As we had a morning to fill in before catching our afternoon flight, we decided to take a bus to the nearby suburb of Twickenham Green. A large area of mown grass, used for cricket and other sports, it seems to be used for locals as a place to take the children and dogs and for office workers to have their lunch. Upon arrival, we wandered across the grounds to the teahouse for a cuppa. The clubhouse, currently undergoing repairs, had that quintessential English County Cricket feel and the sunny green was peaceful despite the busy high street on one side. Having enjoyed our tea and croissants and a leisurely walk we made our way back to the Premier Inn to collect our luggage and walked through to the terminal 4 for our flight home. The end of another adventure but plenty of ideas for places to explore further on future trips.

Spent the day at Kew Gardens today. Austin left early by train and bus to spend a couple of hours at the herbarium, checking on some old Australian grass collections. Joy came later by bus, enjoying observing the shops, houses and architecture along the way. Lovely sunny day compared to yesterday’s overcast, cold day in Cambridge. The gardens are much flatter than Melbourne Botanic Gardens and has extensive areas of grassland and parkland. It does have some large glasshouses which allow the growth of plant species from across the world and a wide range of climatic conditions. One day is certainly not enough to take it all in. Joy enjoyed looking through the extensive range of goods on offer at the large gift shop, buying a carry-bag that became regularly used for botanic art classes.

The Temperate House is the world’s largest Victorian glasshouse. After major renovation work over five years, the house had just been reopened shortly before our visit, so the plantings were still rather sparse. It holds some 1,200 plant species from Asia, Australasia, Africa and the Americas.

Odd to see a Pagoda in the gardens. The Great Pagoda was built for Princess Augusta by Sir William Chambers in 1762, and typical of a garden ‘Folly’ of the time. It provides wonderful views across London, but we didn’t get to climb it. Instead, we did go across the Treetop Walkway, which one of us found quite challenging, given a dislike for heights.

The Palm House was completed in 1848 and specialises in growing palms and other tropical and subtropical species. Many of its plants are rare and endangered or even extinct in the wild. Very humid and hot inside, as might be expected.

After a scrumptious breakfast, we walked into Cambridge to see what we could find of interest. Lovely walk into town, through field, leafy parks and narrow streets but as it was very cold day, we decided not to go punting on the river.

We started off visiting the iconic Christ’s College. Dating from 1437, the college had some famous scholars, including John Milton (Poet), Ralph Cudworth (theologian), William Paley (theologian), Charles Darwin (naturalist), Martin Evans (biologist), Alexander Todd (biochemist), James Meade (economist), Duncan Haldene (physicist), John Plumb (historian) and Louis Mountbatten (statesman and navy officer). The college itself is an imposing series of buildings, arranged around a series of courts. The Chapel is one such building off the First Court.

Leaving Christ’s College, we wandered down the streets, observing some elaborate buildings and gates. We found our way to the Round Church. This Anglican Church was built in 1130 with its shape being inspired by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. A lovely little church with a group of Evangelical students talking to visitors. After chatting for a while, the students gave us a CD of the history of the Church to share with our small group from their small group.

On to Trinity College, built in 1546 by Henry VIII by combining Michaelhouse (built in 1324) and Kings Hall (1317) whose most famous undergraduates were Francis Bacon (philosopher), Isaac Newton (physicist) and Byron, Thackeray and Tennyson (Poets).

Left Rectory Farm during the afternoon to return the car to Heathrow. Trained and walked over to Premier Inn at Heathrow, where we were booked to stay for the next two nights.

