Framlingham Castle, Suffolk

Framlingham Castle was a spur of the moment stop. It is not one of the more famous castles, nor does it feature in the 'Must-See' books and articles. But on this day we were on schedule, so the opportunity to put ourselves behind, as usual, was something we could not pass by.

First, the history, which will be brief because we all know the important stuff is what we actually did there. Framlingham is a 12th century fortress which was the refuge of Mary Tudor when she was proclaimed Queen in 1553. Having passed through many hands, it finally wound up owned by Pembroke College, which as a philanthropic gesture in 1636 took down all internal buildings and constructed a poorhouse within the site.

The interior of Framlingham                                              Photo by Amethina

 I chose to pass up entering the castle itself, choosing instead to make some lovely old men very nervous by plopping myself and my camera down on a bench at the end of the bowls lawn. They couldn't tell whether I was taking pictures of them or the castle. It was lots of fun.

One of the many and varied chimneys on the castle

The Castle exterior

The nervous old men

While I was entertaining myself, the kids viewed the castle, which included walking the walls and exploring the remains.

There is nothing like a castle wall to give you a commanding view of the neighborhood
Photo by Amethina

Vertigo-inducing view of the circular stairs from the top of a tower
Photo by Amethina

All this was pure joy for my son-in-law. He's had a lifetime of interest in knights, their weaponry, and of course, their castles. This wasn't the first castle he had explored, but Framlingham gave him an opportunity for a one-off thrill. I was waiting at the car when they left the castle and as they approached I could see the happy grin of a ten year old on my son-in-law's face.

"Tell her," said my daughter.

He paused a moment for effect, then leaned forward and said..."I peed in a castle."

Shouldn't it have said "KNIGHTS" instead of "GENTLEMEN"?

Note: For the English majors among you, in spite of the urge to write "pee'd", I did my research and the past tense of "pee" is properly "peed". Still doesn't look right though...

Snape Maltings, Suffolk

The composer Benjamin Britten was inspired by the 'vast skies and moody seas' of the Suffolk coast. A central figure of 20th-century British classical music, he was born in Lowestoft and died in Aldeburgh. He was one of the founders of the Aldeburgh Music Festival in 1948.

Benjamin Britten

Newson Garrett was a Victorian entrepreneur who purchased land at the small port of Maltings in the 1800's. Within three years of his arrival Garrett was shipping 17,000 quarters of barley a year from Snape and being one to spot an opportunity he built the Maltings in 1854 and was soon shipping malt rather than barley to the  brewing areas of Norwich and London. When this process came to an end in the 1960's, thirty acres of land and seven acres of industrial buildings were left vacant.

Serendipitously, Britten's festival was outgrowing it's first home at about the same time and he had the brilliance to envision the conversion of the largest malthouse into a concert hall, which was opened by the Queen in 1967. The complex is now home to rehearsal space as well as independent shops, galleries, restaurants, art exhibitions and what the English estate agents call 'character properties'...all tucked into brick buildings - new, old, and very old...but all brick.

Entering the complex, we found buildings that were neat and welcoming with freshly painted black and white trim. The gift shops, galleries, and restaurants were quite busy even at midday on a midweek in mid-May. It wasn't until we were heading out the exit that the complex took on a distinctly wabi-sabi aspect. In these unused buildings, time had done what it does best and created a beautiful palette of slow, steady disintegration.

 

Photo by Amethina

Photo by Amethina

I very much fear that over time, all of these wonderful old bedraggled buildings will be cleaned up and converted into character townhouses and bolt-holes for wealthy Londoners. I would like to think the worn and aged bricks are better prepared to absorb the strains of music of a similar age as it wafts over the Suffolk saltings.

Notes:
Saltings: An area of coastal land that is regularly covered by the tide.
Maltings: A malt house, or maltings, is a building where cereal grain is converted into malt by soaking it in water, allowing it to sprout and then drying it to stop further growth. The malt is used in brewing beer, whiskey and in certain foods. The traditional malt house was largely phased out during the twentieth century.

Chelsworth, Suffolk

Next on our little loop through Suffolk Villages is Chelsworth - as small (if not smaller) and as colorful as Kersey, and with as little to comment upon.  It sits on the River Brett so it is blessed with such things as quaint green rowboats, footbridges & willows, and swans.

