Thursday 20 April 2023

Three Books from the Book Sale

 Last Saturday,  before we all met up near the River Deben to search for Shark Teeth* and the adjacent  pub for a meal, I called in at a Charity Second-hand Book Sale being held in the church of a nearby village.
Sometimes book sales in villages are billed as a Giant Book Sale and have about 3 dozen books but all the pews in this small church were covered in books so there were a good amount to search through.

The three I found were these


'South Facing Slope' by Carla Carlisle is the story of turning a Suffolk Estate and farm into a successful Vineyard and farm shop. 'Ask the Fellows Who Cut The Hay' by George Ewart Evans is now a classic, being a history of a Suffolk village written from the conversations the author had with old people around the village of Blaxhall near the Suffolk coast in the late 1950's. Finally 'Surviving the Iron Age' by Peter Firstbrook is a BBC book that went with a 2001 TV series. It charted the seven weeks a group of people spent living in Iron Age conditions of a hillfort in the Welsh countryside as people would have done around 300BC.

'South Facing Slope' and 'Ask the Fellows' will be turned into posts for the blog at sometime in the future.


*Ramsholt is one of the best locations for fossils in Suffolk, yielding sharks’ teeth, lobsters, fruit and shells from the London Clay, shells, sharks’ teeth from the Red Crag, corals, echinoids from the Coralline, and complete crabs, fish remains and sharks’ teeth from the basement bed.

Son had been told  it was remarkably easy to find fossilised shark teeth on one particular area of the banks of the Deben. Unfortunately there had been so much rain it was impossible to walk along the footpath and edges of the River - Mud and more Mud. So we found nothing. 4 out of the 5 grandchildren 'somehow' got mud all over them and it was a good thing they'd all brought a change of clothes before our pub meal!

The River Deben at Ramsholt


Thank you for all the cheesy comments yesterday - I love the idea from Boud of calling it a Tour De Cheese!

Back Tomorrow
Sue

 

25 comments:

  1. And thank you for the Tracy chevalier book recommendation. Listening to it today as I knitted for my sock and glove ministry. Textiles everywhere!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You quickly found that book! Hope you enjoy it

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. I love searching through books to see what I can find

      Delete
  3. You bought some fascinating books.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Very pleased to find the Iron Age one as I borrowed it years ago from the library and they no longer have a copy

      Delete
  4. I've got the George Ewart Evans upstairs along with a few other of his country books. Didn't know there was a book to follow the Castell Henllys "live-in" - but I did have the one for when they did that at Butser Hill in the 70s. The Suffolk one had your name on it too.

    If you ever have your DNA done I am sure it will have you hefted to Suffolk back to time immemorial - I've just had mine done and I have the same with Devon/Cornwall (lots in Glastonbury too). The surprise was 2% Norwegian (must have been Viking blood as it showed up in Iceland as well).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For some reason I'd only read one of George EE books not this one even though it's been around for ever.
      I'm Suffolk on both sides back to 1700's at least - it's all changed with the 3 children though!

      Delete
  5. We did go there (many years ago now) and found some shark teeth. Have you watched the film "yesterday" it is a sweet film. Mainly based in Lowestoft and Gorleston but the Ramsholt arm makes a cameo too. I was quite surprised for such a big film. I would be really interested in a book review of those two suffolk based ones you picked up. Especially South Facing slope. Good finds! take care Sue in Suffolk (2)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We need to go to Ramsholt again when there hasn't been so much rain so we can get further up river to where there are the high banks.
      I read South Facing Slope years ago - a good story about Wyken vineyard.

      I've not watched Yesterday - one day I'll get round to it just for the Suffolk scenes

      Delete
    2. I had no idea! I only about 5 miles from there :)

      Delete
    3. I remember seeing Yesterday, mostly filmed around Halesworth and the seaside was Gorleston.

      Delete
    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    5. I didn't think I recognised some of the places ( I don't know Halesworth well) I remember laughing when Ramsholt Arms appeared and they were clearly implying that was in Lowestoft ;) I love the beach at Gorleston. Looking forward to day trips there again this year when it warms up and this wind dies down.

      Delete
  6. Better luck next time for the fossils. The books look most interesting, especially the George Ewart Evans.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Needs to be really dry weather to get to the place where the fossils should be - hopefully we'll try again

      Delete
  7. You found a couple great books. The book sale sounds excellent. Searching for and purchasing great finds makes a successful day. Despite the mud, the river landscape is beautiful. You'll have to go back on a dry day because looking for fossils is always interesting. Muddy kids says they had fun! A pub meal together sounds fabulous.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a very remote place at the end of a narrow road - but popular with visitors - needs dry weather

      Delete
  8. I'm behind in visiting :-) The Carla Carlisle book is going on my Goodreads list. The book sale sounds like a fun things to attend, I'd probably spend to much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was pleased to find more books than I thought there would be in such a small village church

      Delete
  9. These all look very interesting -- and relevant to your area, too. Well done! And thanks for popping by, too! Always nice to see you there!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Very interesting books, shame about the sharks teeth though. I'd love to see those.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love book sales. Some interesting books. You always seem to have good luck finding interesting ones!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm a bit worried about the child that didn't get muddy - coming down with something perhaps?

    Ceci

    ReplyDelete