And finally, Aldeburgh contd........................

A day trip to Southwold whilst staying in Aldeburgh was great fun. There is a lot to see and do in this small seaside town which apparently was very popular with Londoners who used to travel up by steam boat from London Bridge before the roads improved in the 1920's.

There is a pier. wonderful sandy beach. A great walk along the beach to the Southwold harbour. Of course there is Adnams. They have their brewery here. And a very classy upmarket Kitchen and Cellar shop. We bought our lunch in a small bakery which had a sign saying, apologetically, that they did not accept £50 notes. I would not know what they looked like if you waved one in my face.

Best of all was reading the local town magazine while having our afternoon tea. It is called the Southwold Organ. The first page inside is entitled Town Jottings where we discover that an application has been made to the town burghers for a rickshaw service to operate in Southwold. As you can see, one of the Councillors was expressing concern based upon his experience in London a while back when he was driven at breakneck speed by a Latvian.

The meeting was less than enthusiastic about requests it had received to operate rickshaws in Southwold. Cllr Tobin was concerned as taxis had to meet stringent requirements, and he felt more information was needed about their intentions and plans. Cllr Miller shared his own rickshaw experience. This had been some years ago in London when he had been pedalled around such places as Trafalgar Square at a tremendous rate by a Latvian. It had been horrific – not expensive, but terrifying. He ended by saying that Waveney had indicated it was not keen on rickshaws on the grounds of congestion, but he thought it should be on the grounds of safety. Rickshaws were very, very scary. The Town Mayor noted that it was difficult enough to get a car down the street. It would be chaos. The Deputy Mayor was equally unimpressed. They were not what Southwold was about. Cllr Windell was concerned about congestion and reluctantly agreed with Cllr Miller. It was a good idea, but not feasible. Both Cllrs Allen and Winter added the longer perspective. Cllr Allen remembered the pedalos of 15 years ago. They had caused problems then even with the traffic of that time. So rickshaws were not a good idea. Cllr Winter added that the matter of rickshaws had been discussed before by the Town Council several years ago, and had been turned down for the same reasons. The meeting agreed not to approve the requests.

Certainly not ! Couldn't possibly have rickshaws hurtling around out of control in Southwold. They are very, very scary !

Aldeburgh contd................

So, to continue the walk through Aldeburgh allotments.............................

I came across one chap who was walking down the lane and I chanced on a conversation, given that I was in the country and folk are supposedly friendly, who when I asked if he had an allotment, replied that he had the largest one in the whole of the allotments.

The story goes that he had a ten pole plot for some time. Then, twenty odd years ago, the council decided to give up its parish horse grazing field and add it to the plots. This was the equivalent of twenty poles. So my friendly allotmenteer applied and acquired half the field. Then when the other half sharer gave up he applied and got the entire twenty poles.

Now my quess is that this couldn't happen today because interest in allotments has grown so much that there must be a waiting list in every town and county.

Anyway, this kind allotmenteer was quite pleased to show me his plot/field/smallholding - twenty poles. It was surrounded by tall hedging on all sides and entry was gained via a secret garden style door. He had every space covered and I cannot imagine him ever buying a vegetable in a shop. Of particular interest was that he didn't have a hut. He had two or three shelters which kept his pots and trays and tools dry. These shelters were covered in clematis and other climbers, so you could not actually make them out. So there was nothing to break into and you would therefore not store valuables in the open air. This makes good sense on an allotment and is worth thinking about on a city allotment.

This wise allotmenteer indtroduced me also to the tree mallow which I had never come across. It self seeds and he has several giant versions of this decorating the plot. They are very attractive and again I shall look out for a seed for these (he wanted to offer me some but they were none forming just yet).

It pays to look out for allotments on a holiday like this if only to see what the other half of the UK are doing.

Aldeburgh

This is a short account of my holiday in Suffolk. It goes something like this.

We walked a lot. We talked a lot. We drank a lot of Adnams beer. We ate well.

And one of the highlights for me was the walking. As you may recall, I had a hip replacement last August and and have been recovering slowly but surely ever since. On this holiday I discovered the joy of walking. For the first time in twenty years I was able to stride out like a normal human being. No limping, no grimacing with the soreness and no stick. And to top it all, I felt good.

Which is why I fell in love with this walk. It started on the sea front at Aldeburgh by the fishermans huts. Walking along the sea front towards Orford you have to go down onto the driveway that leads to Aldeburgh sailing club and marina. It's easy to then find the footpath that leads you along the River Alde in the general upward direction of Snape. You travel about a mile or just less and take a clover path across the fens. This winds its way through the wonderful reeds and grass that make up the iconic scenery in Suffolk. You see herons feeding and hear the beautiful skylarks singing their hearts out as they ascend. This walk is truly transcendental. Eventually you come to some pastures where cows graze and stare as you traverse the well signposted footpath towards.........Aldeburgh allotments ! you reach them via a foorbridge and the footpath is routed right through the middle of the allotments. Can you imagine a better walk ?

I used to get up at 7am and do this walk before fetching fresh baked bread and the newspaper. I cannot think of a more life enhancing way to start the day.

Gnome goes to Cambridge

Gnome has been abroad again and has just returned from Cambridge and Suffolk. Posts over the next few days will be an account of his trip.

