Living It Up On The Costa Del Suffolk

What a weekend it's been! Apart from our son's creation winning a BAFTA, (see my last blog post) we've had plenty to keep us occupied.

On Friday evening we made the short walk up to the college for FramSoc's supper. FramSoc is an excellent society run by the college and open to those with connections to the college such as parents and teachers but also, importantly for us, to residents of the town. Regular talks and outings are held and as well as being educated and entertained by these it's also  a great way to get to meet people. The supper, served in the college hall, was excellent with four delicious courses each accompanied by a glass of fine wine. 

There was more excellent food in store for us on Saturday night when friends Mark and Nita Jones from Ribchester joined us. After Mark and I watched the Cup Final (an entertaining match for the neutral), we enjoyed these super fish platters prepared for us by Maximus Fishing of Friday St in Saxmundham. Chris from Maximus couldn't have been more helpful, we gave him a budget and a few ideas of what we did and didn't want and these were the result. Thanks Chris - it was a lovely meal with no work involved for us.

The weekend weather was perfect and we were able to show Mark and Nita the delights of our new home county in glorious sunshine.

We visited the beach at Walberswick after a good snack at the lovely Anchor.

Experimented with the new selfie craze.

Travelled to Walberswick from Southwold via the ferry.

And had a quick look at the outside of our own magnificent castle. It was a great weekend and we really enjoyed the company. Thanks to Mark and Nita's generosity we may have to travel to the bottle bank under the cloak of darkness this week to keep our reputations intact.

The glorious weather continued yesterday so, with a cycle tour of Provence coming up in under three weeks time, we thought it best to get on our bikes and get some practice in.

We headed to Orford via the beautiful Iken.

Although we've been to Orford many times, we hadn't ventured inside the castle until yesterday. The weather was too good not to climb the steps and take in the magnificent views.

The castle is an imposing edifice but inside it's surprisingly cosy. The audio tour is extremely interesting and it was well worth the visit.

I reckon that we rode over fifteen miles to get there so we earned the sandwich in the harbour side cafe. A thirty plus mile ride was a good start for the preparations for Provence - thank heavens for the new padded underwear.

Out And About In Suffolk

Although we would like nothing better than to stay at the house and use the garden that has been in the course of development for four months, we're still overrun with workers (electrician doing the lighting now) so we've no alternative but to get out from under their feet and do something else. Fortunately the weather has been glorious for a few days so it has been perfect for walking and, while Marion was having her hair done at Carley Hill the other day, I put on my boots and explored some of the local paths and bridleways. I particularly liked this view as our house is the white one bottom right and we're sharing the skyline with the magnificent castle top left. 

Yesterday the good weather continued and we drove out to Walberswick and did a walk recommended in one of the Suffolk magazines. Walberswick is a picturesque little place full of interesting buildings like this half timbered house.

And the fascinating church which is not a partial  ruin because of some tragedy or Henry VIII's dissolution but simply because the church became too big for the parish so they knocked some of it down and used the stone and windows to build a smaller church inside.

The result is very romantic and the (now tiny) church is a real treasure. (This is not my photo by the way but came from free image website Zippix).

The walk took us out of the village and along the banks of the river Blyth. It was a peaceful and easy stroll interrupted by only the calls of birds that flocked in their hundreds in the surrounding marshland and floated in the many lagoons, creeks and inlets - a birdwatcher's paradise. 

 The walk took us past this derelict place. It reminded us the house in The Blair Witch Project so we didn't hang around. I don't think even Sarah Beeny could do anything with this one.

The walk ended at the always excellent Anchor where we kept things local and enjoyed a crab salad. A great end to a lovely walk. 

Although as I said at the start we would have preferred to be able to be at home, this was a pretty perfect alternative.

Welcome Visitors

We had hoped that we would have finished the house before we started to entertain visitors here but at this rate (snow cancelled the gardener again yesterday) it could be Christmas before that happens. So we were really pleased to see our old friends Janet and David Wareing who stopped over here in Framlingham en route (sort of) to a wedding in Hampshire. I used to sit next to Dave at school and we've been firm friends ever since. Although they didn't manage to make it here until well after five we still managed to fit in a quick tour of the town and a beer in The Crown before heading home for a good meal which was made pretty merry by Dave and Janet's housewarming contribution of a vintage bottle of Dom Perignon.

We had a brief look around our fabulous church this morning before heading to Southwold where the conditions could be described as "bracing". We had planned to walk down to the ferry and cross to Walberswick but, despite reports in the Suffolk magazine that the ferry was open today, it was closed and we had to drive to Walberswick where we had an excellent lunch at The Anchor. It was quite an eye opener to make us realise how useful that ferry is. A crossing of no more than perhaps twenty yards was replaced by a drive of maybe six or seven miles.