We left Drinkstone today on our way back west and spent the morning in Bury St Edmunds to explore the Abbey and the Cathedral. Edmund the Martyr was King of East Anglia from 855 until 869, when he was slain by the Danes. His lineage is unknown. He became a victim of the Great Heathen Army after providing them with horses in exchange for peace. The Great Heathen Army was a coalition of Scandinavian warriors who landed in East Anglia with the intention of conquering all of Anglo-Saxon England. The army captured York and marched deep into Mercia (England’s midlands) until the Mercian’s sued for peace. The Great Army moved back to York for the winter but then invaded East Anglia, conquering it and killing Edmund. It is not known if he was killed in battle against the Danes, or after capture for refusing to denounce Christ. The latter edition became the stuff of legends and brought about his canonisation. The story went that the East Anglian army attacked the Danes during their wintering at Thetford in 866 and having lost the battle, King Edmund being trapped inside his hall, threw his weapons out, just as Peter the Apostle put away his sword on Christ’s command. This account was given by St Dunstan, the Archbishop of Canterbury in 986 having obtained the ‘facts’ from Edmund’s supposed elderly sword-bearer. He claimed that King Edmund was beaten with rods and whipped, tied to a tree and shot with so many arrows that he bristled like a hedgehog. When he continued to call upon Christ, the Dane Leader, Ivar the Boneless, ordered him to be beheaded and his head thrown into the woods. Later, when Edmund’s followers searched for it, calling out “where are you friend”, his head answered “here, here, here” and his men recovered it from between the paws of a wolf who was protecting it from being eaten by other animals. His remains were taken to Bury St Edmund’s (Bury means Borough and not place of Burial) in 903. A cult in Edmund’s honour built up at Bury St Edmunds but also in Toulouse, France, which claimed to have relics of the King. The legend continues that in 1574, Edmund’s body was exhumed and it was found that all the arrow wounds on his undecomposed body were healed and his head was reattached. A shrine to Edmund was built at Bury St Edmunds, memorial coins were minted and various miracles attributed to him. Until Richard the Lionheart’s (King Richard 1) adoption of St George as his personal patron and protector of his army, St Edmund was regarded as the Patron Saint of England. Even today, there are 55 Parish Churches throughout England dedicated to St Edmund and there have been a number of modern campaigns to reinstate him as England’s Patron Saint.

A church has stood on the site of the Cathedral since 1065 when St Denis’s Church was built within the Abbey grounds. The Abbot Anselm, rebuilt the church and dedicated it to St James. He also built the Abbey Gate Tower, known as the Norman Tower alongside the church, which serves as a Belfry to this day. St James was rebuilt from 1503 in the perpendicular style by John Wastell who was also involved in the building of King’s College, Cambridge. The building became a Cathedral in 1924 and continuous rebuilding programs to modify the Chancel and Tower with additions of transepts, chapels, cloisters and crypt treasury have occurred up to 2012.

The Abbey of St Edmunds dates from 1020 and became one of the wealthiest and most powerful Benedictine monasteries in England. At Henry VIII’s dissolution of the Catholic monasteries, St Edmund’s shrine was destroyed and the Abbey left in ruins, when most of its stone was quarried for other building purposes.

After an interesting morning’s history lesson, we set off for Cambridge where we intended to stay overnight and spend a day investigating the city. We arrived at our stay at Rectory Farm (not to be confused with various farms of the same name in the Cambridge area) Guest House , 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the city centre. A lovely quiet spot surrounded by farmland, and country lanes. The main house, where breakfast is served, was constructed in the 1960’s in the Georgian Style, with 2 acres of formal gardens. On the owners advice, we walked to nearby Coton to have dinner at the Plough. The late afternoon light across the fields and down the tree-lined lane induced a feeling of bucolic peace and beauty. The meal was delicious as was the atmosphere. we need our phone torches to find our way back to our comfortable accomodation and a restful night.

You cannot come to East Anglia and not visit the Norfolk Broads, so that’s where we headed for our last full day in this part of England. Our route took us through the seaside town of Great Yarmouth, on the River Yare, once the site of a Roman settlement and then the location of a major herring industry and shipping port. Now-a-days its main claim to fame is as a seaside holiday destination with its sea-front ‘Golden Mile’ of indoor and outdoor attractions and amusement arcades. There were not a lot of visitors while we were there (outside holiday season) and to us the whole marina area appeared somewhat ‘tacky’ and run down. It probably didn’t help that the day was overcast and rather windy. We walked along the beach path between the town and the large stretch of dune and beach, looking out at a North Sea Scroby Sands Wind Farm offshore.

