A very Good Friday!

 Although we do have an absolute mass of garden jobs to be getting on with this weekend, we had decided early on that we also wanted to fit in a day out - and had decided that one of our favourite RSPB reserves at Minsmere in Suffolk was where we wanted to head. Minsmere has been a favourite for years now - lots of different trails, a range of habitats from coastal and wetland through to heathland and wooded areas means there is always a likelihood of seeing a brilliant range of birds, and it’s a fabulous place to walk.

We headed off fairly early - treating the day like a normal Friday in that respect and leaving the house at the sort of time we would usually be going out for a walk from home before MrEH starts work. Traffic was fairly light, and we arrived at the reserve as planned at around 10.30am. Our RSPB membership means we get free admission, so we headed straight to the cafe to grab breakfast - which was a fantastic ciabatta style roll absolutely STUFFED with bacon and sausages, not cheap at £7.80 each but we both agreed actually really good value.

After polishing those off - MrEH had coffee and I had a generous pot of tea to wash them down - we definitely felt like a walk was needed! Our regular route sees us heading off towards the coast, then looping back towards the visitor centre before heading off through the woodland and out onto Whin Hill and back towards the centre that way. We call in at the various hides as we go to see what can be seen on the scrapes, and always linger a bit around the coastal section too. At this time of year you can’t walk up and over the hill, so we retraced our steps around the edge. A lovely walk - and the addition of some stuff to our birding year list too, Mediterranean Gull, Barnacle Geese, a lovely juvenile Kittiwake, Sand Martins and probably the sighting of the day, a Bittern.Sandwich Terns were also nice to see - we usually get Common Terns locally, and the Hebrides generally provides Arctic and Little Terns, but the Sandwich variant is one we see far less often.

There is a long-standing tradition that a trip to Aldeburgh follows a visit to Minsmere, and far be it for us to break with tradition, so back in the car we hopped for the short drive through. Ice creams first - from Ives - barely recognisable since the last time we were there as they’ve had a full modernisation. It used to be a classic ice cream shop - a long counter with the queue gently winding past so you had ample time to survey the flavours on offer that day and make your decision. Now the shop is - strangely - far smaller, and people queuing ahead of you block your view, making the choice feel a bit more rushed and last minute. We both agreed that we didn’t like it as much - and it feels like a negative rather than a positive step, although I imagine it works better for the staff. A walk along the coast to the marina, then on a new-to-us path between the River Alde and the creeks was a nice change - although in the blustery conditions also fairly hard going! 

Then a stroll in the other direction - towards although not actually as far as the Scallop Shell sculpture on this occasion - I absolutely love it but it appeared to be very busy with lots of folk using it for shelter from the wind! 

All even slightly regular visits to Aldeburgh know that a look at “Snooks” to see how he is attired is a must - we assume that local knitters take care of ensuring that he is dressed appropriately for the occasion, just look how pleased he looks with his Easter bonnet, bunny and chicks! 

Finally- and it’s another “must do” is of course Fish and Chips. We’ve never tested the theory but we think it’s actually illegal to go to Aldeburgh and NOT have F&C! Sadly far too windy this time to sit on the sea wall and eat them as we usually would, but a good compromise was found by driving the car along to the coastal car park and sitting in the car with them there instead. Delicious haddock - super fresh and always cooked to order, with lashings of salt and vinegar, SUCH a treat!  

The local gulls don’t miss a trick though - this Herring Gull kept his beady eye on MrEH throughout in spite of the fact that we were literally sitting IN the car, and was clearly MOST put-out that no discarded chips headed his way! 

Finally time to head home - via a quick stop in Ipswich to grab some diesel for my car at a price a fair bit cheaper than we would have got at home, right now shopping around and saving even a few pence per litre is all the more important isn’t it with the way prices have escalated - we are now paying over 30p a litre more than we were just a handful of weeks ago. Worth the diversion, and all in all, it was indeed a very Good Friday! 

Robyn

Looking back...June & July

As June started we were in the Hebrides - it's so much more than somewhere we go on holiday now - we have friends there and always seem to come back having made new ones - this year it was Stuart, Simon, Deborah & Jennifer who we enjoyed some fantastic RSPB walks with.

RSPB Balranald

The second week of our holiday also saw our 2-day trip over to Lewis/Harris. It's a lovely ferry crossing and we've found an excellent campsite with fabulous views and just a stones throw from a beach with amazing sunsets....look....

Shawbost Beach, Lewis

...so although it eats a chunk of our budget we don't mind a bit!

July started rather oddly as my lovely Dad suffered a small heart attack early in the month. Once they established the seriousness of the problems he stayed in hospital - first here in Harlow and subsequently being moved to Basildon's supposedly fantastic new cardiac unit. This is not the place  to discuss that but we were distinctly unimpressed. His triple-bypass went without a hitch thankfully and he was discharged home just 4 days later.

In between hospital visiting we did manage to squeeze in a few other bits too - not least a weekend camping in Suffolk for my birthday. We visited the wonderful RSPB Minsmere reserve, then moved on to Aldeburgh for the evening, as ever stopping to take photos of "that" sculpture...

