There and Back

Lynford Arboretum is on the north side of Thetford forest and is well worth a visit as a beautiful walking area - if nothing else. However, it has made its name for the numbers of species of birds that it attracts, and this was the main reason why we made this visit. The whole area, complete with Lynford Hall has an interesting history. The Hall is now an hotel, and we stayed there for one night to enable us to be on site reasonable early.  But, before the history - to the birds we photographed. The main bird that was on the agenda was a Crossbill, neither of us having seen one before. We joined the `throng` in one particular area by the river bridge where they had been seen before. We waited, then went for a walk and then returned to wait some more! Finally success - although none too close. However, here is the image. Although not uncommon, they are not the easiest birds to see. It is a chunky finch with a large head and bill which is crossed over at the tips....

In the late 19th century, the Thorpeness we know today was a tiny fishing hamlet on the East Coast, buffeted by the merciless North Sea and home to only a few houses that had not been taken into the waves by erosion.Just a couple of decades later, it would be transformed into a fantastical holiday village, with a beautiful boating lake, complete with Peter Pan islands, a 70ft fairy tale cottage on stilts, mock-Tudor homes and a luxury country club. In 1859, Alexander Ogilvie, a civil engineer from Scotland, bought Sizewell House as a holiday home in Suffolk. Having made a fortune from his work around the world as a railway engineer, within 40 years he had expanded his estate to over 6000 acres, stretching from Dunwich to the north, down the coast to Thorpe, and inland to Leiston and Aldringham. In 1908, the estate passed into the hands of Alexander’s son, Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie, born in 1858. Ogilvie was an Edwardian architect, barrister and playwright. After severe flooding ...

Aldeburgh is one of my favourite seaside town as it has many varied things to see, apart from beach and sea! These range from Maggi Hambling’s The Scallop, to a lighthouse in the town and a great Moot Hall. So, on another glorious day, we started our tour with a walk along by the river, and then explored the town. I must confess that some of the images were from a previous visit! With your back to the river, this is your view of the town, as you start the riverside walk. Very pleasant too, with many birds (if you are lucky) Fort Green Mill is a tower mill at which has been converted to residential accommodation, and was built in 1824. It was converted into a house in 1902.It was a four storey tower mill and had four patent sails and the domed cap was winded by a fantail. It had two pairs of millstones. Earlier photographs of the working mill shows that the sails were double patents carried on a cast iron wind shaft and the fantail had six blades.  The l...

Covehithe is a hamlet which lies on the North Sea coast around 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Southwold and 7 miles (11 km) south of Lowestoft.  In the Middle Ages Covehithe prospered as a small town (no signs of that today!) It takes its modern name from the de Cove family who held land there at that time, and the fact that it had a hithe, or quay, for loading and unloading small vessels.There is also archaeological evidence of the linen industry having been carried out at Covehithe until the 18th century. So that`s where the wealth came from, like many ports on the coast, but now you could be forgiven for not knowing the village existed at all. A walk along the beach on a gorgeous day, gives you some idea of how deserted the area has become today.. It is just so peaceful on a day like this but, I reckon, very scary in stormy seas.  The coastline in the Covehithe area suffers from the highest rate of erosion in the UK, and the settlement has suffered significa...

The Suffolk village of Walberswick has a long history as a busy port and centre for maritime trade. As early as the 13th century the harbour at the mouth of the River Blyth was a thriving centre for trade in bacon, timber, cheese, and corn. and with good access to offshore fishing banks the port was a thriving centre for the fishing trade as well. For many years Walberswick languished in the shadow of Dunwich, 3 miles to the south, but coastal erosion and silting meant that the port at Dunwich lost its importance by the late 13th century, and as Dunwich faded into obscurity Walberswick began to flourish. The villagers grew wealthy on the trade passing through the port, and built an imposing church, dedicated to St Andrew, to rival the nearby churches at Southwold and Blythburgh. Unfortunately, silting of the harbour and the effects of erosion along the coast meant that the heady days of Walberswick's trade were numbered. By the late 17th century the villagers could no lo...