Welcome To Some Old Friends

The only real negative to our retirement move to Framlingham is the distance from our friends - friends who we've known for thirty, forty and even fifty years as well as my mum and brother. But on the positive side we're almost two hundred miles closer to our wonderful son and family which is an enormous plus. And another enormous plus manifested itself  this week when we welcomed friends from the short period that we lived in Kent in 1987/8. We were very close to Wyndham and Lesley Westaway when I worked in London and we relocated to Edenbridge and our children and their children got on together like a house on fire. 

They joined us here in Framlingham yesterday and we had a wonderful day with them catching up on over twenty-five years of each others' lives. We did the usual tourist visits to our town and had a good look around the castle and the church.

The sun shone brightly and showed our new home town in the very best light. Wyndham and Lesley stayed at The Crown and we joined them in the evening for another lovely meal which flew by so quickly that we had barely scraped the surface of our catch up. We are really looking forward to another get together soon.

Wyndham and Lesley headed home to Kent early today so we decided to get on our bikes and head out into the Suffolk countryside. Today was our most ambitious cycle trip to date as we headed to Aldeburgh for a light lunch by the sea.

We chose the new seafood grill at The Brudenell. We've eaten here several times and have always been very happy but today was a bit of a disaster. After waiting over fifteen minutes for our order to be taken, my meal, which was supposed to be chargrilled squid stuffed with chorizo, arrived as a squid salad with chorizo (another choice on the menu). As Marion's choice was correct I didn't want to send mine back and wait so I told the young waitress that I would have it. We ordered drinks to accompany the meal but they arrived after we had finished eating. It was a real disappointment and I can only really blame the perfectly nice but hopelessly inefficient waitress. Don't let me put you off The Brudenell - it is a very good hotel and restaurant but the service today was very poor.

We headed home via Thorpeness. We went through some beautiful countryside and cycled through some wonderful Suffolk villages and passed lots of our county's famous churches like this one, St Mary's in Benhall.

In other news I'm still making the most of the weather and the unplanted fields to get out with the metal detector and am still making a lot of nice finds. Here are some of the latest.

A wonderful local find- a 1669 half penny from a Framlingham trader. "Daniel Barnes His Half Peny"

The Other Side

A Silver Penny Edward III

More Musket Balls

Some Medieval Buttons

A Medieval Buckle

A Battered Silver Hammered Coin - Probably Tudor

A Fragment Of  A Queen Mary Coin

A Cut Half Penny From Henry III

Not Sure What This Is. Any Ideas?

We're here for another four or five weeks so there's plenty of time for more finds before we head up to Scotland.

A Big Thank You To The Crown Framlingham

I'm a bit late in posting this (needed time to recover from the hangover) but Marion and I wanted to thank The Crown for giving us a memorable evening on our wedding anniversary last Thursday. 

We booked a table for dinner and chef Matt Ransome provided a fabulous meal. It was one of the glorious evenings that we've been enjoying lately and we were able to sip a few glasses of fizz outside the hotel in the sunshine before going inside to eat. Service from Emma was, as always, extremely friendly and attentive. She was accompanied by an equally friendly and helpful young man.

We enjoyed a couple of delicious amuse-bouches before this delightful light starter of wafer thin cucumber filled with Cromer crab. I know that people taking photos of their dinners are a pain but this was so nice to look at that I asked if they would mind me taking it.

  
I had this substantial duck breast served with lovely gnocchi as a main and Marion enjoyed an excellent salmon course. We accompanied these with a nicely chilled bottle of good French white and rounded the meal off with a great cheese board and some light sorbets.

It's wonderful to have such fine cooking and good service within easy walking distance of home. We've watched The Crown go from strength to strength since David and India took over the place and Matt Ransome is a very adventurous chef who clearly takes great pride in developing new and interesting dishes. Although there are many fine dining establishments in Suffolk I see little point in driving to them when this excellent venue is right on our doorstep.

Thank you.

