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The iron age gets all the best picnic sites

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Saturday, June 3rd, 2006 08:01 am
Having seen the treasure in the British Museum, I wanted to go the source: Sutton Hoo. And what a lovely place it is!! Quiet, peaceful, with beautiful scenery, the complex is creatively and tastefully laid out, with the inevitable shop and cafe built out of local wood in a style in keeping with the surroundings (lunch was delicious, too). The tumuli are grazed by Suffolk horned sheep, a species apparently on the brink of extinction until a few years ago, the present representatives of which allowed to roam free over the site. There was a skylark singing its little guts out (not-so-obscure literary reference alert).



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But Southwold was charming

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Saturday, June 3rd, 2006 07:57 am


Out of season, of course, so not full of crazed sand-castle builders. Not quite the typical sea-side town: rather genteel. Obscure literary connections? Travels with my Aunt and (I think) the Forsyte Saga...
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Norwich was a little seedy

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Friday, June 2nd, 2006 04:43 pm
(apologies to any Norwich residents who may read this) - not my favourite place on this trip. The center was nice, where the cathedral is situated, but the city as a whole had a slightly edgy, slightly run-down feel. My rellies thought I was nuts, as my prime reason for going was to visit Juliana's church - not for any religious reason but because of the quotation in Four Quartets, and in [livejournal.com profile] pameladean's Secret Country books, and because she's credited with being one of the earliest women writers. The church and her little cell (restored, because the building was destroyed by a bomb in the war) and the little garden where Marjory Kemp is said to have gone to consult Juliana were lovely. As was the little dog, Luke.
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Searching for Eustace

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Friday, June 2nd, 2006 11:34 am
Canterbury was altogether delightful. One of my missions on this trip has been tracking down obscure literary connections that caught my fancy, and one of my reasons for wanting to go to Canterbury Cathedral, believe it or not, is because I read Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban. Because of this connection (and if you've read the book, you'll know what I'm talking about), I was looking for the mural with the picture of St. Eustace meeting the stag. Neither of the ladies who functioned as kind of cathedral "greeters" knew it - "There's St. Augustine, St. Thomas... no St. Eustace, as far as I can see..." but a charming gentleman guide knew immediately what I was asking for and gave me specific directions to the spot in the cathedral that I wanted. He asked me why I wanted to see it, and I told him, and he very politely said that it sounded like a most interesting novel... They should make more effort to exploit such literary connections - "this way for the Riddley Walker fans; this way for Murder in the Cathedral."
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