Thursday 6 October 2016

October 6th 2016: Suffolk: Aldeburgh

Monty the Motorhome has been reunited with his Sat Nav and is now hoping that the problem has been fixed. The phone call came this morning to say everything appears to be working fine, so we called in and got Mr Techy (Nigel) to fix the unit back into place and connect up the multitude of wires in the right places. Actually it didn’t look too complicated, but whether I say that again if we need to remove the unit is doubtful. The problem seems to have been a map update that I did last year online, though why everything worked fine after I did it for almost 12 months is still a puzzle. So a new download, from a authorised source (I could swear mine was also from such a source) and everything looks dandy. Time will tell.

Anyway that was only a detour from today’s trip out. First up was a visit to Snape Maltings, an arts complex best known for it’s huge concert hall which was formerly a malt house for malting barley in the production of beer.  We peered inside the hall and wondered what a concert would be like as the acoustics would probably be outstanding. 


The concert hall from across the adjacent reeds
Elsewhere on the complex there were galleries and boutique type shops - all very up market with pictures on sale for thousands of pounds. With these sort of prices we moved on and drove a few miles on to the town of Aldeburgh. This coastal town is notable for being the home of the composer Benjamin Brittain, and remains a very artistic and cultural centre. Second homes make up roughly a third of the town’s residential property, so affluence is abundant.
We parked at the northerly end of the town, opposite a 4.5m high stainless steel sculpture entitled The Scallop which is sited on the shingle beach. It is a dedication to Brittain and is made up of two interlocking scallop shells, each broken, the upright shell being pierced with the words: "I hear those voices that will not be drowned", which are taken from Britten's opera ‘Peter Grimes’.The sculpture is controversial in the local area, with some local residents considering it spoiling the beach. It has been vandalised with graffiti and paint on at least 13 occasions. There have been petitions for its removal and for its retention, but we enjoyed it and hope it remains.


The town itself was fairly quiet and initially we were not too impressed. However it grows on you and there is a sense of style which can often be missing from popular seaside towns.



Lunch was fish and chips. Again. However these were from the Aldeburgh Fish & Chip shop, reputably the best in Eastern England. We sat on the beach wall to eat and agreed they were the best of this trip - but not outstanding - maybe 7 out of 10.

That was the main meal of the day, so we hunted around for some ‘bits’ for tea and came up with: local Suffolk ham, potted smoked shrimp, a local Brie type cheese, local baked cornbread and Aldeburgh Ale.

We got our shrimps from this beachside chalet
They were all consumed this evening, back at our site, and we agreed it was one of the best meals we’ve had in a long while.

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