Today was an interesting walk, organised by the Aldeburgh Festival. We started with a coach drive, going inland to Dennington. We visited St Mary's church which is a 14th century church, however there is a 12th century stone still visible near the south doorway. During the Cromwell years the windows were changed from stained glass to clear glass, giving the church a very light feel and you could see out to the grounds.
We then set off for a long walk through the fields where there were crops including grain, broad beans and peas. Our guide advised us that one of the fields we pass through has a crop of 3 billion peas. He went on to say that with this number of peas that would be half a pea for everyone in the world! (Bear that in mind the next time you purchase a packet of frozen peas!)
We were also told that today is World Sauntering Day! We did much more than a saunter during the nearly 10 kilometre walk!
We walked past Framlingham Castle, once the home of Mary Tudor. After a brief stop for sandwiches for lunch, we visited St Michael's church which houses a world famous Thamar organ. Only eight large scale organs in total survived the English civil war and only three of those are Thamars. We had a very brief bit of music played on the organ, by one of the student volunteers who are engaged to assist with logistical arrangements during the music festival. The guide pointed out that one of the many tombs in the church is the tomb of Henry VIII's illegitimate son and the son's wife. We don't normally look at the tombs when we visit churches, but sometimes do, in order to find out era in which the person lived.
We continued our walk through the fields, to the Shawsgate winery, which is one of East Anglia's oldest vineyards. We had a wine tasting, and then wandered across to the grapevines to have a look. Alan Britten (Benjamin Britten's nephew) chatted with us and he said that of course, Australia's wines are far superior to anything in the UK.
By the time we got to the winery, the weather had warmed up considerably and it was quite humid.
We caught the coach back to Aldeburgh, then soon afterwards, the fog started to close in! That wasn't mentioned in this this morning's weather forecast! It started to lift a few hours later, which is fortunate for the producers of the performance of Peter Grimes on the Beach, which is happening
tonight.
