East Anglia
17th October, 1992
18th October, 1992
19th October, 1992
20th October, 1992
21st October, 1992
22nd October, 1992
23rd October, 1992
Saturday, 17th October, 1992
hat a start to the day! A white frost enveloped everything and had to be scraped off the windscreen, twice! But we got away in good time and by 9.30 were ringing the doorbell at Kay and Mike's. We spent the morning renewing acquaintance. They are really nice people.
Main Street, Lavenham, Suffolk
e left after 12 and arrived at Lavenham just after three, having had a sandwich on the way. Lavenham is amazing! It's like a time warp! Every house seems to be at least 500 years old. They are all white or pink wash with old black beams and they appear to be holding each other up as they are leaning drunkenly over the streets. One is actually called "The Crooked House" but there must have been some close competition for the title.
The Crooked House, Lavenham, Suffolk
Grandma's Cottage
ur cottage is a 1950's addition to a 500 year old house right on the market square. It is called "Grandma's Cottage" and appears to be just that, a granny flat, but so charming. A lovely sitting room with dark blue velvet curtains and a French window out to the walled garden. Large kitchen with walk in pantry, full size stove with eye level grill and plenty of bench space. Downstairs loo with a washing machine and dryer. Upstairs two bedrooms and a bathroom. Nicely furnished and two shelves of books, everything from Jane Eyre to Gerald Durrell. Great.
Sunday, 18th October, 1992
till continuing the cold snap but the day dawned clear and bright. We set off on foot to explore Lavenham more fully and spent a couple of hours at the Priory, a restored (ancient) house which is lived in by the family who restored it. It is really incredible!
The rooms are furnished in period but are lived in. It has a herb garden laid out behind it with a statue of a Benedictine monk presiding over it. Shades of Cadfael!
The Guildhall of Corpus Christi, Lavenham
e also spent some time in the Guildhall which is a museum of local history and quite fascinating. After we had had lunch (at home for a change) we went out and drove around some wonderful old villages which don't seem to have entered the 18th century yet, let alone the 20th. Brent Eleigh, Monks Eleigh, Biddlescombe and Hintelsham, full of pastel washed, half timbered and thatched houses. Mac joked that they looked as if there was a market for timber and plaster patterned aluminium sidings and moulded fibreglass thatch. The whole county seems to be in a timewarp!
Monday, 19th October, 1992
Mac in the ruins of Norwich Cathedral, Norfolk
dull day, weatherwise. We went to Norwich and I must admit to being somewhat disappointed. The heart of the city was very ordinary; with all the ancient buildings in the country I rather expected the city centre to be like Shrewsbury for example. However, the Cathedral was beautiful, with helpful clergy. We were there for midday and the duty chaplain invited all visitors to join in a short service (no one took him up on it). But he led us in the Lord's Prayer, so that is at least one prayer that I have made in a Cathedral. The Cloisters were fascinating, vaulted ceilings with incredible individual bosses (these are like decorated knots where the vaulting joins together) and they are all different - some grotesque, some fairly ordinary , but no two the same. There were some picturesque ruins outside resulting from the Dissolution.
The Vintage Broadsman, Wroxham Broad
e had lunch by the river, fed some rather importunate ducks and swans then went upriver to Wroxham where we went on board the "Vintage Broadsman" a paddlesteamer (well, a fake, but nice) and cruised the Norfolk Broads for a couple of hours. They are really beautiful and some of the waterside properties are fantastic - thatched houses without the age. There was even one man on a roof, rethatching! We enjoyed that, and the sun came out, always a bonus. There were scads of wildfowl on the waterway, from a large grey heron to Egyptian ducks, very strange looking, geese, white, grey and black, white swans and a pair of black ones! Took me home.
Tuesday, 20th October, 1992
t rained, Mac wasn't well. Stayed in.
Wednesday, 21st October, 1992
Kings College Gatehouse, Cambridge
oday dawned cold and fine, so we headed off for Cambridge. We threaded our way through the usual city jam and found a car park only twenty minutes walk from the Centre. We walked along the old streets and saw some of the old colleges, Trinity, Clare, Kings, St.Catherine's and Queens. We went into Kings and visited Kings College Chapel, a wonderfully lovely building with an incredibly fan vaulted ceiling. There was an exhibition about the foundation and building of the Chapel and the times it was set in, which was very interesting. The Chapel itself has a huge Rubens altar piece of the "Adoration of the Magi" and many other treasures. The choir stalls are beautiful, I'd like to hear some singing there. We walked along the "backs", waterside park at the rear of the colleges, and if anything the view was better from there. Lovely buildings. We both felt it would be a privilege and pleasure to attend University there.