An Anniversary Dig

It's our 38th wedding anniversary today so, naturally, I went out with the metal detector and Marion went to have her hair done. But that doesn't mean we aren't celebrating. Last night we went to Jimmy's Farm for a meal and the fabulous Shakespeare performance that I reviewed on yesterday's blog.

The weather was glorious as forecast and I enjoyed a refreshing bottle of this. I haven't seen dandelion and burdock for years. It was a real favourite when I was a kid.

Marion looked as lovely as ever 38 years on from our big day. We're continuing our celebration tonight with a visit to The Crown here in Framlingham.

As for the detecting?

Here's what I turned out of the bag when I got home after four hours in the fields.

After getting rid of the rubbish I was left with this. It may not look a lot to those who are not into the hobby but there were some really nice and interesting finds.

This tiny medieval coin has a perfect portrait of the king (possibly Edward iv) but somebody has carefully clipped off all of the legend from the edges leaving a full identification well nigh impossible. Clipping coins was rife in medieval days but was a risky activity as penalties could be severe if you were caught.

Here's the other side of the coin.

Another medieval penny turned up. Sadly this one is not as clear but I think that it is probably Edward I.

This buckle could date anywhere between 1300 and 1600 but it's unusual to find one with its pin complete.

This is a small piece of horse harness decoration which I think dates to around 1600.

This weight is a real puzzle as I've been through 3500 photos of lead weights on the PAS database and not found another like it. My best guess is that it is post medieval but I will leave it to the archaeologists.

The thimble is certainly post medieval and probably falls into the modern period.

This stud was probably used as a harness decoration. There are some traces of silvering remaining. I think that it's from the medieval period.

Finally there is this strap fitting which again could date from medieval to post medieval times. In view of the coins and other finds it may well be at the earlier end of that scale.

So all in all a productive few hours. I've just taken delivery of a new (slightly larger) coil for the machine and look forward to trying it out soon. We're off to Bury St Edmunds on Monday to pick up Marion's new car so I'll drop the finds off with the archaeologist to get them recorded and make sure that my identifications are right

A Welcome Visitor

My mum's staying with us this week so we've taken advantage of the fine weather and done a bit of sightseeing. On Monday we headed towards Bury St Edmunds and had a look around Ickworth, the National Trust's showpiece Suffolk property. It was our first visit to the house and we were very impressed. 

Although Mum is very sprightly for 88, walking around the grounds would have been a bit too much for her so it was good when a bloke pulled up alongside us in a motorised trailer and offered to give us a quick tour. He drove us through the parkland and then dropped us back right at the car - excellent service.

And speaking of excellent service, I must mention Luke of Framlingham Greengrocers. When we went into the shop for the first time since getting back from Scotland he told us that he had charged us for the previous customer's grapes about three weeks earlier and insisted on refunding us. We buy almost all of our fruit and veg in his shop and his prices are so reasonable that we hadn't even noticed the overcharging - thanks for your honesty and the complementary bananas Luke.

Mum treated us to a very good meal at The Crown on Monday evening. Marion had a lovely truffle macaroni cheese and my liver starter and pork chop main course were delicious. Mum and Marion both said that soup was perfect and Mum's fish and chips were good too although the portion would easily have served three. 

It's a pity Mum didn't arrive in time to have a look at the Framlingham Show. It was another good show this year with plenty of different things to look at. We heard a talk on wine tasting and a talk on antiques. We missed the sheep racing but were very impressed with the prize specimens on display. Today it's time for a bit more Suffolk sightseeing for Mum before we take her down to see the family in Rochester and then on to Gatwick where she's jetting off to see my sister in Spain.

Still Keeping Busy

You know how it is when you speak to retired people and they tell you that they don't know how they ever found time to go to work? You probably raise your eyebrows yawn and think to yourself  "yeah sure". Well I'm afraid that it's exactly how things have been for us recently and we've found ourselves writing "to do" lists to make sure that we've not forgotten anything - writing this blog features somewhere towards the bottom of those lists.

