Day 24-25 Sutton Hoo, Suffolk

 Sutton Hoo, Suffolk

A few nights ago Susan and Barb had watched "The Dig", a movie starring Ralph Fiennes. This was about the archeological dig which discovered the remains of an Anglo-saxon ship, a king and treasure in a burial mound on a private property in Suffolk, owned by one Edith Pretty.

When Barb realised it was quite near here - c'mon only a ninety minute drive - of course we had to go! You have to pre-book tickets as it's such a popular place to visit and they only allow so many in at a time. We booked for the 10 to 10.30 slot. Getting there was quite entertaining (John's description - Barb preferred "scary") as we found not one but two road closures on "B" roads, one re-directed route tried to take us down a single lane "C" road. Barb was alarmed, so we back-tracked and eventually found another way (Barb means that the GPS happily redirected us down a road that started promisingly and suddenly wanted to become a barely single width overgrown dirt track.  Outback Australia eat your heart out!). When we arrived there were two coaches about to disgorge their elderly passengers, so we were there in the nick of time.

An artistic sculpture reproduction of the king's burial helmet

John inspecting a full-size steel sculpture of the boat
in which the king was buried . It was surprisingly BIG!

These wenches dressed in Anglo-saxon garb were doing traditional crafts of the time

The Tramner family home (the last private owners of the site) with a field of bluebells

John with a carved boat prow reproduction

The Suffolk countryside is so darn pretty!

Barb in front of Tramner house

Edith Pretty, who had archeological credentials of her own

Her son Richard Pretty was only nine when the
boat was discovered on the property

Basil Brown, the self taught local historian with a passion for
archeology who Edith commissioned to explore the burial mounds

The windows of Mrs Pretty's office look out over the site of the mounds

Hayricks and Suffolk black sheep in the surrounding fields

Burial mounds with gorse obscuring the huge metal viewing tower in the background

Bus load of tourists with their very informative guide

Yes, we climbed all the way to the top of the viewing tower
It swayed ever so slightly at the top

You can see all the mounds from above

Views of the nearby town of Woodbridge

The last part of the tour (apart from the ubiquitous gift shop)
was a museum containing replicas of many items found on site. 

King's helmet

Shield of the king

We very much enjoyed our time at Sutton Hoo. Both interesting for its archeological significance and the location, which was very picturesque too. Rather than risk the museum cafe with the multitudes of visitors, we drove over to nearby Orford (about ten miles away) to have lunch there. Barb had spotted that Orford had a castle and musum there. Who could resist? Oh dear:

This is the picture of Orford castle that Barb expected to see

This was the reality today ... a castle shrouded
in scaffolding. And nowhere to park!

We managed to find a park near the village church

And declined to go into the famous seafood restaurant.
(John won't eat fish or any seafood. Miserable so and so)

Happily we discovered that the inside of the castle tower was open to the public
and was free with our English Heritage passes .... the day just got better

We had to negotiate some dodgy spiral stairs with just a rope for a railing

Each level revealed archeological displays and was really interesting

Some antiquities dated back to the bronze
age .... axe heads etc ... all found locally

The castle itself has a very interesting history

John enjoyed seeing the river Alde and it's fishing boats.
Memories of a well spent youth!

A picturesque shingle beach

One of the fishing huts had been converted to a very nice tea-room. The loacls sat outside (it was b...cold outside!) We chose sitting in the inside cosy warmth. Great food and hot chocolate!

A thoroughly enjoyable day .... until taking a wrong turn on the way back.
Oh well ... can't be perfect (Hrrmph - I was left in no doubt!)

After such a big day out on Wednesday, we spent the next day at home with Susan. Barb tackled a mountain of washing and the subsequent ironing. John tackled a number of small chores that Susan had saved up for him. Changing light bulbs, jetwashing outdoor furniture etc.

Feeling virtuous ... we can venture out exploring again tomorrow.