Oddities and curiosities

A leisurely start to visit The Scallop which sits on the beach in Aldeburgh . It’s a 13ft high monument, by local artist Maggi Hambling, to Benjamin Britten, composer and past Aldeburgh resident, who used to take his afternoon walks along the beach. The sculpture consists of two, broken, interlocking scallop shells. Cut into the rim of the upright shell are the words “I hear those voices that will not be drowned” from Britten’s opera Peter Grimes. And it’s another sunny day !

Onto small village of Thorpeness dominated by the Mere a small lake area . In 1910 Stuart Ogilvie bought the hamlet and set to transform it into a private fantasy holiday village. Today the village is just how Ogilvie envisaged it with pretty mock Tudor houses and the fairy-tale ‘House in the Clouds’. The Mere comprises many little islands, all named by J.M Barrie, author of Peter Pan and visitors can hire little boats to drift between fairytale settings such as the pirate’s lair and Wendy’s house.
You can’t miss the ‘house in the clouds’, an unusual water tower with a boarded house on top, which appears to float up into the sky. A friend hired it when the kids were young - it is fun but expensive then and now!
We take a walk around the golf course , mere , woods and finish on the beach.

Next its Southwold which is a small seaside town and quaint but always full of tourists ! There’s the Adnams brewery ! Hundreds of brightly coloured beach huts , a good beach and a pier ! We move onwards to quieter areas like Covehithe with its beach , stranded bunker and a ruined church and priory !
Before winding home it’s Bungay’s Bigot Castle and a great wooden church roof at Margaret of Antioch near South Elmham!
Another good day !Read more