On Friday night we went to The Lemon Tree here in Framlingham for an evening meal for the first time since it reopened. There was a wide selection of tapas on offer and we really enjoyed the meal which put an emphasis on local produce. The Lemon Tree is not opening every night but look out for the adverts for when it is open and give it a try. We think you will enjoy it.

I did some more detecting on Tuesday morning. I've not had time to sort through all the finds yet - it was mostly buttons - but I did find an interesting little silver coin from the reign of Elizabeth I.

Son Paul wasn't working yesterday so we headed down to Rochester on Tuesday evening and spent a night there. The weather on Wednesday was glorious so we took advantage of it and drove a few miles down the road to farm attraction Kent Life near Maidstone. It's a good family day out and we had a lovely day with Paul and our toddler granddaughter. 

There was plenty to see including animals like these rare breed pigs.

As well as a petting zoo, donkey rides, big playgrounds (both outdoor and indoor) there were museum exhibits explaining the history of hop farming and farm life in the early to mid 20th century - we both remember many of the featured exhibits like outside toilets and tin baths and it was a little disconcerting to find that things from our own past have now become museum pieces.

At lunchtime we left the farm museum briefly and walked along the banks of the Medway where we had the only poor experience of the day. We went into The Beefeater pub for a snack but having spent a lot of time scanning the menu and queuing to order we were told that the menu wasn't being served in the area we were sitting in and we would have to order from another menu or wait half an hour to go where that menu was being served. It was a case of very poor management and we ended up back at the museum cafe after a wasted journey.

On Monday I had a fascinating day out at the Clarke And Simpson weekly auction at Campsea Ashe. There was a huge crowd there and the auctioneers were running three auctions simultaneously in different rooms. I bought three or four interesting bits and pieces.

I particularly like this colourful bowl and stylish tankard. I'll have to make sure that I don't go too often or I'll end up with a house full of clutter. I've put another five bits for sale on eBay today. I really enjoy doing it but it takes up too much of that precious time that's in such short supply and I think I will have to give it up.

Tonight I've been busy making pasta for tomorrow night. Okay it doesn't look like the neat stuff you find in a packet in supermarkets but I'm hoping it's going to taste much better.

Next week we've got a V.I.P guest. My Mum is visiting Framlingham for the first time. We're looking forward to showing her around our new home, new home town and new home county. We've plenty planned including a meal at the Crown and trips to Ickworth, Aldebrugh and Southwold.

Busy Times

You may have noticed that it's been very quiet on this blog for a week. After going to Cineworld in Ipswich to see Her on Monday it was time to prepare for the visit of our daughter Sarah and her two daughters Rose and Melody. Sarah teaches baby yoga and enrolled on a course in London to qualify to teach toddler yoga too. So we booked an apartment in Vauxhall which was the nearest accommodation we could find to her classes in Stockwell Green and headed down to London to help out.

The apartment run by Think Vauxhall was well fitted out and very handy being right next to Vauxhall Station but the area is not particularly nice. We spent most of our three days of helping walking the mile and a half between flat and classes to deliver and collect the grandchildren as Rose was involved in a couple of the lessons and Melody is breast fed so we needed to be nearby when she was hungry. We were fortunate to find a Portuguese cafe near the yoga studio (there's a big Portuguese population in the area) and the owners were very welcoming and accommodating as we sat for long periods over a couple of cups of coffee.

We spent a bit of time in the excellent Clapham Mary Seacole library.

Rose had a couple of interesting journeys on the underground.

On Sunday we found ourselves with a couple of hours free so we headed off to the South Bank. Marion took Rose on a merry-go-round but a few minutes later we found that Sarah's class had ended an hour earlier than expected so it was back to Clapham before driving home to Framlingham.

It's the first time that Sarah and her children have visited us here in Framlingham. We've had a couple of relaxing days. We've had a look around the shops and had coffee in The Crown and The Lemon Tree and hopefully if the weather stays fine it will be a trip to Southwold Pier tomorrow. 

But the kids have been happiest being dragged around the wooden floors on blankets. Great fun and It's keeping the floor nice and clean too.