We visited the 12th century Minster Church of St Nicholas, the third largest Parish Church in England. Built by Herbert de Losinga as penance by the Pope for the sin of simony (purchasing the Bishopric of Thetford).

On to the Norfolk Broads: a network of rivers and lakes, formed by flooding of medieval peat excavations. Consisting of 303 square kilometres, the ‘Broads’ were designated a National Park in 1988. After many years of extracting peat by the local monasteries for sale as fuel, sea levels started to rise and flooded the pits, despite the building of a series of wind-pumps and dykes. The Broads were then used for harvesting reeds for thatching (Common Reed – Phragmites australis). Of the many possibilities, we decided to make our way to Ranworth Broad. After booking a boat trip, we took a walk through a Carr Woodland (waterlogged woodland) nearby, while waiting for our trip.

Off on our boat trip under a very grey sky and a choppy lake. Lots of water birds bobbing about in the swell and tricky to get good photos. The highlight was spotting a pair of Crested Grebe. Large sections of the shore line were reed beds. A few other water-craft out and about, despite the poor weather. It was an invigorating trip but we were glad to get back to the warmth of the National Wildlife Trust building.

A short distance away from Ranworth Broad was the village of Woodbastwick with the Church of St Fabian and St Sebastian. Apart from a lovely view across the village and the Broads beyond, from the roof (gallery) of the church (up a steep and narrow stairwell), it features a rare and intact screen portraying the Twelve Apostles.

Heading back home after a busy day, we met the back end of a traffic snarl on the way to Norwich. We decided to turn off and head for the ferry at Reedham. Obviously many others had the same idea as we soon found another long line of cars waiting to cross the River Yare. Given the time of day, the local publican at the crossing decided to reopen his restaurant for anyone who wanted to stop for dinner. Although the river is narrow, the ferry only takes two cars at a time. Eventually we got our turn and were on our way.

A lovely sunny day as we set off south to visit Lavenham, a medieval wool town, famous for its ancient crooked houses. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Lavenham prospered from the wool trade, producing an export famous blue broadcloth. At its peak, the town was richer and paid more taxes than York and Lincoln. In fact, in 1487, when Henry VII visited the town, he fined several merchants for displaying too much wealth. However, by 1600, due to the arrival of Dutch refugees in Colchester, Lavenham lost its trade to the cheaper, lighter and more fashionable cloth they produced. As the wealth of the town dried up, families could not afford to rebuild or modify their medieval and Tudor homes and so they remain the same to this day.

The Church of St Peter and St Paul stands on a hill at the end of the village and its size and grandeur reflects the prosperity of the town in better times.

Joy found the National Trust shop in the old Guild Hall and bought some gifts for the girls back home. After a good look around town, we found a lovely tearooms for a refreshing cuppa and a light lunch.

After Lavenham, we headed back north to visit Ickworth Estate to the south-west of Bury St Edmunds. This National Trust property of 1800 acres was established as a deer park in 1254 by Thomas de Ickworth. Passing into the hands of the Drury and Hervey families, John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol demolished the old crumbling manor and rebuilt the old farmhouse, Ickworth Lodge, as the main house on the estate. The 4th Earl of Bristol (Earl Bishop) inherited the estate in 1779 and built the current house, including the distinctive Italian style Rotunda. Large formal gardens and parkland surrounded by green sheep pastures. We found a small church on the grounds and a very large brick walled enclosure that served as a vegetable garden, though there was not a lot growing. Due to the imminent closure of the Estate and the lengthy walk facing us back to the entrance, one of the staff offered to give us a lift back, which was much appreciated.

Headed back home with plenty of time to better explore the Drinkstone gardens. Extensive flowerbeds, glasshouses and chicken runs to provide for the household and its guests. At one end of the garden, we found a great children’s playhouse and some Roman ruins.

