If you go down to the woods today…

Current work: new Medical/tinkering with other projects
Listening to: Dowland
Reading: next on my TBR pile

Friday: very frustrating day in the library as I spent ages there and managed to track down precisely three bits of new information… Admittedly, I was able to corroborate a lot of my online notes with the original records, but I’d hoped to make a couple more connections. I think I really need to go to the records office again. (Always a treat... but I want some days at my desk, because I can be terribly distracted by research.) Nice interview on the radio, though – Karen and Graham are always great fun.

Nipped over the border to Suffolk on Saturday to do some location research on the Suffolk ruins book. Strictly speaking, the places we went to weren’t castle or abbey ruins. However, they both have stories I wanted to use, so I’m annexing them as honorary castles.

We would’ve gone via the A140, but when I checked the AA website it recommended the A12. That meant we’d pass within a mile or two of Wenhaston, so I begged for a stop en route to see the Wenhaston Doom (the one I was burbling about the other week). It really was stunning. I didn’t expect it to be the first thing I saw when I walked in (second, thing, actually – the first thing I spotted was a sanctuary ring: excellent, as that was one of the gaps in my churches book). Anyway, it was an utter delight. I particularly liked the sea-monster’s mouth, and the devil next to St Michael. I could definitely see the influence of the Mystery Plays there. (Yup, another throwback to my degree. I went for as many medieval and Old English options as I could.)




Christ on his rainbow definitely looks majestic - velvet robes, or silk maybe?


Then we went to Sutton Hoo, which we all enjoyed hugely. DH and daughter hadn’t been there before, though son could remember going with me several years ago. Firstly we viewed the burial mounds (this is Mound 2, which is at its original 7th-century height).

Then we had a wander through the woods (and spotted some of these).


And then we wandered through the exhibition (I remember more OE poetry, last time we were there, but never mind... was still nice to hear the lyre). Somebody couldn't resist the dressing-up box:


Then to Felixstowe Landguard Fort – the kids loved it, though I found a couple of the areas a bit… oppressive, I suppose. When I do the research, it will be interesting to see if those bits are supposedly haunted.

By then it was quite late, so the idea was to nip into Ipswich on the way back and take four photographs. Two of my chosen subjects were locked, one was covered in scaffolding (sigh – will have to source a pic elsewhere because it looks as if it’ll be in scaffolding for months), and one I couldn’t find because I’d stuffed up my directions. So we will have to return to Ipswich. I did however spot a very interesting Victorian letter box.


Perfect sunset on the way home, but we were still the Suffolk side of the border so I couldn't consider it for my 'Little Book of Norfolk' front cover. Not to mention the fact that, as our stepcount was over 20,000 that day, we were ravenous - and I'd put jacket potatoes and beef in red wine in the oven, on auto. Perfectly timed so all I had to do when I walked in was put some greens in the steamer, and some chicken fillets in the oven for the kids.

Plan for today: rattle a few cages about my floor (I will be nice, but I will explain politely but firmly that rainy season + dog = disgusting floor, and the longer it goes on the worse things will become and the grumpier I will become). And write fiction (hopefully I'll get the headspace).