I said when I last blogged that I hoped it wouldn't take a miracle to salvage our night away from home. We were staying in Dunwich at The Ship and had booked the last available room which (though described to me by email as "lovely") was far from perfect.
I know we were only staying in a pub and couldn't expect The Ritz but small touches like the state of our window weren't exactly conducive to relaxing and luxuriating in the room which, though I mentioned it was cold, did eventually warm up when we closed the door to the passageway to the bathroom. To be fair to The Ship, the evening meal was excellent, the service and atmosphere in the bar was warm and friendly and the entertainment put on by classical/jazz keyboard player Jack Pescod together with violinist Hannah Voat was lovely. Add on the fine breakfast in the morning and the break was not a total failure. But I do feel that one of the most important parts of a hotel or inn break is the room and I am afraid that that was a letdown.
We weren't going to let that spoil the day so we had a look at the fabulous beach and look forward to returning to Dunwich in warmer days to walk along the coast and explore the beautiful heathland. After that it was off to Southwold for a quick and bracing walk along the pier before heading into town and having a look around the shops.
We've been meaning to have a look around the clothes shop Collen and Clare in the middle of Southwold for some time so now was a chance. They had some great clothes in there and Marion bought this super casual coat for spring.
As the diet is now reaching its conclusion we went into Two Magpies bakery and felt that we could get away with a pain au chocolate with the coffee. It's a good job we ordered only one between us as it was enormous. I can highly recommend this little bakery. The food on offer was amazing, the coffees were great and the service was outstanding.
From Southwold we headed back to Framlingham via Snape Maltings and had a look around the gallery. We were taken by this large ceramic sculpture of a cormorant by Mary Wyatt. We didn't buy it but I found it hard to believe that the artist could produce such a fine piece of work for less than £400 - my photo doesn't do the detail in the work justice.
Whilst on the subject of ceramics we found this large jug in The Theatre in Framlingham today. It's by celebrated Suffolk artist Tessa Newcomb and at just £80 I thought it was quite a bargain so it's now brightening up our dining room.
It's good to see the Lemon Tree has reopened in Framlingham. We usually pop into The Crown on Saturday morning and do The Times jumbo2 crossword but as The Crown and Dancing Goat were both full today we gave The Lemon Tree a try. I wish the new owners every success. It's got good access for the disabled and for push chairs so I imagine it will fill a gap in the market for young mums and dads with kids as well as the regular Framlingham coffee drinkers. It will be interesting to see if they eventually reopen in the evening.
We've come away for a night and, as I write we are a whole twenty minutes away from home in an attic bedroom in The Ship at Dunwich. So why are we sitting in a fairly spartan pub bedroom with the wind and rain lashing down outside when we could be sitting in a comfortable lounge in front of a roaring log burner? Well, I read in Suffolk Magazine that The Ship was having a music night on 6th February and there were special rates for accommodation. Having never visited Dunwich before I thought it was something different and an opportunity to visit the area so why not give it a try. But at the moment it's looking like my plans for a bit of a mid week treat are teetering on the brink of falling flat. I'll reserve judgement until tomorrow when we've had the meal, music and breakfast and maybe then things will look a bit rosier. Let's hope it doesn't take a miracle.
I mentioned miracles because last night we were at Framlingham College where FramSoc were hosting the highly eminent Cambridge Professor Sir Colin Humphreys who gave a short lecture on miracles from the bible and their explanations from a scientist's viewpoint. Sir Colin was a charming and affable speaker and his investigation of the crossing of the river Joran by the Israelites resulted in a fascinating and perfectly plausible explanation for the event. So too did his research into Moses producing water from a rock in Sinai. However, when he came to The Resurrection and Christ's walking on water he could offer no scientific clues to these events and it was clear that he was satisfied to be a believer in these phenomena without any scientific proof - which I , as a non believer ,found a bit of a letdown. However, it was certainly another stimulating evening provided by FramSoc and it was well attended by plenty of local people.