We were greeted by the typical East Anglian village sign sporting - what else - an English Robin...

 

 And a patch of English Bluebells....

And a 400 year old pub...

But the best thing about Chelsworth is that the entrance to the 14th & 15th century All Saints Church is through someone's front garden. Now that's a village I could be happy in.

I know it's the wrong part of England and I know their boat was blue, but I kept
expecting to see Ratty & Mole come tripping down to the boat, picnic basket in hand.

Kersey, Suffolk

Several years ago I picked up an old postcard of Kersey, a small village in Suffolk, England. It showed the main street with a ford across it - which appeared to be it's main claim to fame. Checking the Wiki entry, it's namesake 'Kersey Cloth' and the ford are mentioned up top, and that's about it. The parish contains the village of Kersey and the hamlets of Kersey Tye, Kersey Upland, Wicker Street Green, and William's Green - altogether about 350 people.

We really only went through Kersey because it was on our big loop of Suffolk villages. The ford was even less impressive than I expected, but the rest of the village was another delightful Suffolk surprise!

The Ford (not just a mud puddle)

St Mary's by Amethina

Like the other Suffolk villages, there was amazing color along the road which leads you up to a steep flight of steps to St Mary's Church.

Quintessential Suffolk Cottage

The top two pictures on the left are River House

My favorite building was "Ye Olde River House, 1490", or so it said on a plaque which was obviously not all that 'olde'. The original gatehouse (hence the 1490) has been attached to a more recent house. It is a Grade II listed building which basically means you can't change a towel rack in the kitchen without asking first.

The gatehouse front

The side of River House as it runs along what I believe
 is called Kersey Brook

As I continue to blog the photos from my England trip I will also be using some taken my one of my traveling companions - Amethina, like this one...

Kersey Door Step Shop by Amethina 

Panoramas

I haven't had the camera I am using for very long so I am ashamed to admit it, but I am learning about it on this trip. I just discovered the panoramic feature and here are the results - sorry my layout is vertical so I can't make them any larger.



Aldeburgh, Suffolk

The Orchard at West Stow Hall, Suffolk

Pulls Ferry in Norwich

Now I just have to remember to use it more often.

Who needs the Cotswolds?

One very long day between packing up, making our way to Heathrow, picking up the rental car, and finding our way to the heart of East Anglia – no blogging.  Another very long day driving from one village to another and an evening with the wifi down – no blogging.  At last, I am up and running again, so let me tell you about the villages of Suffolk.

As cute as anything in the Cotswolds

I honestly do not know why they have taken a back seat to the Cotswold villages all these years.  They are loaded with thatched cottages, and are beautifully maintained. Each village greets you with a distinctive and decorative sign, and they have easily as many well-tended greens and ancient churches.  The real difference lies in the materials and colors. Instead of the warm golden tones of the Cotswold stone, you have half-timbered  cottages in-filled with either brick or pargetting on plaster in colors that range from  a lovely rich mustard to deep rust and back to what must be called pink. Now if you asked me if I wanted to spend the day driving around looking at pink cottages, I would be dubious at best, but somehow, it works.

Yes, I said pink....

Like the Cotswolds, the Suffolk villages are not inhabited by the poor. Thatched cottages are not cheap to maintain and driving down the narrow country lanes here you are overtaken by speeding Bentleys, Jags, Mercedes, and BMWs.  On the edges of and between them you pass gated entrances to estates that leave you wondering if someone famous lives there – and someone famous probably does.

Today we visited ten villages. Half of them were only intended to be drive-thru’s but in the end, only one was. We could have spent a whole day wandering through a couple of them, especially Lavenham, a well-known tourist stop and calendar subject. Between my daughter and I we took 367 pictures. Given enough time and a little sunshine we could have easily taken twice that. 

Just one of the many amazing buildings in Lavenham

Pargetting...more about that later.....

Somehow, way back in the early days when tourism was just a baby, the Cotswolds got a jumpstart on Suffolk. But I'm not complaining, we had traffic to deal with in Lavenham and Long Melford, but otherwise we had these lovely villages all to ourselves.