...and lots of fabulous butterflies...

We followed that with a trip to another of our favourite spots the next day - Southwold, with it's wonderful pier and brightly coloured beach huts. A PROPER British seaside resort.

There were other bits of fun too - a beery trip to Sheffield where we met up with LOTS of lovely folk from our Great British Beer Festival Bar, and also had tea & cake with another cheery pal, Jenni. There was our usual trip to the North Norfolk Railway beer festival, and lots of fab walks in the sunshine too!

Looking back at 2012

Been quite a year hasn't it? I thought a quick look back on what we've done, where we've been, and what I've achieved in the past 12 months might be quite fun - we seem to have packed an awful lot in....!

The year itself seems to have been quite busy for us - there was a reasonably quiet start to the year then the rugby team trip to Barcelona of course -

 great fun, and excellent to be standing in baking heat and bright sunshine watching a rugby match when it was piddling down at home! Easter was spent exploring the Lake District ...

...and then onwards for a flying visit to Edinburgh where we stayed in a wigwam. Great fun and quite a relief when we got up in the morning and found it was snowing - a tent might have been a bit chilly!  Then there was a cheery trip to Brighton of course  before whizzing off for the annual fortnight in the Hebrides - where once again we were fortunate enough to have stunning weather while the South East drowned. The poor Queen got wet celebrating her own Jubilee (and missed poor Prince Phillip, no doubt, who was taken off to hospital in the middle of it) and everyone else got wet watching her - we, meanwhile, had a fortnight of sunshine, and spent a fair bit of time without shoes & socks on...

Our long awaited return trip to the Farne Islands finally happened in July - although once again we had our plans to visit both Inner Farne and Staple Island scuppered as the wind was wrong for boat landings. We still had a great time though and MrEH even got dive-bombed by a Tern - they left me alone, thankfully! As usual these little guys stole the show....

July of course also saw the London 2012 Olympics and what a triumph it was! To all those who said London would blow it, well you can just get stuffed - it was by general acknowledgement one of the greatest Olympic Games EVER, and a time to be rightfully proud of being a Londoner!  We dashed into London on the first saturday and saw the Cycling Road Race and then during the Paralympics made a visit to the Olympic Park & Stadium which was absolutely fantastic and I wouldn't have missed for the world!

August started for us with the fantastic Great British Beer Festival returning to it's "Spiritual Home" of Olympia - quite fitting considering the Olympics were in full flow at the time! A successful festival and greatly enjoyable with our lovely hard working team as ever. They really are a fantastic bunch of guys and gals and it's a privilege to work with them each year.  Then a little later in the month I made a quick trip to Clacton Airshow to see the Red Arrows and get my eye in ready for their display  at Dartmouth Regatta - both displays were as good, and as thrilling, as ever!




Then there was a  lovely day in Sheffield meeting up with some cheery friends, visits to Ludlow, Norfolk, Devon again, Portsmouth, an unexpected weekend camping in Suffolk, some work with the local Conservation Volunteers, some falconry  and a ride on a cablecar...

In spite of all these things we have continued to overpay the mortgage, and used some "unexpected money" to repair or replace some household items which either died (PC, Television and most recently my beloved camera) or were threatening to (Laptop, kettle) or were simply so elderly that they were probably becoming a health risk (microwave!) all without having to resort to credit of any sort. We have also managed to stash some money into savings, and continued to work on driving down our costs. In terms of this blog I also started the Frugal Friday series which is now being posted in by other bloggers too - exactly what I hoped would happen! That series will continue to run for as long as I come up with ideas for it - I have no intention of it turning into one of those things that simply recycles the same old subjects and recipes on a 7 weekly basis! I have also done something that I had been thinking about for a good while now, and taken up playing the clarinet again - I wanted some form of challenge, and straight study simply isn't for me these days, I have been away from it for too long I suspect. Re-learning an instrument I have always loved though ticked several boxes - wanting something to "stretch" me mentally, wanting a new hobby, and also allowing me to at last do something that feels creative - I'm not great with knitting needles, glue or a sewing machine, but it seems I can still manage to get musical notes in roughly the right order!

So all that remains now is to thank you all for reading, and wish you all a very happy New year and 2013 to come!

Robyn

National Treasures...

Ickworth, Suffolk

 When we were planning our Farne Islands trip (which we are having "take 2" at shortly) our research reminded us that the Islands are owned by the National Trust, and as a result you pay landing fees to the trust on each island on arrival. We're talked before about joining the Trust, but never got around to it - now though, with fees totalling over £24 for that one trip alone, and joint membership available for £66, it seemed as good a time as any to join up. Since then we have been on a mission to get our moneys worth, visiting Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire, Ickworth (Suffolk) and most recently Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk.

Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk

 The membership was a lot of money to spend out in one go, for us, but by the time we discounted the landing fees for the Farne Islands (which we would have been spending anyway) and then bought through Cashback site TopCashBack (of course!) for a further £6.70 in cashback. Net cost to us £34.87 - which is pretty darned good! The Trust has over 500 properties across the country, ranging from stretches of coastline to the big houses and estates like those pictured above. The trust themselves reckon that for a couple joining up, you only have to visit an average of 4 chargeable properties to get your money's worth.

  As well as the houses to look around, a lot of these places have fantastic gardens to look at as well - the planting at Oxburgh Hall (above) was just breathtaking, and this was just one small area. Another advantage if you're visiting places like the Lake District is that you can park for free in the Trust's car parks. They send you a car sticker for your windscreen, and you can simply ask to get another one for a second vehicle - easy! If we return to the Lakes next year this will save us a fortune in car parking fees as the car parks up there are fiercely expensive!

Another advantage of NT properties is that they tend to do mighty fine tea & cake! We often treat ourselves - but for occasions when the budget won't stretch most places provide picnic areas, either in the carpark or the grounds.

For further information on the trust, and the places I've mentioned, take a look at their website The National Trust - if you're looking for a source of entertainment, with added educational benefits for kids, then for around £5.50 per month, you can't got too far wrong!

Robyn

On to Plan B!

We had plans for this weekend - a drive north on Friday evening, pausing at Doncaster overnight before continuing to Seahouses in Northumbria on Saturday, to take our long awaited trip across to the Farne Islands. The Car was full of fuel, the  boat trip booked, accommodation sorted out for Friday night and a campsite lined up for saturday....we were absolutely ready, and looking forward to our adventure!  it was on the way to speedway on Thursday evening that I first got wind of the potential spanner in the works...there had been heavy rain across Northumberland, a LOT of heavy rain. It so happened that Berwick were the visiting team at Ipswich on Thursday, and it was mentioned that at the time, the Berwick track (just 20 miles north of where we were planning to camp on saturday night) was actually underwater. Hmmm. Not good. Calls the following morning to the boat company and the Campsite compounded the bad news - the boat would only be calling at one of the two islands due to the strong South Westerly winds, and the campsite was "very wet and muddy...and we're expecting more rain through today, too!" A bit of discussion and we reluctantly agreed that cancelling would be a sensible plan.

Undaunted, we rapidly came to the conclusion that a weekend away having fun adventures was what had been planned, and that was what we should have - just slightly closer to home, so on Saturday morning we headed, with our Shiny new National Trust membership cards in hand off to Suffolk. First stop was Saxmundham where we had picked out what looked like a nice little campsite - and it was! £12 got us a nice pitch, on a site just a stones throw from the town and also within easy reach of the first place we intended to visit - the RSPB reserve at Minsmere.

 We've been wanting to visit Minsmere for ages - and it didn't disappoint. Well known for its Marsh Harriers, within minutes of getting into the first of the many hides we were watching two pairs of them performing aerial ballets over the water, swooping and gliding around. They were joined a few moments later by a Hobby....and then two more - fabulous little birds with such a turn of speed! We walked a circular route, taking in another hide with more views of the two raptors and lots of other birds besides, and finally the rather unusual hide above, aptly named the "Tree Canopy" hide it gives you a literal "Birds Eye" view through the trees - stunning! After that it was time for tea and cake....well of course!

Tea & Cake - Minsmere style

 It was quite some cake as well -very gooey and delicious! Another short walk around to one of the hides on the opposite side of the reserve - there are three distinct areas of habitat here, so lots of different birds to see and some lovely places to walk.

After that it was time to head to one of my favourite places - Aldeburgh, just a few miles along the coast. A lovely place, Aldeburgh, often overshadowed by Southwold just along the coast. One of the nicest things about it is this Scallop Shell sculpture on the beach...

Fantastic, isn't it? It's a tribute to the work of composer Benjamin Britten - more information on it can be found HERE. It's a bit "Marmite" - people either love it, or hate it - as you'd probably guessed I'm in the first camp! I was lucky to get some shots of it with not many other people about - usually you find a few kiddies clambering over it, maybe an older couple using it as a windbreak with their deckchairs, and occasionally even a couple of teenagers having a snog behind it! Useful art, there you go, you can't beat it! Actually, you can, the fish & chips we had for our tea was undoubtedly better even than this stunning bit of art - yum!

Sunday morning dawned bright, breezy and cheery - a lovely morning to sit outside a tent eating bacon butties and drinking tea,  so we did! Not for all that long though, as we wanted to head briefly back to Aldeburgh to buy a crab for tonights tea, and then head through to Ickworth, a lovely National Trust property near Bury St Edmunds...

 Grand, isn't it? We didn't go round the house on this occasion - we're saving that for a rainy day, today was lovely and dry and bright and it would have been a shame not to explore the gardens outside. Oh, and take a lot of photos of the fabulous central rotunda! I kept coming back to that...I suspect it will make an appearance here again before too long. Remind me to tell you about the "Stumpery" too - suffice to say it's exactly what it sounds like, but utterly magical. I'll save that for another post though!

Robyn