Headed to Norfolk today to find Great Cressingham, the birthplace of Austin’s maternal great great grandmother, Elizabeth Alderton. On the way, we visited Thetford Forest, a manmade forest, established in the 1920’s to sustain the UK’s dwindling timber supply post WWII. At 18,730 ha, it is the largest of its kind in England. We made our way into the High Lodge picnic area, which is roughly central to the forest. There we found the Gruffalo and the beginning of a trail for children, at which various other characters from the books could be found.

Many of the tree plantations are of Scots Pine and Corsican Pine but there are also Douglas Fir, Larch, Birch, Oak and Beech. After a nice longish walk to stretch our legs, it was time to head further north.

Great Cressingham is a sleepy little village, which seems to be dominated by The Olde Windmill Inn (dating from 1789) and St Michaels Church and little else. It has no shop and the village school which opened in 1840, was closed in 1992. The census for 2011 notes 421 inhabitants (combined with Little Cressingham) but surprisingly, the Parish of Great Cressingham only had 476 inhabitants in 1845. The Church was the site for at least four generation of Alderton marriages, christenings and burials. Consequently, Austin searched among the tombstones surrounding the church for evidence of his ancestors, and although he found plenty of Aldertons, none could be confidently linked to his ancestors.

St Michaels was founded before 1385 but its nave and tower were built sometime between 1430 and 1460. It almost received some building modifications in 1885 during the Victorian Era. Because of its age, it predates the establishment of Henry VIII’s Anglican Church in England in 1534. As a consequence, some of its fittings date back to Catholicism, including a series of ‘brasses’ set in the floor and some stained glass windows.

On our way back to Suffolk, we found a sign to Melsop Farm Park, a rare-breeds farm, so of course we had to check it out. Rare breeds of cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, rabbits, pigeons, water-fowl and poultry. We were particularly impressed by the Ouessant, one of the smallest breeds of sheep in the world (45-50 cm at the shoulder), originating from the Island of Ouessant, off the coast of Brittany. Also enjoyed the many species of ducks and swan, and in particular the Whooper Swans who kept following us around, swaying their long necks to and fro.

A quiet day today, relaxing in our room, the lounge or the garden. A lovely quiet spot in the country-side, 19 km SE of Bury St Edmunds. The owners pair of dogs made friends with us, as they do with everyone. The German Shepherd in particular liked to wander around the grounds with us. We took a walk around the farm, looking at soils and birds. Back to the house for some lovely scones, jam and cream. Dinner at the Gardener’s Arms in the nearby village of Tostock.

Started off the morning on a visit to Christ Church College and Cathedral. The College was part of the film set for Harry Potter and it certainly holds that old medieval charm.

Lunch at the Mad Hatter Tearooms in readiness for our Thames River boat trip. Lovely weather for boating and we enjoyed the experience very much. Walkers, fishermen, children, dogs, rowers and birds all sharing the river and its banks.

After our river cruise, we wandered back through town and found a flower shop and Brown’s Cafe for some afternoon tea. A bit of normality in an otherwise very University orientated town. Then off to the University Church of St Mary The Virgin, where Joy climbed to the top of the tower as she missed out doing so when Katie and I climbed it back in 2006.

Late afternoon and it was time to leave for Drinkstone, which should only have taken us a couple of hours. Instead, it took us at least twice as long, as we had to cope with peak-hour traffic heading home, negotiate 14 roundabouts around Milton Keynes and stop-start through various road repair activities. Somewhat exhausted by the trip, we stopped at Bury St Edmunds to indulge in some take-away chicken. Finally arriving at our farm-stay and Joy coming down with a cold, we were comforted by our warm reception.

Left Wendy’s this afternoon on our way to Suffolk, a county we hadn’t visited before. Wendy drove ahead of us, taking us around Bath, so as we wouldn’t get lost in the network of roads. A largely uneventful trip. We decided to stop off at Oxford on the way and found a small Guest House (OYO Lina on Banbury Road) with small rooms near to town where we could stay for the night.