A day in Suffolk

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Thursday October 18th

We awoke to another magical day, blue sky, but cold! Rags reckons it’s the first time this trip he has felt it. He’d better get used to it!

Today we again headed in a northerly direction, this time to Bury St Edmunds. This town dates back over 5 centuries and was the shrine of St Edmund, the patron saint of England before St George took that title.

On the way we stopped at Hedingham Castle but, as we were too early, it was not open. Rags did manage to scramble up a steep slope and take some photos of the exterior but we would like to return to see more.

Bury St Edmunds was a navigator’s nightmare and we ended up parking in the centre with only 1 hour allowed. This only gave us time to see the area near the centre, take pictures of Edmundsbury Cathedral, look inside St Mary’s Church, and make our way back to the car. This was nowhere near enough time to really see the town but we both didn’t want the hassle of finding more parking. Instead, we agreed to continue to the next town, Lavenham, and to return to Bury St Edmunds at a later date. Its great being here for the time we have plus the use of a vehicle, it gives us so much flexibility.

In less than 30 mins we were in Lavenham where, after having our cut lunch, we set off to explore what is called England’s Finest Mediaeval Town. The Guildhall of Corpus Christi, built about 1530 was our first stop. This is a National Trust building and thanks to Richard & Doff’s membership cards, we were made welcome here. The producing of wool and spinning of high quality cloth dates back to the earliest of time here and the exhibits gave a good portrayal of these crafts.

This town was full of little shops and Judy wanted to explore them all - antiques, jewelry, butcher, baker etc. We bought what we hope will be some lovely lemon spread. The town is a photographer’s paradise as far as the buildings go and we enjoyed wandering around, soon having many photos of examples of the timber-framed and crooked houses and buildings here.

The trip home was through the back roads and Judy proved her navigating ability even with a map that didn’t give a lot of detail, and we arrived home only having to backtrack or take an unexpected route a couple of times.

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Photos

Castle Hedingham
Hedingham Castle is on the North Essex / Suffolk border and is famous for its Norman keep.

Edmundsbury Cathedral
First build in the 12th century with later additions in the 16th century. It is being cleaned and it's amazing how clean the stonework on these places can look!

Embroidered hassocks
These were in both the cathedral and St Mary's Church.
(Another new word!)

Ruins of the Abbey
These ruins have been converted into private residences.

Floral city
Bury St Edmonds is known as a floral city but it was the wrong time of the year.

Lavenham- famous medieval village
Famous for its timber-framed buildings. Apparently at least 300 of its buildings are grade 2 listed.

The Guildhall of Corpus Christie in Lavenham.
We enjoyed visiting this museum and finding out all about the weaving industry based here.

The pub in Lavenham
Every second pub over here is called "The Swan".

Comments

[Ian T]

Query
Hi Judy and Rags, thanks for providing an inspirational account of your travels. Would you tell me more about "Richard & Doff’s membership cards" pls. Travel safely. BTW 3rd (& Final) time happening on Dec 16.

[Thelma]

Floral City
If that is what the Floral City looks like in the "Off" season, I sure would like to see it when the gardens are at their best !! The buildings all look very interesting. So different from Perth ! But perhaps in a couple of thousand years we can catch up. Sounds like your seeing plenty and are so lucky to have a car to get around in.

[Weggs]

Trust you!
I told Rags not to inlcude that bit. Trust you to pick it up! Hope all is well in the west. We'll keep on having a great time.

[Diana]

Blue Sky!
I'm just amazed at the amount of blue sky in your pictures but you did look rugged-up. Keep on keeping on.