Dave and Janet had to get back on the road by three but, although they were with is for less than twenty four hours, we crammed a heck of a lot into the time and it was a very enjoyable stay.

In my last blog I was fairly optimistic about the landscape gardening progress - before it started to snow again. The fences are finished and the borders and lawn are being prepared. But the decking is not quite complete and I think that Tony's estimate of everything being done by the end of the month still looks wildly optimistic. He started on January 7th so that means that by Monday he will have been working on the garden for three months and by the time that the front is done it will be four months. 

Well that’s the first few steps of our great adventure over.

Amazing how much you can get in a Prius

Premier Inn Ipswich

We completed the sale of the house in Southport last week and headed down to Suffolk with the car heaped high with all the essentials for our next four months whilst all our non-essential possessions headed into store. We felt like a couple of tramps turning up at the Premier Inn in Ipswich after a first night stay at a Days Inn on the M6. But we had little choice as we needed to appoint a builder for the work in Framlingham as quickly as possible or risk pushing the start date for the renovations back even further.

We got the builder appointed by Friday and made good progress with the kitchen, windows, outside office and interior design so we’re looking at the work starting in less than three weeks when the house will begin getting knocked about. Before then we’ve got to try and come up with some bathroom ideas which is not easy as the rooms are very small and we’ve little scope for mistakes.

The beautiful art nouveau frontage to Norwich Royal Arcade

We even found time to do a bit of sightseeing at the weekend and visited the renowned Anchor at Walberswick for a fabulous fish lunch before taking the rowing boat ferry across to Southwold where we enjoyed a walk down the pier and around the town. On Saturday we had a look around Norwich – what a great city!  There’s a great variety of shops, a wonderful market, a castle, loads of places to eat, modern shopping malls, old shopping lanes, independent bookshops (and a good Waterstones) and so much more. We’ll certainly be making regular visits when we finally get to live in East Anglia.

After the relative peace of the weekend we sorted out the giant Leylandii in our new garden that was offending our neighbours; we had it felled at a cost of well over £300 and we hope it’s earned us a foot on the ladder of acceptance in our new neighbourhood. There’s no longer any chance of the tree causing us future disputes. Leylandii have been at the centre of so many huge rows between neighbours; I’ve seen it referred to as “the tree at the centre of suburban warfare” and it’s no surprise – they grow to phenomenal heights.

After that it was back on the road again and that meant another Premier Inn; this time it was Rochester where Paul and Josephine have just bought their new house. It’s a super old Grade 2 listed building with lots of big rooms (their house that is not the Premier Inn) and it’s a perfect new home for our furniture that either won’t fit in our new place or won’t suit its more modern style. It was fortuitous that Paul and Josephine’s purchase came within a few days of our sale so the Rochester house will be furnished and ready for them to move into as soon as yet another huge event (the birth of their first baby) happens.

After we oversaw the delivery of the furniture (well done McDowells Removals – can’t recommend them highly enough) Josephine and her mum Jenny came and we spent some time together getting things unpacked.

Marion Jenny And Josephine At The Rochester House

It was our thirty-sixth wedding anniversary and we got this super bottle of champagne from Paul and Josephine. Although they bought us some picnic flutes to drink it from, the Premier Inn rooms don’t run to a fridge, so we’ve saved it for this weekend. It was strange being within a stone’s throw of where we got married (Chatham) on our anniversary. We didn’t feel up to going out as we were tired and our clothes were starting to look a bit of a mess so we dined in the Premier Inn. It was only regular chain restaurant stuff but it was served with a smile and was perfectly acceptable.

That night we had the chance to check out Premier Inn’s good night sleep guarantee. We were in one of those rooms that links to another by way of a door. And behind that door was someone who managed to snore loudly from around 2am until we got up at 6.30. I told the receptionist and within a couple of minutes my £65 was refunded with no fuss whatsoever (I managed to record the snoring on my phone but although the receptionist listened to the recording I am sure that he would have taken my word alone). So, well done Premier Inn. We stayed with them for seven nights in all and if you are looking for a budget hotel chain with clean rooms, friendly service and okay food you don’t need to look any further.

After our sleepless night we took delivery of a bed at the Rochester house and then set off back up north – after a delay when we witnessed a minor accident and stopped to help out. We made a brief stop at a kitchen showroom in Ipswich and then headed to St Andrews where we managed to get our head down in the caravan before 1am.

As we unpacked the car this morning the car seemed to groan with relief and it finally looks like a car again. Now we're looking forward to some quality time with Sarah, Duncan and Rose.