild plant.

We turned right out of Rectory Lane into Rectory Street and then rejoined the Thoroughfare.  We turned left past the library and crossed the road at the roundabout next to the United Reformed church and entered Quay Street.  Just then it began to rain so we decided to cut short our walk and return to the car by way of the Town Park.  When I used to live in Halesworth many years ago there used to be a yard with a builder’s merchant’s a little way up Quay Street.  I used to walk through the yard to a path that led to the park.  The builder’s merchant’s was knocked down some time ago and in its place a large quantity of houses and apartments have been built.  We walked through this little estate and found that the path still led into the park.  The park is well laid out with plenty of grassy areas with spring bulbs and a few flower beds.  Lots of mature trees give shade and shelter and there is a play area with swings and slides and other equipment.  We crossed over the river by the bridge and continued through the park until we had regained the road by the carpark.

Though we had only been out for about half an hour we had enjoyed our walk and decided we would walk together again as soon as we could.

 

Flatford Mill

Tags

Constable, Dedham, Dedham Vale, Flatford, Flatford Mill, John Constable, lock, mill, National Trust, River Stour, Suffolk, the Hay Wain, water meadows, Willy Lott's House

My birthday falls at the beginning of September but last autumn, as we were very busy during that week we decided to put off any celebration or outing until later.  A whole month later we found we had the time, and the weather had improved enough for a trip to Flatford Mill in the Dedham Vale.

Flatford Mill is owned by the National Trust and looking at their website we saw that we need not book a slot to visit but, as parking space is limited we thought we would set off fairly early.  The weather forecast was for rain in the afternoon but the morning was glorious with plenty of sunshine.

We live in North Suffolk in the Waveney Valley and Flatford Mill is in the south of the county on the River Stour near the border with the county of Essex.   If you click on the link just below you will see a map of Suffolk.  Near the top of the map to the right of centre are the towns of Bungay, Halesworth and Harleston.  We live in-between and almost equi-distant from those three towns.  At the bottom of the map in the centre you will see the town of Sudbury and to the right of that is Dedham Vale.

https://images.app.goo.gl/fqi1Da7AAMkpD9GY8

Many of you will recognise the name of the place we visited for my birthday treat.  Some of you may have been there already.  Flatford Mill was owned by the painter John Constable’s father and John was born in East Bergholt, a village on the River Stour.  It is a short walk down a fairly steep winding, wooded lane from the village to the mill.

We wandered round the outside of the mill and over the bridge to the other side of the river.

The River Stour

Buildings near to the Mill, seen from the bridge. The building on the right of the photo with the flat roof is the café owned by the National Trust where we had a sandwich lunch.

Bridge Cottage

The attractive flowerbed next to the cottage

Bridge Cottage seen from the other side of the river

We found the lock which has recently been restored.

We also found the rear of the mill buildings and the mill pool.

The Stour is a lovely river.

We re-crossed the bridge and walked back down towards the mill, admiring the brick and timber buildings.

After our lunch we sat outside the mill in the sunshine.

This is the corner of the mill building, seen from our bench. I doubt whether the wall was there in John Constable’s time.

It was satisfying to sit looking at a view that Constable looked at every day when he lived in that building and had also included in many of his paintings such as The Mill                      Stream, The Hay Wain and The White Horse.

Beautiful effect of sunlight filtering through the trees.

Above are three slightly different views of Willy Lott’s House as seen from outside the mill.  We then walked down the lane towards the house to get a closer view.

Willy Lott’s House

Willy Lott’s House

Willy Lott’s House

Just look at these glorious roof tiles!

An overgrown withy fence round an allotment with views of the countryside beyond

Forget-me-nots among the nettles

Lush growth next to the river

We then thought we would walk across the water meadows to Dedham which is just into Essex.  Dedham was also painted by Constable and we could see the church tower in the distance.  I have seen this same church tower every time I have travelled down the A12 on my way to London.

As you can see from the sky in these photos, it was looking more and more like rain so we reluctantly turned round and made our way back to Flatford.  The water meadows were more water than meadow, thanks to the very wet weather we had had during September and we would have had great difficulty getting to Dedham dryshod.  The last two photos above show Dedham church tower.

