Back From The Long Haul

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.