Cathedral of the Marshes

The 15th Century bench ends of the Cathedral of the Marshes are carved with the Seven Deadly Sins: Avarice sits on a pile of money; Gluttony is bursting out of his shirt; Sloth is lying in his bed. They are watched from above by eleven angels flying across the ceiling. While wealthy people (and monks and priests) are buried in crypts in the cathedral floor, the wealthiest were buried closest to the altar. The oldest graves in this floor date from the early 1700s.

Cathedral of the Marshes: Interior

Jenny and Shelley at Norman Churches at Cove-Hithe

Blythburgh: Cathedral of the Marshes

Southwold's Holiday Huts

Jenny's Tour of Suffolk Sites

Having decided that the weather in January was too miserable for us to venture far, we braved it last weekend with a whistle stop tour of Jenny's favourite places in Suffolk. This meant a number of Saxon/Norman churches, like Holy Trinity Church, the Cathedral of the Marshes at Blythburgh, and St Margaret's, Hale. Saturday night was spent in a busy but quiet English country pub at Blaxhall and Sunday lunch in a cosy little restaurant at Southwold. While Southwold is supposedly the escape location for London's richer middle and upper classes (as well as the rich and famous: Michael Palin lives here!!) we didn't spot anyone famous. The beach front is fringed with multi-coloured holiday huts, the quintessential picture of England on the beach. On a very mild mid-winter afternoon (Sunday) we wandered the shoreline, steering into a wind directly from the south and mainland France: much warmer than the north westerlies and north easterlies that stream in off either the Atlantic or North Sea. From Southwold we drove through gouged out roads (apparently storm damage late in 2007 wreaked havoc on this part of the coastline), back onto a sealed road and onwards to the small beach settlement of, Walberswick, where again we beach walked, finishing at a quaint English pub, the 600 year old Bell Inn, where we had a half pint each. Not sure that I'm a fan for warm English beer. A brief drive to the railway station at Darsham, and we were soon training back to Colchester. Thanks Jenny for the Jenny Vuglar whirlwind tour of (famous?)Suffolk sites.