'I'm always looking for the Hows and the Whys and the Whats,' said Muskrat, 'That is why I speak as I do. You've heard of Muskrat's Much-in-Little, of course?'
'No,' said the child. 'What is it?'
- The Mouse and his Child. Russell Hoban.

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Wednesday 29 April 2009

Suffolk



Door in a wall, St Mary's  Church grounds, Hadleigh.

8.15 pm.
The sun has gone down and N. is asleep already. I am light-headed but holding up well, although I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight.
It was lunchtime when we got to John and Dot's in Suffolk and we had a light cheese and bread lunch before having a little wander around Hadleigh, the closest town.  It's a medieval market town that grew enormously from the wealth of wool and cloth.  It was already in its heyday when William the Conqueror arrived in 1066,  imagine that!  There is a huge flint church, St Mary's, with an attractive patterned spire that has been painted by Turner, Constable and Gainsborough, and there are lots of tudor houses plastered and with timber beams showing.  The doorways are tiny and often brightly painted.  It was really delightful.



John cooked up a delicious British lamb barbecue dinner with salads, which we ate in the garden again.  The forecast is for hot weather for the next two days at least.

7 comments:

  1. Warm? How warm? Some of us are sitting in anticipation of sunlife and eating out on a warm patio.

    I thought England was cool even through summers.

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  2. According to old records for Suffolk, apparently the mean temp for the month was 17.7ºC, on the 11th it passed 27ºC. Rainfall was a little above average but mostly fell heavily on only three days. My daughter and I were particularly lucky and flew into a lovely mild and dry European autumn that year (2006).

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  3. My in-laws used to live in Hadleigh so it was very strange to see it on your blog since I used to know it very well - - their house dated back to 1430! They split up suddenly and horribly so my memories of Hadleigh are very mixed.

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  4. Hadleigh? You mean you're in England, and you haven't come to see me yet? You're not a million miles away, honey ... ;)

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  5. Ah - some places are like that for me too Daphne... And it doesn't matter what they LOOK like...

    Jay, my dear, I am still 12,000 miles away. This is a retrospective diary... BUT! Rest assured, if I am as close as this ever again, I will come to see you if you'll have me :-)

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  6. Lovely blog,a nice spring, times caming back for pleasure lunch garden.
    greeting from Belgium

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  7. Doors, doors, doors. I used to have aalmost a passion for photographing doors. I still photograph them but a little more rationally these days. I love pictures of people standing in windows too.

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