A couple of months ago we watched 'The Dig' on Netflix. Have you seen it? If not, I can recommend it. It tells the story of Sutton Hoo, the site of 2 early mediaeval cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th century, near Woodbridge in Suffolk. 1 of the cemeteries contained an undisturbed ship's burial and a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artefacts. The film stars Ralph Fiennes as Basil Brown, the amateur archaeologist hired by landowner Edith Pretty (played by Carey Mulligan) to excavate the site. It's beautifully shot (although, apparently not at Sutton Hoo!) and the 'Suffolkated' script is a treat for the ear! We saw the artefacts when we visited the British Museum and decided to visit the actual site when we wanted to get away for a few days. I've never been to Suffolk before, so it seemed like as good a place as any to escape to.
We stayed in a small hotel in Bury St. Edmunds; very cute, with a private car park for Bridget and a nice vegan breakfast. We obviously looked relatively young and spritely as the landlord took one look at us and switched our room; putting us on the 3rd floor up a narrow winding staircase, saving the more easily accessible room for any later guest that might need it more. Unfortunately, what he didn't realise was that I had sprained my ankle a few days before departure and, after spending the days doing far more walking than I should, the climb up that staircase was more of a hobble!
A restorative snack after our journey was pate aux cepes and a sneaky lager. :O)
I have to say that Bury is a bit of a gem. You know, when you visit a place and think 'Yes, I could live here'. Greene King brewery and Silver Spoon sugar factory aside, the Abbey ruins and gardens are a joy and the cathedral a must see. St. Edmundsbury Cathedral was actually St. James' parish church, which was extended in the 1960s. The Gothic revival tower was built between 2000 -2005, making it the most recently completed Anglican cathedral in the UK. 6 masons used original fabrication techniques and the result is amazing. I wouldn't have known that it wasn't all original. I was pleasantly surprised as I normally look at old buildings and think that there's no way that we could build anything like that today.
The Abbey ruins and gardens:
St Edmund was King of East Anglia from 855 to his death. When the Danes invaded, he apparently refused their demands to renounce Christ. They beat him, tied him to a tree and shot him with arrows before beheading him. Legend has it that they threw the head into a forest and searchers found it after following the cries of a wolf calling 'Hic, hic, hic' (Here, here, here). They put the head against the body where it supposedly reattached.
This tower is all part of the new extension:
The Susanna Window is from the 15th century and depicts the Old Testament story of Susanna, found bathing in the garden.
Dinner that night was Thai food from The Giggling Squid and it was delicious!
Our visit to Sutton Hoo was a tad disappointing, owing to Covid restrictions. We were allowed to look around Edith Pretty's house which was lovely, but the burial site access was badly thought out. The King's burial mound was best seen from a viewing tower. The fact that this was closed for social distancing reasons was, I suppose, understandable. Rather than just closing off the tower, however, they had closed off that part of the circular path around the field. Consequently, rather than a sensible 1 way system that allowed visitors to view the mound closely, we all ended up crowded at the blocked part of the path, straining to see the markers revealing the ship's position, before returning the way we had come, passing other visitors coming along the path. As I said, poorly organised! If you would like to find out more about Sutton Hoo and its treasures, more information can be found here.
Sculpture of the boat:
Mrs. Pretty's house:
If you look closely slightly below and to the right of the tree, you can see one of the markers denoting the end of the ship!
Copies of some of the artefacts. The originals are in the British Museum after Edith Pretty donated them to the nation:
Following on from our visit to Sutton Hoo, we carried on to the coastal town of Aldeburgh to call in at The Red House. This was the home to the composer Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears. All of their belongings were still in place and I loved looking around their beautiful home. It was stuffed to the gunwales with artwork, books, musical instruments and the general detritus of everyday life .... it was wonderful; so homely that I wanted to move in!
We were given a tour round the main bit of the house and I'm kicking myself for not taking any photos of the living room and hall. I felt a bit embarrassed as it was just us and the tour guide! Here though are a few other shots from when we were exploring on our own:
The Steinway in the library. I was delighted to see that the top was protected with crocheted blankets!
Another Steinway in the composition room. I was thrilled to discover that we have the same style of metronome as BB!
The beautiful gardens:
We popped into Aldeburgh itself for the obligatory chippies on the beach:
A well camouflaged seagull chick:
Cloud watching:
The Moot Hall, home to Aldeburgh Town Hall:
Our final day was spent at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. By happy chance, they were having a flying day and we were able to see planes taking off and landing at regular intervals. My favourites were the Spitfires:
The Lancaster, used in the Dambusters raid:
One of the bouncing bombs:
A Doodlebug from WWII. As a child, my mother used to listen to the droning of the engines as they flew overhead. When the droning stopped, the bomb dropped!
To be honest, I suggested that we visit Duxford because I knew that R would love it. I didn't realise that I would enjoy the day so much too. The only thing that I was sad about was that the 'Historic Duxford' shed was closed. It would have shown the living quarters of the workers but was too cramped for these times of Covid.
We drove home after Duxford, stopping in Aylesbury for an Indian meal. We were only away for 3 days but it felt longer - a much needed break after all the time spent at home recently. I have a few souvenirs from our holiday - a ball of yarn from Royston, where we stopped for lunch on the outward journey, and a couple of charity shop books.
