Aldeborough and Southwold, Suffolk

Southwold, Suffolk

Aldeborough has got to be the poshest retirement place in the UK. You would go there to retire as there's not really a workplace within convenient reach. It's a long way from a real town (Ipswich). But for people who want to have a great place to walk the dog, volunteer, cook lovely fresh and smoked fish, do the garden, look at the view etc, it is absolutely perfect I think. It helps to have plenty of money as most of the shops are like Musto and Joules and worst of all, Jack Wills, very pricey. anyway I loved it. We went to the F&C restaurant which had very good service and wasn't too expensive, and we went to the cinema. Saw a long and almost dialogue-free film, with Scarlett Johnson doing an English accent. Under the Skin. Not very interesting was the general consensus, and I suspect that the problem was that it had been adapted from a novel (all words) by someone who had decided to tell the story with as few words as poss, which made it intriguing and experimental, but boring.

Walked from Thorpe to Winscale and sat in a really nice bus shelter thing and ate sandwiches near the nuclear power station. S. said: The nuclear family goes on a nuclear holiday. Lots of interesting tiny plants in the sand and Flo told me about pioneer species. She is a mine of info these days.

Next day we had a walk to Orford Ness where we used to do nuclear testing (Atomic weapons agency, not we/us personally). Husband very interested and took a lot of photos. Beautiful morning and a lovely walk near marshes: the path was raised because the whole area is so low-lying - just about sea-level. Saw newly hatched butterflies. Then to Southwold for a walk on the pier and a picnic on the beach. Perfect day! The pier has some amusements on it that are quite wacky: like: try to cross the motorway with your Zimmer frame (a walking frame for old people). Bash the Bankers with a big mallet when they pop up. Wind a handle to make Frankenstein's monster come to life and make you jump. (It made me squeal.) Here is the link to Tim Hunkin's site explaining the amusements

Pier