Our Garden!

In England, backyards are poshly referred to as gardens. And we love our garden! The ground in Suffolk is actually rather sandy making it difficult to grow grass.  A previous owner trucked in pounds and pounds (truck fulls really) of imported dirt from a nearby region to create such a beautiful space. We love having it, and we love maintaining it (Adam loves having a lawn to mow and grass to grow!)

Mowing is an activity that presents its own challenges as it the mower we have is electric. This means it has to be plugged in via extension cord, and while mowing, you need to be sure not to mow over the cord. Adam has found a pattern that works though, and all is well.

Welcome to our garden!

The back of our house. Notice the ivy climbing the wall of the garage on the left, our clothesline, and the hanging plants? Oh, and our french doors! We love it!

The gate to our garden

The Secret Garden  portion of our garden

Our shed

Our bird feeder

Our other bird feeder

Our tree (See the solar lights? They are all over our garden)

Adam planting perennials. It should be beautiful this fall!

One of the three cats who love to visit. This is likely to change once Tanka arrives.

Our piglet.

The arch and side garden, pre- planting.



The arch and side garden post- planting. Hydrangeas, perennials, mint and thyme to start us off.



Framlingham Castle, Medieval Festival & Bloody Mary

We drove about an hour and 20 to visit Framlingham Castle (or what is left of it) and to experience "the medieval festival." We had a great time, despite the weather (it was, in typical fashion, very cold and rainy at one moment and then sunny and almost summer-like a few moments later. You'll see that in the pictures), we had a great time. An intro to the castle:

Framlingham Castle

Inside the Castle Walls

Inside the Castle Walls

The chimneys were added by the Tudor family to make a fashion statement. Each one is different. Only 3 were usable.

This was, at one point, a dungeon used to hold priests who wouldn't convert-- both protestant and catholic depending on which Tudor sister was in power. The very lower decks had no windows-- just a trap door through which food was dropped.

What makes this place historically significant?

As it reads, Mary Tudor (a.k.a. Bloody Mary) was proclaimed Queen of England at Framlingham Castle

Typical Tudor dress

I have to share some of the medieval festival with you. It was so worth making the trip to the castle the day we did.


Official Protector

 

Medicine Woman



Medicinal Herbs

The Castle Fool-- and his (un)lucky volunteer

More foolery

Life sized chess game

Archery of course

Aldeburgh & The North Sea

During our trip to Framlingham Castle (see previous post), we discovered we were only 15 miles from the coast. That, of course, meant we had to stop and see it. We ended up in a small (and adorable) coastal town called Aldeburgh that has beautiful coast line and a fish and chips shop that attracted a queue that streched around the block. We didn't sample (due to the length of line) but did stop in at a modern restaurant called the White Lion located on the High Street. We were only in Aldeburgh for a few hours, but it would be worth the return.

Metal sculpture on the beach

The Beach

The same beach, the same day, from the other direction

Adam & Jaclyn

Friends (who are about to become parents!)





Audley End & WWII

We spent the day at Audley End House, experiencing what we have determined would be kin to a WWII movie set. And we had the time of our lives.

Audley End House. It's hard to do it justice. The grounds are expansive with bridges, a farm house, multiple gardens and Greek temples. It's a bit like Pemberley (really known as Chatham House) in Pride in Prejudice.

Adam in one of the gardens

 The House was used Station 43, a training ground for the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the precursor to the CIA during World War II. The men & women who were in training were billeted (or lived) in the House while the grounds were used for training exercises. The training goal was to learn everything there was to know about war so that if they were captured while on a mission, the spies would have the chance to defend themselves. Consequently, German, American and British guns, uniforms, etc. were all used to prepare the spies who were American, British, German and Polish (the Polish resistance provided many SOE agents). And on this day, training camp was happening. We saw a firearm demonstrations, a battle simulation, lindy hop demonstrations, an amphibious attack training exercise (it was awesome), and took a tour of the beautiful house.

Take a look:

Firearm demonstration of all guns used in WWII, including machine guns. Thank God they were using blanks (Adam and I did wince a bit thinking of the Hill City episode earlier this summer)

American Troops

American Tent

Inside American Tent. Adam said the tent smelled like an Army Surplus store.

American Uniforms

Sir Winston Churchill, of course

Battle Simulation

Battle simluation. At one point, the man on the left fell against a tree and stuck his tongue out of his mouth, exclaiming to an "enemy" soldier: "I'm dead! I'm already dead!" Good man. He was following orders from the commanding officer who was running the exercise: "You're dead!" Then, pointing to another, "You're dead too!"

German troop surrender during a battle simulation

Row Row Row your Boat- the start of the Amphibious Attack



Smoke-- to make it more real for the trainees



Perched for attack, watching the bridge that will be "destroyed" by enemy gun fire



The realities of war--rowing through gunfire



Rowing the boat under the bridge (that was just destroyed in the amphibious attack)

WWII Plane

WWII Jeep

The most amazing collection of German medical tools owned by a WWII enthusiast (who is British and does not speak any German).

German ether mask