So, leaving Jax to the delights of the daily, we decamped to visit family in Suffolk. I must admit I am very surprised at how homesick I feel for the place.
We ate, we drank, the smalls played with a Wii, courtesy of my niece, who has this interesting job which means that she not only has an XBox and a Playstation on her desk at work, and is expected to play games during office hours, but is given all the latest kit, in pretty much every flavour to take home with her.
On Friday we went to visit one of my favourite castles, Orford Castle. The castle itself is good to visit, an excellent restored 12th Century keep, but the setting is lovely too, Orford is charming, and from the top of the castle you get fabulous views out over the North Sea across Orford Ness, which is a remarkable geographic feature, with a remarkable history. We went my brother and one of my nieces, and lunched on the beach at Aldeburgh before swinging home through Thorpeness, to show Big The House In The Clouds (which caused much debate).
Anway, some pics.
awe 🙂 we love Orford Castle! Glad you had a good time back here.
I love that House in the Clouds! What a brilliant concept.
Thorpeness is a very peculiar and charming place all round.
The boating lake is massive, and I am planning to take the children there in the summer, Big discovered rowing this year I think she liked doing the driving, as it were.
I always feel homesick when I go back to Suffolk. Then I sit on the A14 for 3 hours in the traffic trying to escape and vow never to return…
Still, we hope to move back one day.
Oh, I didn’t know you were from Suffolk. Whereabouts are you from?
On recent trips I have always had the good fortune to be travelling in the opposite direction to the traffic jams.
For us – heading for Felixstowe mostly – there is not much alternative to the A14, although for Kessingland trips the A47/A17 is a better option. I have also, having had advance warning of trouble cut off across the Fens from Peterborough, but it didn’t seem to work very well.