RSPB Minsmere

 I'd not been to Minsmere the RSPB reserve on the coast here for a very long time. It's completely changed with new visitor centre, cafe and shop.

Unfortunately it wasn't a good day for spotting birds - for me anyway- I'm sure others did better. The dry weather had dried up the 'scrape' which is the usually huge area of shallow water over mud that wading birds enjoy. The reeds are so tall that I couldn't see over them from one of the hides and the morning sun reflecting on the water didn't help and I just didn't have the energy for walking too far for some reason.

Even walking through the woodland it was really quiet , the only birds I heard were a robin and a wren and elsewhere I only saw a moorhen, mallard ducks, magpies and crows and one solitary goose.

Oh well.

A few photos.

That's Sizewell Power Station in the Distance. The distant sound of pile-driving for the new Sizewell C could be heard from Minsmere and from the my holiday lodge site. Luckily only in daytime!

I went in the cafe for a warming cup of coffee and a ginormous sausage roll - I cut in half and took away for later. 

On the wall  there are some very unsettling pictures that tell part of the history of the RSPB.. Originally set up to stop the use of feathers in hats and other fashion items.

  

The one above says between 1870 and 1920 64,000 tons of dead birds were imported into London alone.

The Society for the Protection of Birds, triumphed with the Plumage Act of 1921. Making it illegal to import dead birds into Britain.

The dry weather this summer hasn't helped the waders and other birds that usually breed in this country.

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Dunwich Heath

 National Trust land - saved for the Nation, but £6 to park as I'm no longer a member.

This is an area all along this part of the coast which is protected heathland. I don't think I've ever seen the heather so colourful before

The view north to Dunwich village, Southwold in the distance and the cliffs that fall into the sea every winter.

The heathland was beautiful in the sunshine

This collection of buildings were once cottages for the coastguards. Now they are holiday lets and tearooms and shop all belonging to the National Trust

National Trust info HERE

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Southwold Pier

 Last time I went to Southwold in January 2023 it was to visit the church in town and I had problems with the car tyre pressure warning coming on and didn't dare stay too long so  it's years since I'd been down to the pier end of the town and hadn't actually been on the pier since it was restored and that was in 2001.

So that's where I went one morning. I'd picked the windiest day and the sea was really rough. The pier has got a couple of shops, the 'Under the Pier ' collection of strange machines, a slot machine arcade, fish and chip shop and a good restaurant..

Southwold sea front and lighthouse from the pier.

A couple of the crazy machines , some are very old and others are more recent made by a local Suffolk man.

The water clock that 'performs' every half hour but it was way too windy to stand and watch

It was a very high tide and the waves were crashing on the sea wall by the beach huts. These beach huts, day use only, sell for crazy prices, the equivalent of buying a small house or a flat in other parts of the county. No one using them on a rough September day.

I had a crab salad meal in the restaurant - it was delicious.

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Walberswick

 In the 1960s this place was THE village for artists and poets etc. My Grammar school friend Ally, whose father was Lawrence Self, a well known artist of the time, used to holiday here every summer, which I thought odd then as it was only an hour from home - that was before I knew  about it's arty/hippy  reputation. (Laurence Self eventually split with my friends Mum and re-married and nowhere on line is there any mention of the 4 children he had with his first wife!)

Now it gets crammed full with visitors in summer. In the early 90's when the children were still small enough for beach days it's where we went from the smallholding - being the nearest sandy place. 

Later they used to put up signs on Summer weekends (there's only one road in and out of the village) to say 'The Village is Full!" . Now they put people off visiting by turning all the car parks to ones where you need a phone app to pay and stay. I didn't!

The bridge I'm standing on to take the photo is one where people go crabbing. The World Crabbing Championships were held here for many years until they became so popular the village was overwhelmed and they finished in 2010.

 Colin had to come here with a boat and other members of the Bridge Department to check the bridges every other year. The water was too high for crabbing when I was there and for getting a boat under the bridge.

These buildings by the harbour were once for fishermen , now they are mainly expensive holiday lets.

I went back and parked in the village itself. It has tea shops and a couple of gift shops

I walked down to the beach and passed a man standing by his car - we said 'morning' as you do and then I did a double take and said ' oh hello I recognise you' .It was TV/radio broadcaster and author Paul Heiney who lives in this part of Suffolk with his wife, radio broadcaster and author Libby Purves. On my way back I just had to tell him that we had moved into Grove Road in Knodishall not long after they had moved away from the other end of the road.  Don't know what he thought of this strange woman speaking to him!

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People Said "Have a Holiday". So I did!

 I didn't go far, just an hour to the coast and stayed in a semi-detached lodge. With sea-view from the decking and the sound of the sea with the door open.