It would have taken more than a miracle for there to have been more than a lone survivor in the situation that the characters in Lone Survivor our movie choice this week found themselves in. On a clandestine mission into Taliban territory four US Navy Seals are on a hillside waiting to carry out their instructions when they are interrupted by an old goatherd and two boys. They are faced with the moral dilemma of either killing three civilians and being branded war criminals or letting them go and aborting their mission and trying to return to safety. Marion says she would have chosen option one whereas I would have gone for option two. Neither choice was exactly perfect for the soldiers and I doubt that the outcome would have been a lot different whichever way they chose as within a few hours they are surrounded by scores of heavily armed Taliban.
It's a very powerful war film with near constant action as the band of four brothers in arms attempt to escape against impossible odds reminiscent of The Alamo and Zulu. If you enjoy action films then this is one for you but, for all the action, the movie really hits home when photographs of all the Americans killed in this real life event (in happier times with their wives, friends and families) fill the screen in some truly moving closing credits.
Our nomadic existence continues and tomorrow we set off to Merseyside. We're staying with my Mum for a couple of nights. We're looking forward to seeing her along with my brother Pete and his wife Val who we've not seen since their daughter Lisa's wedding in the summer. After that we've got our great friend Dave Haworth's 60th birthday party in Liverpool on Sunday and then it's an early start on Monday as we head up to St Andrews in time to do a bit of babysitting for Sarah at lunchtime (please be kind to us weather and traffic).
A few nights in the caravan (please be kind to us weather) are planned before we head down to the Lake District on Saturday for another dear friend's 60th birthday. After that we've got Sunday dinner planned in Ribchester with more friends (my what popular people we are I hear you say) before returning to Framlingham on Monday.
After that we've got almost two whole months in Suffolk. This will be the longest that we've been here since we moved to Framlingham almost a year ago and it will be good to have a couple of restful months as another hectic schedule is bound to begin again in the spring.
We've got a few things planned already. Framsoc has some tickets for National Theatre Live's performance of Corliolanus at Aldeburgh Cinema. We've intended to go to one of these live theatre cinema screenings for ages but needed the impetus of someone getting tickets to push us into going - promises to be good. The last time we saw anything like this was the live transmission of Stephen Fry's one man show from London at FACT in Liverpool.
Whilst mentioning the cinema, I was pleased to see that all of those I suggested as worthy of Oscar Nominations from American Hustle and Nebraska the other day have been nominated for BAFTAs - I told you they were good.
After Coriolanus we've booked a night away in The Ship Inn at Dunwich. It's only about half an hour away but we saw in Suffolk Magazine that they were holding a music night in February with dinner and accommodation (including breakfast) at a very reasonable price so we thought we'd give it a try. I know we could drive there and save a few pounds but we've not been to Dunwich yet and it will be good to be able to have a few glasses of wine or beer and not worry about driving.
After that it will be Valentines night. Last year we went to The Crown and I think we'll do the same again this time as Matt, the chef, is very good at coming up with some innovative and tasty dishes. It was interesting to see that the TO LET signs in The Lemon Tree Bistro (which sadly closed very suddenly in December) came down today. I do hope it's an eatery of some sort and not another gift or antique shop. It's not that I don't like gift shops or antique shops I just think we've got enough but we've not got enough restaurants - a pizzeria or wine bar would be good.
In our short spell at home we've crammed a fair bit in. On Wednesday we went and explored the Lanes in Norwich. We've been watching that retirees' fare Antiques Roadtrip on the telly and wondered if we too might find something in a shop for £100, persuade the owner to sell it to us for £40 (as if) and then watch it at auction as the feverish bidding starts at a fiver and finishes at er a fiver. It's very entertaining but I don't think those dragons on Dragons' Den would think much of the business model.
I'm still busily doing Jillian Michaels' Thirty Day Shred exercise DVD every morning although in my case Thirty Day Shrek might be more appropriate judging from the colour I go after twenty minutes. At least, in conjunction with the diet, it is working and I've lost the 5 lbs I put on over Christmas. Another seven to go and Leo's Deli might see the takings back up again.
