Today we set off on a lovely walk along the beach from Aldeburgh to Thorpeness (about 4 Kilometres north of Aldeburgh, along the coast). Today the weather was much warmer ( at least during the morning it was). We even had our sun hats on!
Thorpeness is a little place created in the early 1900s by barrister and playwright Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie, who turned a fishing hamlet into a holiday village modelled on the typical wood framed houses. There is a man made Meare where people row boats and swans and ducks swim around in the water. We watched people get into the boats and row out onto the Meare. Some of them didn't have the first clue about how to row a boat, trying to row forwards rather than backwards, which gave us a laugh. It reminded me of Mrs Bucket and her 'Waterside supper with Riparian entertainments' episode in Keeping Up Appearances.
We had lunch at a cafe beside the Meare at one of the outdoor tables, which was very pleasant. We then set off for a walk around Thorpeness, to explore the village and to see the 'House in the Clouds' which is a house built to disguise a water tower. After a cuppa, back at the same cafe, we set off back towards Aldeburgh, along the beach, diverting briefly into the marshes before going back ti the beach. On the beach, there is a metal sculpture called the Scallop, which was created by sculptor Maggi Hambling as a tribute to Britten and it was made by Aldeburgh craftsmen Sam and Dennis Pegg. The words 'I hear those voices that will not be drowned' which are cut out along the edge of the shell, are from Britten's opera Peter Grimes.
