I do like to be beside the seaside. . . .

GOS and I had a couple of days away this week to visit very old friends in Suffolk who live near the sea.   It was quite a mini holiday for us with a good old “catch-up”. We had  a seaside day on the Wednesday and walked with our friends from Aldeburgh to Thorpeness and back and I had a “Cromer crab” supper that evening. Lovely.

The town of Aldeburgh is notable for having been the home of composer Benjamin Britten  and as the centre of the international Aldeburgh Festival of Arts  at nearby Snape Maltings founded by him in 1948.  It is a former Tudor port and was granted Borough status in 1529 by Henry VIII. I understand second homes make up roughly a third of the town’s residential property.  It would appear from what we were told quite a bit of the coast there has been lost to the North Sea. The beach is mainly shingle and wide in places with fishing boats able to be drawn up above the high tide and there too are a number of huts selling fresh fish. It is very picturesque and very popular, but we were lucky with parking on the day.

Thorpeness, a couple of miles north,  is a very unique place.  Originally a small fishing village it was bought in 1910 by a wealthy scottish barrister who made it into his version of a fantasy holiday village.  Among lots of things,  he created the Mere, a boating lake,  built lots of mock tudor properties and converted the old water tower into “The house in the clouds”.

Suffolk’s views are all sky and it is spectacular in own way; very different from here.  It does make the walking easier!  Our friend’s home is surrounded by miles and miles of footpaths and bridleways; great for walking their beautiful spaniel.   I am just glad we don’t have to negotiate the M25 ( our  preferred route  to get there this time) on a regular basis!

Did a “carboot” yesterday with a friend who wanted to get rid of some craft stuff.  And an  attempt by me to get rid of some rubbish and some stock left from my shop space last year.  Despite the forecast of a sunny day we had not long set up when the heavens opened.  Not very successful on my part;  got rid of a few bits, but bought some bargain picture frames; couldn’t not!  Anyway we had dried out by time to pack away and had a very jolly morning as we had not got together for a while.  Couldn’t find a buyer for GOS’ brand new golf shoes (too tight for him) so they had a ride there and back.

All the walls round and about the yard  at the moment are covered with various varieties of stonecrop: much loved by the bees. They are are going over pretty quickly due to the very dry weather I guess. Thought I would record some for you here  before I close down tonight . . . .