King's College Chapel, Cambridge
Ely Cathedral
fter this we travelled on to Ely, where Mac discovered a friendly "feetsface" and I discovered a Cathedral more beautiful than most I've seen. A painted ceiling and an incredible Octagon lantern or skylight glowing with colour and light from the stained glass lining it makes it quite unique.
liver Cromwell lived in Ely and his house is now a Museum which also houses the Tourist Information Centre. We had a look over it then came home. Mac is still not feeling well. I don't know what to do for him as he doesn't seem to have many recognisable symptoms, just discomfort. Quite probably, too much driving, not enough rest.
Rosemary at Oliver Cromwell's House, Ely
Thursday, 22nd October, 1992
e had an artistic day today. We started off in Constable country. On the way we went on a little diversion to the village of Kersey. This is a lovely timelocked place with ancient buildings lining the street and a "watersplash" i.e. a stream running right across the main street, with ducks disputing our passage.
Flatford Bridge and Bridgehouse, East Bergholt
hen on to East Bergholt, where Constable was born and then to Flatford Mill, and the little bridge, bridgehouse (thatched, of course) and lock which he painted so often. (See "the Haywain", "the Boatbuilders" etc.) We fed the ducks from the bridge but this was nothing compared to the feeding frenzy we engendered when we stopped at the National Trust owned Bridge House for morning tea. We had this outside in the garden (a lovely if cool day). The minute we put our tray down the sparrows appeared like vultures, or seagulls. I put the butter, jam and cream on my scone and then gave them the plate with the remains. They pecked at the seeds in the raspberry jam and carried off the spare pat of butter. Mac crumbled some bread in his hand and they perched on his fingers, eating the crumbs! It was incredible how tame they were. They would have walked on our food, if we had let them. We looked at Flatford Mill and Willy Lott's cottage, but could not go in as they are used by the National Trust for field studies.
Flatford Mill, East Bergholt
he River Stour has floodgates and locks and we saw some as we headed in and out of Colchester (the oldest recorded town in Britain) and landed in Sudbury on market day to visit Thomas Gainsborough's house. He was born here and they have a constantly changing exhibition of Gainsborough's paintings. It was very interesting to me to see the originals of some well known portraits, less so to Mac. But I enjoyed the day, there was quite a good exhibition about Constable at the Bridge House, no originals but some good reproductions and sketches, studies for larger works etc. all with a map showing where the scene was laid. Very interesting.
ell, I've come to the end of this fancy travel diary. I'll have to switch now to a common notebook. Just under four weeks more.
Friday 23rd October, 1992
Clocktower, Downham Market
oday we went in search of some fens, this being East Anglia and the fenlands. We went first to Downham Market, an old market town with quite an unusual clock tower in the Market Square. From there we went to Denver. Denver has a large windmill, unfortunately closed for repairs, and a very complex system of sluices, locks and bridges over the Great Ouse river and the Old Bedford River. The New Bedford river, or One Hundred Foot Drain, runs parallel to the old and helps to control and contain flooding. We drove alongside the banks for a while till we arrived at Welney Wildfowl Trust which is a reserve with hides for people to spy on the many species of duck, goose and swan. We didn't bother, we've seen lots of them before without benefit of hides. There were more species of wildfowl on the Norfolk Broads when we were there. But we continued along until we could see the flooded "washes" as they call them which form the reserve.
Cornmill, Denver
e called into Ely for some lunch which we ate by the side of the road on the way to Wicken Fen. Wicken Fen is owned by the National Trust (they're everywhere) and is an undrained fen. It was left undrained in the beginning of work because the people fought for it not to be drained. It represented their livelihood: peat cutting, sedge and rush harvesting (for roofs and fodder) and an important food resource. Since it was never drained it now represents a unique example of historical lifestyle as well as an educational and entomological centre. We went for a walk along a duckboarded trail which gives a very good idea of the whole. There is a wind pump, the sole survivor of its kind apparently, which in its black and white paint made a dramatic picture against a sky getting steadily stormier. (I might paint it when I get home) It was a very interesting afternoon.
Windpump at Wicken Fen
n the way home we went through Newmarket (shades of Dick Francis) and saw some of the gallops, just as he described them. Lots of huge estates which were studs and very attractive. Saw a hedgehog on the way home. It's a funny thing but we have seen more wildlife by the road than in any nature reserve (Lots of dead life as well) Home to pack up and get set to head off to Sussex tomorrow.
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