A Fine City indeed

I know Norwich quite well as I have family here but I confess its incredible heritage has been dulled a bit by familiarity over the years.

In the 19th century, the Norfolk-born writer George Borrow described Norwich as ‘a fine old city’ – a proud refrain which the city borrowed for its road signs.

Its graceful Norman cathedral and castle dominate the city skyline, and the crumbling ruins of its ancient city walls and labyrinth of medieval backstreets and winding alleys still echo with its long and distinguished history.

For several hundred years, from the Norman Conquest onwards, Norwich was England’s second city and it is well known for having over 50 churches during medieval times – more than any other western European city.

Around 30 remain, and many have carved out a new vocation in these more secular times such as St James’s and St Michael’s which are now a puppet theatre and interactive science exhibition respectively.



Elm Hill remains my favourite spot in Norwich. Tucked away from the thousands of shoppers who throng to the city’s numerous shopping areas, this cobbled street, lined with timber-framed Tudor houses and antique shops is the perfect place to take a breather.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Elm Hill was an important commercial thoroughfare due to its position by the river. Weavers, goldsmiths, saddlemakers and other skilled craftsmen set up shop here and the area became a hub of workshops and wealthy merchant’s houses.

In 1507, a terrible fire destroyed 700 houses and its thought that only one building in Elm Hill survived – today, the attractive 15th century thatched building called the Britons Arms is a popular coffee house.

A visit to Elm Hill with my Auntie Sarah this afternoon confirmed my view that one of the best bits about Elm Hill is the tiny terrace garden at the Briton’s Arms. It’s an overgrown but completely secluded suntrap - the perfect spot on a sunny afternoon for tea and cake.

A drop of Suffolk ale

Today I meandered from Southwold to Norwich and came across a boozy little gem called St Peter's Hall which lies just outside the picturesque little town of Bungay (still in Suffolk).

It's an interesting place, a 13th century moated manor comprising many fine ecclesiastical pieces which were salvaged following the dissolution of nearby Flixton Priory.

In 1996, the hall was bought by John Murphy who has turned it into a brewery like no other - certainly a world away from my local brewery on the far-from-picturesque Wandsworth one-way system, adjacent to which I must have spent many a tedious hour stuck in traffic.

The main restaurant is a lofty banqueting hall complete with 17th century tapestries and fine stone fireplaces - a little on the grand side for my pit-stop lunch. Next door there's the more cosy Library Bar, but on a glorious sunny day like today I opted for the beautiful pub garden.

I'm not the world's biggest ale fan but it seemed rude not to partake - if only to get my hands on one of the brewery's quirky receptacles - as you can see, they are more medicine bottle than beer bottle. And I have to say that Suffolk ham and eggs washed down with this mild brew was a rather refreshing combination.

St Peter's Hall
St Peter South Elham
Bungay
Suffolk NR35 1NQ


Tel: 01986 782288
http://www.stpetersbrewery.co.uk/

Life's a candy-coloured beach

Often described as the 'jewel' in the crown of the Suffolk coastline, Southwold is a firm favourite with this particular treasure hunter. And while this coastal treasure trove is hardly 'hidden' (it made Coast Magazine's Top 10 British Coastal Towns this week), in my humble opinion no trip to Suffolk is complete without a trip to Southwold.

Apparently, one of Southwold's famous beach huts is for sale in the popular Gun Hill area of the town and it looks like it might fetch £80,000. In fact, the local media has gone into a bit of a frenzy about this smart blue and white beach hut named 'Reverie' which appears to be bucking the current sloping trend in property prices.



Of course, this seems like an outrageous price to pay for a few square metres of shed on the beach (and remember we're talking British beach - where it rains most of the time). But if I had a spare £80,000 lying around, I'd love to buy a beach hut here. I can't think of anything that evokes childhood holiday nostalgia more.

I have a wonderfully flamboyant uncle - chef and housekeeper, flower arranger and party organiser extraordinaire - who used to entertain from his bijou beach hut at Herne Bay in Kent when we were children. My memories are like a scene from Country Living magazine - the only trouble was that the colour co-ordinated plastic buckets and spades which hung on the wall were ornamental.