Jolly ducks on the water.

We had a last look at the Stour and then went home in the rain.

Have a Merry Covid Christmas!

Tags

Be All Merry, Bill Bailey, Charles Williams, covid-19 troubles, Franz Waxman, Great Sacred Music, Happy Christmas, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, In Dulci Jubilo, Leroy Anderson, music, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Suffolk, The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin, The Devil's Gallop, The Little Train of the Caipira, The Ride to Dubno, The Typewriter, Villa Lobos

Elinor, our younger daughter is self-isolating until Christmas Eve after being contacted by ‘Test and Trace’.  We think she may have been near someone, who has since contracted Covid-19, while she was at the hairdresser’s in Norwich on Thursday 10th December.  She is physically well at the moment.  Richard and I have no need to self-isolate as yet, because Elinor has no symptoms, but are being very cautious and have limited our journeys to necessary shopping.  Elinor is so unfortunate!  She had not left our house and garden, except for one walk round the lanes when she didn’t see a soul, for five whole weeks and the one time she went further afield the result was self-isolation for ten days!  She suffers from chronic anxiety, so goodness knows whether she’ll have the courage to leave the house ever again!  She is very unhappy and depressed and desperately needs a hug which we can’t give her.  We completely understand that we must limit our contacts with other people until this pandemic is under control but the damage all this isolation and lock-down is doing to so many people, physically, mentally and financially is unimaginably great.  My elder daughter Alice, who has Bi-polar 2 disorder is also having a very hard time stuck in Sheffield, unable to see her friends or visit us.  Her husband is unwell at present and is needing a lot of care.

The only thing that has been keeping me going through this year is music.  I’ve not been able to concentrate for long enough to get much enjoyment from reading and I can’t seem to string more than a few words together, either speaking or writing.  My memory is dire and my arthritis is troubling me a lot.  Music has been a balm to my soul, though it often causes me to cry.

I have selected a few pieces of music to share with you that have made me laugh, made me smile and even caused a tear or two.

This first video was shown me by Elinor some time ago and many of you may have seen it already.  I hope you enjoy it.

I have always loved listening to music that tells a story or is so descriptive that if I close my eyes I can be transported away from the here-and-now to another world.  This next piece of music is best listened-to with your eyes shut so that you aren’t distracted by anything.

I have long been an admirer of Bill Bailey.  He is an accomplished actor, musician, comedian and extremely knowledgeable on many subjects.  He has also just won the latest Strictly Come Dancing Glitterball prize with his partner, Oti.  A very versatile man!

I think most of my British readers will recognise this next piece either from the original Dick Barton radio series or from the Mitchell and Webb ‘Sir Digby Chicken Caesar’ sketches.  It’s called ‘The Devil’s Gallop’.  It came on the radio the other week while I, along with a few other impatient drivers, was following a tractor and a couple of heavily-laden lorries on the A143 on the way to Diss.  It made me laugh.

Just before ‘The Devil’s Gallop’ was played on the radio I had been entertained with a similarly blistering, breakneck piece of music.  How many key-changes can you hear in this one?!

I have been listening to the St Martin’s-in-the-Field Thursday recordings of Great Sacred Music for some time now.  There are three or four pieces of music, usually including a hymn, and a narration in-between each piece by Rev. Dr Sam Wells.  I have found these performances so soothing and comforting!

I recently bought some new Christmas music recorded by the Choral Scholars of the University College Dublin.  The first track is a wonderful rendition of In Dulci Jubilo written by Matthew Culloton.  You may find that if you keep listening after this track all the others on the album will be played for you!

The whole collection of songs on ‘Be All Merry’ are fabulous but I thought this next recording of theirs spoke to me so clearly about how I am feeling this Christmastide.  I hope you agree with me.

I hope you have enjoyed my selection and that you also, can find some solace and happiness in listening to music.

I wish you all as Merry a Christmas as it is possible to have in this troubled world of ours and that we can all meet again in the New Year with hope in our hearts, God willing.

Happy Christmas everyone!

