Suffolk Autumn Tour, 29 Sept - 1 Oct 2023

It was a weekend packed with history and culture, delicious food, and the excellent company of friends old and new. Our base for the two nights was the well appointed and very friendly Brudenell Hotel right on the beach in the charming seaside town of Aldeburgh.

We met for Friday lunch in the quaint upstairs at The Secret Garden in Sudbury, then a short visit to the home of Thomas Gainsborough, acclaimed 18thC English portrait and landscape painter. The house is now a museum with a new gallery space displaying several of his paintings. Then we were on the road heading north east to the coast, stopping enroute to walk in the sun and footsteps of another famous 18thC landscape painter, John Constable, at Flatford Mill.

Highlight of Saturday was our surprise visit to the Sutton Hoo Ship’s Company in The Longshed boatyard at Woodbridge. Here a dedicated team of volunteers are building a full-sized replica of the Anglo Saxon burial ship that was discovered at Sutton Hoo just across of the water from the boatyard. Amateur archaeologist Basil Brown famously made the discovery back in 1939, when he brushed away the Suffolk soil and revealed the richest intact early medieval grave in Europe. More than a grave, it was a spectacular funerary monument on an epic scale: a 27m (88.6ft) long ship with a burial chamber full of dazzling riches, possibly the burial site of King Raedwald, who ruled the kingdom of East Anglia in the early seventh century.

The Ship’s Company is well into the build project using the materials and the methods, including all tools, that would have been used by Anglo-Saxon shipbuilders around 1500 years ago. The completed ship will undergo sea-trials to test hypotheses regarding propulsion and use. This is a hugely impressive project which resonated with all our group, particularly with those of us who have restored classic Giuliettas with an eye for originality.

Moving on, we variously headed to lunch at Lavenham, one of England’s best preserved Medieval villages with more than three hundred listed, mostly half-timbered, buildings from the 14thC and 15thC to marvel at and photograph. Its Medieval wealth was achieved with hard work, organisation and success of the wool and cloth trade. It is an intriguing story of great wealth to grinding poverty (when progress passed it by).

Our rural route back to The Brudenell Hotel passed through more historic sites, including the Saxtead Great Windmill, the obvious favorite of our Chairman, Duncan, who together with Bridget, ably organised our splendid sortie to Suffolk. Another delicious and delightfully convivial dinner was enjoyed at the Hotel. Sleep came easily out of the sound of waves lapping on the shingle beach.

Sunday continued fine for a run north to the holiday town of Southwold for a quick coffee, before turning south again to lunch together at Wherstead near Ipswich, overlooking the estuary of River Orwell (the inspiration for Eric Blair’s pen name George Orwell). All in all a thoroughly enjoyable Autumn Tour in Suffolk and a great end to our 2023 Events programme. Thanks again to Duncan and Bridget for their superb organisation.

Photos: Duncan Ferns and Peter Bradnock