Beach huts were first introduced to British seaside resorts in the Edwardian and post-first world war era, when it finally became acceptable for men and women to 'bathe' in public together. Councils provided beach huts and tents on the beach so that people could change into their swimming costumes out of view.

Before this, men and women bathed on separate beaches and changed in bathing 'machines' which were towed to the shoreline in an elaborate attempt to keep everyone's dignity in tact. Oh my, how times have changed!

To wrap up the childhood nostalgia theme, there's an old fashioned sweet shop in Southwold - Number One St James' Green - which is chock full of childhood favourites: a mind-boggling array of traditional boiled sweets, handmade fudge and locally sourced lavender honey.

So I end the day eating sweets on the beach next to a candy-coloured string of beach huts in the sunshine - can't get much better really.

Number One St James' Green,
Southwold,
Suffolk IP6 6JL
Tel: 01502 726039

For more information about the history and renting of beach huts click here

Britain's 'Atlantis' - Dunwich, Suffolk

I passed through Dunwich a few years ago, on a trip home from Norwich to London, when time allowed and the scenic, coastal route seemed preferable to the A11. I didn't linger much beyond a bite to eat and a pint of Adnams by the fire at the Ship Inn, as there's not a lot to see here in this sleepy coastal village.

However, shortly afterwards, I was amazed to discover that in Medieval times, Dunwich, which has now has a population of around 120, used to be one of Britain's most prosperous towns - in the 14th century, it rivalled London in size. As I looked back on my first trip here, and remembered the rather desolate main street (the only street?!) this seemed frankly laughable.

You see, Dunwich of old - the capital of East Anglia, major trading and fishing centre and one time centre of the English wool trade - now lies deep below the North Sea.

So, this time round, I decided to get to the bottom of this very watery, hidden treasure and the village museum (above), transformed in the 70's from a beautiful old cottage, is a fantastic treasure trove of information.

The helpful chap manning the displays tells me that during the 13th and 14th centuries, this part of East Anglia was battered by heavy storms and coastal erosion.

In January 1286, a violent storm shook the whole of England for five long days, during which, one million tons of sand and shingle were deposited in Dunwich Harbour. With no mechanical means to remove the debris, this effectively spelled the end for Dunwich and, as the sea continued to erode the soft cliffs away, the town was gradually abandonned.

In all, eight churches, two monastries, two hospitals and hundreds of other buildings were lost to the sea. Legend has it that if you stand on the beach and listen carefully, you can still hear the sound of church bells from the lost churches tolling beneath the grey sea.

I decided I couldn't leave without putting this to the test. I bought some fish and chips from the Flora Tea Rooms (the stuff of more Dunwich legend) and went and sat on the shingle beach expecting a requiem of underwater bell ringing. However being more foodie than campanologist, I was completely engrossed in my skate and chips, and I can't claim to have heard anything much above the wind whipping around my chip paper.

Dunwich Museum

St James' Street
Dunwich
IP17 3EA
Suffolk

Tel: 01728 648794
Opening times: Daily 11.30am - 4.30pm, April to October.


Flora Tea Rooms
The Beach Carpark
Dunwich
Suffolk

Tel: 01728 648433
(Closed in winter)

Constable Country

The twisting lanes and snug villages in the Dedham Vale on the Essex / Suffolk border are so ridiculously easy on the eye that I can feel myself turning into a dreaded Sunday Afternoon Driver – the sort that drive at half the national speed limit in order to ‘drink it all in’.

This little corner of Essex retains a sleepy, chocolate box charm and assuming it’s changed little in two hundred years, it's not hard to see why John Constable, one of Britain's best loved artists rarely strayed far from his Essex birthplace. "I should paint my own places best" he wrote to a friend in 1821.

His most famous work, The Hay Wain (above, which was voted the second best painting in Britain in 2005*), depicts a view across the river near Flatford Mill, which was owned by his father, a wealthy corn merchant.

