Greetings from the Costa Del Suffolk where we've been drinking lots of coffee outside The Dancing Goat enjoying the unseasonal sunshine. Marion spent ages putting all her summer clothes away for the winter last week but has had to dig them all out again as temperatures have soared back into the twenties.
You really can't beat autumn sunshine and we took full advantage of it yesterday with a glorious walk from Snape Maltings (more coffee) to the romantic Iken church. It's a hauntingly beautiful spot standing on a promontory in the reed beds. St Botolph chose to live there in the seventh century and I doubt that it has changed greatly since then.
The area is a haven for nature and we could not have had a more perfect day for a couple of hours of walking.
It lacks the spectacle of the Cumbrian and Yorkshire fells but Suffolk has its own innate beauty and when you get to retirement age the lack of gradients in these landscapes are very welcome.
There was not a cloud all day - fabulous.
We did a bit more walking last week when we went to Rochester for a couple of days babysitting. There's a small park called The Vines which has a long avenue of trees as its focal point. It was impressive to see how sympathetically the people who manage The Vines handled a tree that needed to be felled.
We had a bit of a surprise last week when a squirrel hopped past the kitchen and made for the lawn where he (or she) started to dig to bury a nut or acorn it was carrying.
Here's another local lawn. I was amazed to see this huge clump of fungi which sprang up virtually overnight.
I'm sure that I could get away with telling you that this latest addition to our small art collection was bought from a posh gallery in Snape of Aldeburgh. In truth it came from an exhibition of artworks by pupils of our local comprehensive Thomas Mills. We were hugely impressed by the show put on by Nikki Sholl and hear that it (deservedly) raised a huge amount towards new equipment for the school's art department.
Now it's time for an update on how my detecting has been going for the last week or two so navigate away now if you are not interested. After the excitement of the valuable Henry I penny last month it's been quieter recently but I never go home empty handed and, although I've said "not much" when Marion's asked what I've found, there have been some interesting bits and pieces. Here they are.
One session's finds including almost twenty buttons, some furniture fittings, a couple of musket balls, a 17th century trade token, a French? military badge, a good post medieval shoe buckle, a post medieval clothing fastener, a couple of Charles I farthings, a lead seal, a tiny medieval nesting weight and a post medieval mount (with leather still attached).
Here are some more finds from the past week.
Early bag seal.
Reverse
Small Tudor period spectacle buckle
Huge lead pot mend with pot still attached
Not certain but I think that this is a fragment of a medieval lead annular brooch
A trade farthing issued by Thomas Soley grocer of Mendlesham in 1663
Over three hundred years old and made of precious metal, this is officially "Treasure" and has to be reported to the coroner. It's a tiny early post medieval silver clothing fastener.
I said tiny. For scale, that's my little finger nail.
Mystery lead artefact. Looks like a bird swallowing something.
Another Tudor period dress hook or clothing fastener. This one is a lot bigger.
Silver James I half groat from c1619
Unidentified silver hammered coin - possibly Henry VII
I've been playing around with the detector set up and, as a result, been finding some pretty deep signals.
I had to chuckle after spending a long time digging this very deep hole to find a bottle cap at the bottom.
Especially as it seemed to be offering me some advice.
No comments:
Post a Comment