A Trip Back to Suffolk

Sunday August 11
Today we were picked up by Kathy to go back and spend time at our 2001 exchange house.
After lunch Mike drove us over to Woodbridge and we had a walk along the river past the tide mill.

Here I am sitting on the milestone in Woodbridge finding out how far it is to everything.

Narrow streets developed before cars make driving through here a problem.

We then walked into town and around the historic centre.

 The oldest pub in Woodbridge. Note the scales where they weighed the cart before taking grain down the tide mill.  They knew the unladen weight of the cart so they were able to calculate the weight of the grain.

We visited the local museum which even Mike hadn't been into before.

Monday August 12
We caught the Route 66 bus into Ipswich,  Mary had a very successful shopping trip in town.  She really enjoyed knowing where all the shops were and going to her favourites.  It was amazing how many shops had closed since they were last here.

The Ancient House in Ipswich

Shopping street in Ipswich.

In the afternoon there was a gathering of the staff from Maidstone School in Felixstowe where Mary had taught in 2001.  They are now the Maidstone retired ladies.  It was great to be able to catch up with everyone and reminisce.

Tuesday August 13

Here I am at the lovely cottage garden on Jimmy's Farm.

The Orwell Bridge.

In the morning we went to Jimmy's Farm, the Suffolk food hall and then to Tesco. In the afternoon we were collected by our friends Richard and Margaret and spent the afternoon chatting and then went out for a meal at The Golf.

Wednesday August 14
Mike and Kathy drove us to Braintree.  Before they dropped us off we spend the morning at Freeport Designer Outlet.  After lunch they dropped us off with Mary's cousin Jacquie for the night. 

Thursday August 15th
Today was train day.  This was a rail pass day so we caught a train from Braintree to Liverpool Street Station.  At Liverpool St we got out to walk over to Spitalfields Market.  The market was quite different from the day we had been here before, but we  managed to find what we had come to look for and some more stuff!  Our bags are becoming seriously full after all the shopping this week.  it will all come right when we get back to Hamish's and we put them into the big suitcase.  We are actually quite proud of ourselves going away for 2 weeks with a cabin bag each.  It does make life easier for getting on and off trains when you only have a little bag.