I have just spent the weekend at the Aldeburgh Festival but rather than staying in Aldeburgh we took an Air BnB in Woodbridge, down the coast on the River Deben – and just up the road from Sutton Hoo, the most important and stunning Anglo Saxon site in the UK.
Woodbridge also home to a tide mill driven not by a mill stream but by the tidal flow of the River Deben. It is the big white wooden building on the right. There has been a tide mill at Woodbridge since 1170 operating right through until 1957 when the main shaft failed and the waterwheel fell into the mill race. However, in 1968 a philanthropist bought the mill and donated it to the town since when it has been restored and is now able to mill flour, one of the only two working tide mills in the country.
We were staying in the delightful Granary Cottage – the smaller end white building on the right. (Booked, in case anyone is interested, through Stayinsuffolk.com)
Woodbridge is definitely a boating town – home to old boats, new boats, sailing boats, rowing boats, barges – in all states of use and repair.
It is even home to a memorial to the two sisters, Molly and Ethel Everson who, along with their brothers, managed the Woodbridge Boat Yard until 1969…. A slightly spooky memorial until you actually read the plaque beside it!
Although we did not spend that much time in Woodbridge as we were busy dashing off to concerts at Snape Maltings (see this post in my Salon Music blog), what we saw of it was delightful and to be recommended. And especially to be recommended if, like me, you are an early waker and are tempted out by a sunny morning to walk along the shoreline of the River Deben towards the sea.
On day one’s walk I thought that I heard a cuckoo in the distance – a rare enough occurrence these days to make one take careful note. However, on day two I got really close up and personal with him – or her – although I did not actually see any birds. The cuckoo obviously reckoned that I had got quite close enough and moved on. But follow me along the path and see how close I got!
On the walk back I met a local who was a great follower of cuckoos and said that mine was one of three he had noted – the best cuckoo showing in Woodbridge since 2020!
I would also like to rave on about the most amazing garden that we went to visit on Sunday – Wenhaston Grange. However, I fear I will only frustrate you as it is only open for one Sunday a year for the NGS – and that Sunday was last Sunday.
However, should you happen to find yourself in Suffolk on the appropriate Sunday next year, do go and visit. The most fabulous herbaceous borders, beautiful beds of mixed grasses, wonderful wildflower meadows, lovely formal gardens, stunning vegetable garden…..
Long overdue garden update….