And very steep steps down to the beach - I didn't bother to go down. Too much for my dodgy knee I reckoned.

 In 1968 or 69 a small boy in the first year of Grammar school was killed when there was a cliff fall here - it's mainly sand. Not rocky like cliffs in other parts of the country. We were told in school assembly and some of the girls burst into tears and another fainted. 

The site also had tent/caravan/motorhome pitches and some that looked as it they had been parked there all summer or even longer.

I got plenty of Vitamin D, the sun was glorious. The weather is always better on the coast, the air is softer unless there's a North- East wind of course!  although it turned wet a couple of afternoons. I slept well - which proves how disturbed I get by the odd bits of passing traffic at home.

I ate out each day - that was a real treat. It was a good opportunity to visit some of the churches in this bit of Suffolk  and villages I'd not been to for ages. So lots of church posts to come and some posts about  the places I visited too..

A good change of scenery.

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The Only Thing I Brought Back.....................

..............from the Isle of Wight  was this (plus photos and memories).

The IOW is well known for being the biggest producer of Garlic in the UK. We didn't go to The Garlic Farm - we didn't think the children would have appreciated it! but I bought this jar of very interesting sounding chutney, made at the farm, from the Quarr Abbey farm shop.

 I might send for another jar to go with the small fig tree I got during the spring from a boot sale. They could make a Christmas present for Col's sister and husband. I only bought the tree because it was cheap, I'd not seen any fig trees for sale locally for years, and I thought it could go with me if I moved but it would be silly to keep it as my original Fig is doing so well and I might Not move! 

I'm not doing hampers this year as I got a couple of things for them and for my sister and her husband last year so just need to add a 'something' to each present and they are sorted.

The chutney taste test? Very delicious but mainly apple - I was expecting a bit more ooomph!

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Sue

 

End of August

    Our last day on the IOW was wet so we had  a couple of short visits to  places that were free and inside - out of the weather.......  Quarr Abbey .............                                                                      

........and the Coach and Bus Museum

Youngest Granddaughter was sure she DIDN'T want to visit here but actually enjoyed it - there were 5 buses to get into and 'drive' and she loved a double decker that had once been lived in by a family with 8 children!

Another place we visited while on the IOW was Dinosaur Isle, which sounded amazing for the 4 year old Dinosaur expert and he loved it but goodness me...... it was very expensive for what is there.  The family went off one late afternoon when the tide was out and found the fossilised Dinosaur footprints at Compton Sands so the MGS was extra pleased. 

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And now I've been home a week and it's the end of August. No frugal notes for August - I didn't want to be frugal while on holiday with family! - although the rest of the month wasn't too bad.

I've now got 9 days to clear all my books from the shelves, all the crockery etc from the cabinet and everything else that I can shift by myself from the living room ready for the hardwood flooring. It's going to take me all of the 9 days with much walking back and forward to the spare bedroom and my bedroom.

Doubt there will be Frugal notes in September either as I have to pay the other half of the cost of the flooring when it's done and I'm getting paint to do the walls while the room is half empty. That will be hard work I think - it's several years since I did the whole living room at Clay Cottage.

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Sue

Isle of Wight Holiday Part 3

 Another trip out while we were on the Island was to Carisbrooke Castle also in the care of English Heritage.

We walked the walls but I didn't do the big climb up to the keep, all the ups and downs were not doing my knee any good - the downside of bungalow living! - they don't get enough practice.

The building in the centre is the Well House with it's wheel, in which the castle donkeys usually work for 4 minutes each day demonstrating how water is brought up from the very deep well.

Unfortunately the 12.20 demonstration had to be done by one of the English Heritage staff as Donkey 1 had done it's share of work for the day and Donkey 2 was feeling 'off colour'. The castle has about 8 donkeys but only two at a time are kept in the castle stables.

King Charles I was imprisoned in the castle - awaiting his execution. He tried to escape twice but got stuck in a window. He had his own bowling green built - so got plenty of fresh air and exercise! 

Lovely model of the castle

Beautiful ceiling in the castle chapel

A view out from the wall walk - over the carpark!

(Hooray for the Paralympics on TV everyday now for 10 days. I shall enjoy it all.)

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Sue

Isle of Wight Holiday Part 2

One of our outings was to Osborne House, which was the holiday home of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their children. Despite visiting the Isle of Wight about 8 times it was somewhere I'd never been before.

Now it is in the care of English Heritage.

 There are lots of things for children to do which is good and we spent almost the whole day there.

The tour of the house was the least interesting bit - I reckon once you have seen inside one posh house you have seen them all! And no opportunity for seeing the kitchens here.

The bed in which Queen Victoria died!

The gardens are beautiful and lots of wild parkland too.

More about this grand house and gardens HERE

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Sue