Turtle Dove

Tags

Suffolk, Turtle Dove, wildlife

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land…

The Song of Solomon; Chapter 2, Verse 12

When I first moved to Suffolk in 1988 I thought I had moved to heaven on earth!  I had been living in a late-Victorian, terraced house in a south-east London suburb.  Not the worst location by any means; there was a park, an excellent library, friendly neighbours and shops just a few minutes walk away.  But…there weren’t many birds in my tiny garden, though I found that the flowers I planted with the help of my (then) mother-in-law attracted a few insects, especially butterflies and moths.  The only wild flowers I saw regularly were straggly dandelions.

My parents had re-located to Suffolk in 1987 and I had visited them two or three times as they settled into their 18th century cottage.  I decided that Suffolk was the place for me too, and the following year moved to Halesworth, a town about ten miles distant from them.  Admittedly, the bird-table in my garden attracted mainly seagulls (I lived fairly near the coast) but I still managed to see a good variety of smaller birds and every now and again I saw something really special.  The bird I remember being most excited about was a Black Redstart.

In the summer, I used to lie awake at night listening to Nightingales singing from the Folly, which is a patch of heathland on the edge of the town.  When I visited my parents I discovered their garden had Turtle Doves that purred from the trees all afternoon on warm days.

When Richard and I got married in 1994 we moved out of Halesworth to the village of Rumburgh where we lived until 2004.  I don’t remember hearing Turtle Doves in Rumburgh but there were plenty of other birds in the garden, notably Spotted Flycatchers which regularly nested in the Winter-flowering Jasmine against the wall next to the living-room casement-doors.  I also saw a female Cuckoo in a tree behind the house and heard its bubbling song.  The garden was an old established one (our cottage was two hundred years old) and was home to many different creatures, especially a large assortment of moths and butterflies.  We regularly saw toads in the back yard and lizards were everywhere.

In 2004 we moved to Bradford-on-Tone in Somerset because of Richard’s work but we didn’t stay there long, just eighteen months.  The birds we saw in our garden in the West Country were very different from the birds we were used to seeing in East Anglia.  Siskins and Bramblings visited in the winter and Ravens and Buzzards flew overhead all year round.  We had Serotine Bats roosting in the cavity wall of the modern extension to our home.

The year 2006 saw us move back to Suffolk to the house we live in still.  We are only a couple of miles from Rumburgh and when we returned to East Anglia we resumed the life we had led before.  Our present home is even more rural than our one in Rumburgh had been but the house itself is only thirty or so years old.  Before we left Rumburgh in 2004, the Spotted Flycatcher hadn’t nested in the garden for a couple of years, but I don’t remember us noticing any other changes in the wildlife population.  On our return to Suffolk we were amazed to see Yellow Wagtails in our new garden and we had Turtle Doves cooing in the trees round the pond.  This was the first and last time we saw the Yellow Wagtails and from then on the Turtle Doves only visited sporadically.

In the following few years we became aware of a great diminution in the amount of insects, especially moths and butterflies, in the area.  This led to fewer birds of all types, though I did my best by feeding them and trying to encourage insects into the garden.  I feel that, as well as climate change, changes in agricultural practices must have caused the losses in our local wildlife populations.

However, in recent years the Government have provided countryside stewardship grants and we are fortunate that many of our local farmers have been trying to change the way they farm to include wildlife havens.  As well as improving the quality of the many ponds and ditches, wide headlands have been left around the fields where grasses and flowers have been allowed to grow undisturbed.  We live in one of a very few areas in Britain where the Barn Owl is seen regularly.  These grassy headlands are ideal hunting grounds for the Barn Owl. In the past couple of years, farmers have been planting pollinator strips alongside their fields to encourage the insects to return to farmland.  Wild flowers and insects are returning slowly to this intensively-farmed area of Britain.  This year for the first time since we moved here, Turtle Doves have nested in the trees round the pond in our garden.

Turtle Dove on the right and Collared Dove on the left. Collared Doves frequently attack Turtle Doves.

 

I have added a recording of a Nightingale, just for Peter – with best wishes.