28 June: Bury St Edmunds, Lavenham and Constable country.

Cambridge and Anglesey Abbey

Noo, didn't do that.

Let us carry on where we left off. I acquired a copy of the Daily Mail which had a headline “If The Few had defended the way England did, we'd all be speaking German” and then got a bit critical. The name Douglas Bader was invoked a few times, with the comment that the England goalie didn't have two wooden legs as an excuse! Surprisingly there were still a few flags around today, but nowhere near as many as yesterday! (Note from the future: a few die-hard - or lazy - supporters still had flags up at the end of the trip!)

Our Monday began with a trip to Bury St Edmunds. A nice drive with the end made lively by a truck hiding a crucial sign. At the edge of town was a huge factory area – it seemed to be processing sugar beet. We found a parking area in the historic district (although unlike Europe it wasn't posted as such). The place was beautiful with nice gardens and friendly squirrels.

Adjacent to the gardens were the ruins of the Abbey.  Thank you Henry VIII!


The Cathedral was excellent with much stained glass and lots of carved wood. The ceilings were very colourful and the organ was heading that way, although still being painted. The place was a tad in turmoil as they had had an ordination of deacons yesterday: the fittings include a lot of TV screens to allow those in the back pews to see the ordination of THEIR person.


We then did a church nearby, with many carvings and the tomb of Mary Tudor. They went to pains to point out who she was (especially that she was neither Bloody Mary nor Mary Queen of Scots, and in addition  that they were two different people!).  Between the Cathedral and the smaller church was an interesting statue.  It turned out to be by Elizabeth Frink, who had created the much patted etc less well clothed persons at YSP.

Next we moved on to another semi-sacred site in the shape of the Visitor Centre for the Greene King Brewery. I got some retail therapy here with a nice polo shirt and a jute bag containing 6 sample beers. I have just had an Old Bob Ale and it was excellent. (From a couple of days later: I have now finished the samples and am ready to recommend elevation of this place to a status of full sacred site. Great stuff: I will wear the polo shirt with pride.)

Next stop was Lavenham. This is a really old town linked to the de Vere family (the Dukes of Oxford etc). Apparently 300 of the houses in the town are heritage listed as well as the Guildhall. The Guildhall was quite interesting with inter alia a display about the family of Jane Turner, who wrote the words for 'Twinkle twinkle little star'. They also had an interesting array of barrels showing that what looked just a bit bigger could be twice the size:

• pin of 4.5 gallons
• firkin of 9 gallons
• kinderkin of 18 gallons and
• barrel of 36 gallons

They didn't look to be doubling in size! Who says this blog is not educational!

We prowled the town a bit and ended in the Church which was rather interesting. Altogether a nice place to visit.

We then headed off to do a walk in Constable country. En route we got to Stoke by Nayland where there was a church with many good brasses. One of these was Catherine Howard (grannie of Anne Boleyn and another Catherine Howard, both wives of Henry VIII) and the other a gent who went to the crusades. Not bad for a small village church!

The Constable Country bit was not too bad. A pleasant walk through some Essex countryside and looking at the frolics of the youth in the hire boats (there is a relevant limeric about tricks, Buckingham and stunts in punts but I cannot remember it all). I have a memory of visiting Flatford Mill in the distant past and being annoyed that some mob of educationalist wankers had hired the Mill so that visiting humans couldn't see it properly. That still applies.

As we walked out on the narrow country lane some goose came by driving an Aston Martin and did a small wheelie. Unfortunately he didn't join the scenery. This did cause me to reflect that he was the third Aston seen on the trip. Also lots of Porsches, one Roller and Mercedes/BMW everywhere. How do the impoverished afford these wheels and why bother, in a country with a 70mph speed limit, to buy a set that will do 200mph? (We confirmed that speeding fines are similar to Australia and 12 points and your license is gone: I can only assume that either

• radar detectors are readily available; or
• a high proportion of punters on the roads are unlicenced.)

The drive home was fine once we had got out of Essex where all street signs were hidden.  I have included the image of the welcome to Essex sign to show that even that message is partly overgrown by the surrounding vegetation.  (When one is keeping up with traffic at 60mph it is positively dangerous to attempt to read a sign of which 90% is behind a vigorous Elm pollard.)

Do not diss Diss: they had great road signs (and cheap petrol) as did Addlethorpe on the A11. The only annoyance of the way home was deciding to go to the Cross Keys pub in Wymondham and finding it still closed. I am reminded of some friends experience in Nyon, Switzerland where on place was referred to as the boulangerie that never opened. So we went back to the Coach House and I drank some Greene King instead – and very nice it was too