Travelling On

Suffolk_lass

It sounds like you had a magical time KC - if I had realised that Harwich was on the cards I would have suggested the foot-ferry from Harwich across to Felixstowe and a toastie in the View Point Cafe which is next to the Napoleonic Fort/Prison - that usually does a staged Halloween thing if you fancy a return some time. The Ports are magical to me - the sheer scale of the container vessels is amazing.

So glad you enjoyed Beth Chatto's Garden - quite close to your accommodation, I think

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, sounds like a lovely trip! :j :j

I was thinking of you and your NT membership the other day. I'm really not sure we've got enough here to justify it, especially as Mr Cheery is not a fan so it would just be me. But I do want to go to Caulke Abbey at some point - our little local history group has organised a trip (I'm not going, although I now kind of wish I was :rotfl: ) but I might take a solo trip at some point. I know it's about £16.50 to get in :eek: so must check the annual NT price against that.

We are also fans of big things that should be small and small things that should be big :rotfl: Especially edible things, so we can pretend we are either really big or really small when we're eating them :rotfl:

beanielou

Glad you had such a lovely time.
I love lighthouses.

Karmacat

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

It sounds like you had a magical time KC - if I had realised that Harwich was on the cards I would have suggested the foot-ferry from Harwich across to Felixstowe and a toastie in the View Point Cafe which is next to the Napoleonic Fort/Prison - that usually does a staged Halloween thing if you fancy a return some time. The Ports are magical to me - the sheer scale of the container vessels is amazing.

We saw the ferry on the listings, SL, and decided not to - we'd have gone to Felixstowe, if we'd gone anywhere, and we weren't sure if it docked in the right place for tourists, plus we knew that Harwich had a lot that my sister wanted to tick off her list

I was having a hard time with my gluten-freeness, so we found a lovely little pub where we had jacket potatoes and a pot of tea each; plain tatty was £2.95, it was all very good value.

We got used to seeing container ports up close on the Spanish cruise last year, but I never get tired of them, they're amazing

So glad you enjoyed Beth Chatto's Garden - quite close to your accommodation, I think

About 25 minutes away, I think ... the star of the show was the "knobbly knees" of the swamp cypress :rotfl: I'm not kidding, they don't know what they're for, they look like something out of Star Trek sticking up from the ground :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Ooh, sounds like a lovely trip! :j :j

I was thinking of you and your NT membership the other day. I'm really not sure we've got enough here to justify it, especially as Mr Cheery is not a fan so it would just be me. But I do want to go to Caulke Abbey at some point - our little local history group has organised a trip (I'm not going, although I now kind of wish I was :rotfl: ) but I might take a solo trip at some point. I know it's about £16.50 to get in :eek: so must check the annual NT price against that.

We are also fans of big things that should be small and small things that should be big :rotfl: Especially edible things, so we can pretend we are either really big or really small when we're eating them :rotfl:

Thanks Cheery the annual membership I paid is £72 - no concessions, so thats the ordinary adult price. I only just broke even last year (but was saved the worry about prices) and so far I've been to:
Lamb House, Rye £7.50
Box Hill, free
Grange Barn, £7.90
Paycocke's House and Garden £7.90
Sutton Hoo £3.50 (partially closed still).
Currently £26.80. There are 3 big gardens a short bus ride away, plus one by my sister's, plus several in London and a few on the coast (there's even a few in Liverpool I haven't been to!) so along with my late summer holiday in the UK, I should do well this year :rotfl:

beanielou wrote: »

Glad you had such a lovely time.
I love lighthouses.

Thanks beanie. Lighthouses are wonderful things, aren't they and this concept of two in line is fascinating

I've been dusting the next lot of plaster dust and I've had two long goes in the garden. I'm starting to lose sympathy with pretty weeds, so I'm getting soil that I can actually open up and dig

themadvix

Thanks for the tips on Harwich SL - might suggest there to DH, he'll love the container port and all the engineering and I can always eat a toastie! And clever lighthouses too - very useful for navigating at night

I have a similar issue with my DH, Cheery, although I did drag him round a Ham House the other week. He'd rather be out in the grounds/park/NT-owned countryside. But a joint membership isn't much more than a single one and we do try to get as many places as we can, even though it's an NT desert round here. I'm still undecided about whether to get joint life membership or just single (as you can take a guest in free with you).... that's a bigger price difference! (Sorry, that was a lot of waffle that didn't really have much point!)

teapot2

Welcome back :wave: sounds like you had a fab time with lots of interesting trips and accidental visits/happenings upon.

Whats next kitchen wise? Are you nearly 'there'?

Karmacat

teapot2 wrote: »

Welcome back :wave: sounds like you had a fab time with lots of interesting trips and accidental visits/happenings upon.

Thanks teapot! Yes, quite a bit of stuff - the guides at Sutton Hoo, for instance, were spiritualists (though they tried to be even handed) and told lots of tales of re-enactments that got a bit intense.

We never got to the motorbike thing at Great Bentley, sadly - that was the day we were at Sutton Hoo, and we were just shattered. But we heard them every night

Whats next kitchen wise? Are you nearly 'there'?

Oh yes! The builder texted me to come along the week just gone, and I pretended I was in Liverpool on family business, I didn't want to say I was on *another* holiday so the tiler is coming this Wednesday - hopefully, the electrician for the central light too. Nearly done!

beanielou

Glad that kitchen things are coming along

Karmacat

Good morning This morning I have:
- checked our cine films from the 1960s against what was copied onto DVDs at the turn of the millenium. Cine films take up a *lot* of room, and there's no projector. Also discovered some reel to reel tapes, which I think are music. No one I know has a reel to reel tape recorder!
- washing machine on, did the duvet cover from the holiday. Had to cut down sorrel gone to seed immediately under the washing line so I could put it out.
- SB, just started.

Another domestic day, sadly. I have to:
- carry on cleaning the living room, and *do* the bathroom (which is so tiny it will take about ten minutes ).
- dishwasher on.
- make sure my diary's up to date for June, between admin appointments and things I want to do.
- more weeding.
- going to hop out to see reduced rates at Waitrose near closing time
- I quite fancy gluten free Yorkshire puddings, partly to use up some very old eggs. Done it once, it was a riproaring success - has to be at lunchtime, I'll have lots of fresh veg this afternoon from Waitrose.

Good heavens, the whole day is planned out! Which I dislike on principle, but a lot of things will get done.

wishingthemortgaheaway

Karma I have a reel to reel tape machine! It has no purpose in this house. No idea how much it would cost to courier it if you wanted it.