Land of the academic, Gnome was feeling like a fish out of water.Until from the balcony of his hotel room, he spotted a herd of bullocks feeding on the pasture on the opposite side of the River Cam. This is a popular route for students walking and cycling to their colleges. To see them travelling past this herd of cattle, with neither party batting an eyelid, brought the plight of the Madeira cow home to me. The juxta position of the cow in her shed and the bullock on the pasture said two things to me. Madeira is a very large mountain with very little flat surface other than that achieved by terracing. Cambridge is as flat as the proverbial bullocks pancake. Cambridge was designed for bullocks. Madeira was never intended for cows. It's a sad statement about Gnome's foreign travels this year. The land of the sad cow and the country of the satisfied bullock.

It also triggered memories of seeing the herd instinct being demonstrated to me several decades ago. The demonstrator went into the field of bullocks - possibly twenty of them if memory serves me well - and they all began to approach him, some at a run. He removed his jacket and placed it flat on the ground. The bullocks all came up to the jacket to see what it was, but amazingly they were all in a perfect semi circle. As the demonstrator moved closer to the jacket, this perfect semi circle of cattle all moved backwards. It was symmetry in motion !

Later in the day, Gnome went in search of a pub for a pre prandial pint. Within the centre of Cambridge this proved a challenge and the only pub that could be found was the Eagle. Like most pubs these days, it could not survive on beer alone and had an extensive menu which was served at numbered tables. I expect you have all been to something similar. It brought to mind the possibility of deciding to change meals when the food was arriving by jumping tables. It was in here that we enjoyed the humour of sharing a back room with two other parties. One, an American student entertaining his well heeled parents and two female students who were loudly talking about how strange it would be to save oneself for ones post celebate love. This included the graphic fantasy of lying waiting on a bed for the magical moment. The conversation was a bit more racy than this and I wondered how much time would go by before the wellheeled American party clocked what was being said across the room. "Hubert, we hope you are saving yourself, my boy !"

This being the land of books I was disappointed to discover that the local Oxfam book shop was not up to my standard. What is my measure for a good Oxfam book shop you ask. Good point. Basically it means that I can go in and browse for about twenty minutes and come out with at least one book with interest to me, or possibly a speculative read. Cambridge Oxfam definitely did not meet my standard. This is possibly because a lot of people sell books in Cambridge - either in shops or on market stalls. One supposes that students make money by selling their books, and the level of quality being donated to Oxfam is lower than other towns and cities. Another way of knowing that my standard is going to be met is by the way that books of interest are displayed - and turnover is important because shelf space can be continually filled. Now, one of the Oxfam shops in Edinburgh meets this exacting standard. They sell quite collectable early Penguins at £1.99 and display them in clear plastic wall hanging pockets. Thats an attractive way to display your wares. Another way of judging a good Oxfam book shop is the volunteer staff and their commitment to selling and knowledge of what they are selling. Take all these measures together and it adds up to the branch of Oxfam that hit the spot for me (leaving with a bag of four books that I genuinely wanted to read) - it's in Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Daylight Robbery !

So totally occupied was this wee timourous beastie that he never even blinked an eye when the picture was taken.

Gnome was in the greenhouse and heard a shout. "There's a thing in the bird feeder and it won't move. I can't hang the washing up." Gnome donned his John Wayne stance and strolled across the lawn. " I ain't gonna let that darned lil' crittur harm you ma'am." Slowly the washing got pegged and still the wee beastie munched on. At this point Gnome fetched a camera and returned to slowly walk up to the bird feeder . The mouse continued his feast completely oblivious to the presence of Gnome and the electronic beep of the camera. If it was the same mouse that entertained by jumping from thin strands of honeysuckle whenever a bird arrived to feed on the nuts above then it was highly improbable that he was deaf or old. Perhaps he was so hungry that nothing was going to stop him. The only benefit was that the seed beaten demolished was a type of seed that none of Gnome's garden birds were interested in. Consequently everyone in the garden was getting fed and nurtured.

And before you know....................

One minute they are not there and the next they are jumping.

It took only ten days for the beans to jump with joy at the thought of being released into the open air. Notice that the Italian borlotti style bean retains the inside of its shell almost like a pair of wings, or arms welcoming the world with the delight of a new born baby.

These are going up to the allotment today with then intention of getting them all in. There are approximatly 15 each of the Italian bean and 15 of the runner bean, an RHS recommended bean whose name has left me. I must start using the Allotment Notebook.

I dug a small bean trench and filled it with rotted compost from the compost heap. The amount of worms working away in there is astonishing. I left the trench open overnight to allow the birds to have a go. They will have as much a feast as the beans will have with regards their nutrition.

Bean Tubes

Saving all those toilet paper rolls certainly pays off when it comes to sowing beans.

I have calculated that a small supermarket plastic tray (no names, they might want it back) can contain approximately 40 upright tubes. This accommodated my broad beans ealier in the year and now has twenty runner beans and twenty of these borlotti style beans that I purchased in Italy last year. They have a red mottled pod and the beans are podded, boiled and dressed in olive oil and lemon juice, allegedly.They are also runners so shall let them share the same climbing frame. It's a lot of beans but like anything in season, it's great to have a glut which you can eat as much of at the time they are at their best.

I started the day with great intentions of planting out a lot of young plant but then the rain came on and it blunted my enthusiasm. I shall look forward to spending the day on the allotment on Sunday - so watch out for some live Tweets.