Keen to immerse myself in all this spectacular scenery, I decided to follow the National Trust’s 7 mile walk from Manningtree to Flatford, via Dedham - which passes through open fields and woodland and weaves across the bridges and sluice gates of the River Stour.

As I made my way along the tranquil but well-trodden route, the tall oak and beech trees, now flushed with vivid green, the lush meadows and the iridescent river water arranged themselves into countless wonderful compositions - just ripe for painting.

In fact around each corner there seemed to be a familiar tableau - and as Willy Lott's white painted cottage came into view, my heart leapt slightly with a feeling like I'd been there before.

This called for a pit stop - a few moments to appreciate one of Britain's most famous and idyllic pastoral scenes. The hay wain and its heavy horses are now long gone but the mill pond and cottage remain unscathed by their enduring celebrity.

Later, in the National Trust's beautiful river-side tea room, I decided that I would buy a sketch book and some pencils at the very next opportunity. Now seems like the perfect time to attempt a stirring of the hitherto unrealised promise I showed as an artist (at primary school).


* What was Britain's no. 1 greatest painting? JMW Turner’s ‘The Fighting Temeraire’.

Colchester: Britain's oldest recorded town

I can't say I'd ever thought of Essex as a hotbed of any cultural or historical exuberance. Although Colchester famously claims to be Britain's oldest town, which is not a bad start.

According to records, the town's existence was first referred to (albeit in passing) in AD77 by Pliny the Elder - when its Celtic name was Camulodunon. Pliny was a Roman author and naturalist who compiled the encyclopaedic Naturalis Historia in AD77- four volumes of observations of the natural world. Unfortunately, his curiosity for nature finally got the better of him when he went in for a closer look at the erupting Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. His body was later found interred under the ashes.

This is also Constable Country, of course - but more on that shortly...

Big Ben's Big Anniversary

The hour has come! And I thought it worth mentioning, as I set off on my travels from London Town, that the bell inside London's iconic clock tower - Big Ben - is celebrating its 150th anniversary today.

I spent almost four years working in Westminster, so I'm very familiar with the sight and sound of the clock tower but (maybe it's just me ) I was surprised to learn that this piece of gothic extravagance is actually Victorian.

A fire destroyed most of the Palace of Westiminster in 1834 and shortly afterwards Victorian architect Charles Barry was awarded the contract to create a new palace. His redesign incorporated sections of the palace that had survived the fire, such as Westminster Hall which dates back to the eleventh century. It also included the magnificent gothic clock tower.

The original bell was cast in Stockton on Tees, but on testing, it cracked and the damage was irrepairable. Whitechapel Bell Foundry recast the old bell, and a sales ledger from 1858 records that the invoice was charged at £572 (this amount took into account credit given for the metal which came from the old bell).

On 31 May 1859, the 13 1/2 ton bell chimed for the first time inside Parliament's world famous clock tower.

Established over four hundred years ago in 1570, Whitechapel Bell Foundry, is now one of only two bell makers left in Britain. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the foundry is listed as the UK's oldest manufacturing company.

Its fascinating history spans the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and the murderous reign of Jack the Ripper in Whitechapel in the late 1800's. During years of conflict, the foundry was set to work making cannon and, in the second world war, aluminium parts for submarines.

This hidden treasure, still nestled in London's East End, continues to cast its world famous bells Monday to Friday. You can visit the museum and shop but the foundry's popular guided tours (which can only take place on Saturdays for health and safety reasons) are booked up until next year!

The Whitechapel Bell Foundry
32/34 Whitechapel Road
London E1 1DY
Tel: 020 7247 2599
http://www.whitechapelbellfoundry.co.uk/

Shop and museum opening hours:
Monday to Friday 9.00am to 4.15pm
Foundry tours must be pre-booked (Bookings for 2009 will be taken from 1 September 2008.)


Palace of Westminster
London SW1A 0AA
http://www.parliament.uk/

UK residents can tour the Houses of Parliament throughout the year, free of charge, although they must be arranged through their local MP. Overseas visitors may only take a tour during the Summer Opening.
The clock tower is not open to the general public although, UK residents with a 'special interest' can arrange a visit to the top of the tower through their local MP.