Southwold

Sunday Sevens #52 9.10.16

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Despite the fact we are well into October now, it’s been very warm again here in Gibraltar. As I sit at the dining table writing this, I have steam coming out of my collar!!

This week has been a rather busy one for me, there’s been nothing in particular, just lots of different stuff going on, so there was no midweek post from me this week. I hope you’ve had a good week, whatever you’ve been up to. Without further ado, here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens:

Across the Strait

This photo kind of sums up the weather we’ve been having for about half of this last week. I took the photo on Sunday afternoon when we took the Little Postcards to Europa Point park to let off a bit of steam on their scooters. You know when they are bouncing off the walls that you need to get out and exercise them like dogs!! The sky was crystal clear overhead but in the distance across at Morrocco there was a hazy mist which looked like someone had taken an eraser to the bit where the mountains touch the sea!

So for most of this week, in the afternoons  it has been clear, bright and hot (especially when standing outside the school gates waiting for the bell to go!) but the mornings have been misty and town was sitting under a heavy Levanter cloud with gusty winds whipping up the dust.

Dressmaking class


Sewing continued on the sample top I’m working on in my dressmaking class. The photo doesn’t show it to advantage as the back is still unfinished and open. Part of the exercise for this sample is to make up the front, then remodel the arm holes and neckline. This is before the remodelling takes place.

In addition to working on my sample top, I have also been making a skirt for my Mum who has been over visiting at the moment. A straight skirt with a small slit at the back and in a colour to compliment her new winter coat is underway. After several fittings and alterations, I am now about to machine stitch the side seams and hand sew the hem. Hopefully it will be ready for her when she returns before Christmas.

Watercolour class

After two weeks of pencil sketches, I finally got around to mixing some paint colours and worked my current project at my watercolour class this week. I just love the brightly coloured beach huts at Southwold, and wanted to work on a painting to reflect that. I’m working from a photograph taken by Mr Postcard of a stretch of predominantly blue and white ones, but have used a little artistic licence and injected more colour based on photos I took on our visit in the summer. I’m really enjoying painting this one. 🙂

Sea mist


We had everything crossed on Friday evening. After dropping my parents off at the airport to fly home, we returned to find our home had been engulfed by a real pea-souper of a sea mist. Just as their plane was due to land it got thicker and thicker.

Miraculously the plane landed. The two photos above were taken 30 minutes apart. The first one is of a tree about 100 metres from our apartment – there was no point taking one of the sea, it would have just been grey!

I’m very pleased to say that Mum and Dad made it back home safely and we look forward to seeing them again just before Christmas.

Autumn leaves


It’s October, and of course that means autumn. I do love autumn in the UK in a kind of bitter sweet way. It’s such a beautiful season with the colours of the leaves on woodland walks but it also spells the end of summer and all the fun which that season promises. Back when we lived in England, I kind of dreaded winter with the grey damp urgh kind of weather it could spell for weeks between the odd beautiful crispy frosty day.

One benefit of living here in Gibraltar is that although we do have seasons, they aren’t quite as noticeable as in England. Summer is undboubtedly hot and sunny and winter is often damp and grey but not quite as cold and depressing as I remember English winter days to be. That does mean though that spring and autumn aren’t quite as obvious as what’s experienced in the UK.

I remember feeling a bit homesick that first autumn after we moved to Gibraltar and I just couldn’t put my finger on what the problem was. Suddenly it hit me, the vast majority of the trees here on the Rock are evergreen and that meant there are very few leaves to crunch through and collect with little people. Autumn always used to mean Sunday afternoons spent at one of our nearest National Trust sites or parks collecting sticks, conkers and brown, red and golden leaves of all shapes and sizes to bring home. That just isn’t an option here.

In recent years though, a few new trees have been planted here and some of the ones in Commonwealth Park (which was built a couple of years ago) are deciduous. It was so nice to sit under the browning leaves on a bench for a while yesterday as the Little Postcards played football. We were all in T-shirts and shorts so it’s not really like autumn, but it was nice to pretend.

A new crochet project


After finishing my sixty million trebles blanket last week, I was free to crack open some of the lovely new yarn I bought at Yarndale a fortnight ago with a clear conscience. The gorgeous mohair and bamboo Louisa Harding Yarn I bought from Esgair Fibres had been calling me from my stash and really needed to be worked on as soon as possible! I’m using it to make a shawl/scarf for when the weather here turns a little bit fresher. It’s so lovely to use, the constantly changing colours which change even within just one treble stitch are gorgeous and it feels so nice between my fingers as I hook up another row.

 
PS : just one more thing…

A couple of people asked to see the finished picture that I posted two weeks ago from my watercolour class, here it is, mounted and ready to go to its new home in England.

 

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie from Threads & Bobbins blog.

(Natalie, if you’re reading this I hope you’re ok! You’ve been very quiet lately.)

Sunday Sevens #51 2.10.16

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Let the sewing begin!

Three weeks into our dressmaking course and we have finished with the pattern drawing and cutting and we are now in the process of constructing a sample top. Because it’s a sample, we are just using curtain lining material to make it, hence the rather boring photo. I’m eager to get this finished and move onto the next ‘real’ project.

Bunny bombshell

Bunny Postcard had a trip to the vets this week. We had been meaning to take him for months so that he could have some vaccinations to allow him to play out in our back patio. Now the weather is beginning to cool a little bit, we thought he might like to have a hop about outside. The first thing the vet said when she saw Bunny was ‘Oh what a lovely girl’. I thought nothing of it, thinking clearly she’s made a mistake…

Once the full medical was done, including checking his heart, ears, eyes and teeth, the vet cottoned onto the fact that we had never actually officially been told Bunny’s gender. Well the big news this week is that Bunny is officially a girl! It’s taken a bit of time for that news to sink in in certain quarters, but I’m thrilled to know that at last I am no longer the only female in the Postcard household!

Suspension 

When I flew back from Yarndale last weekend, not only did I bring with me a suitcase full of yarn and wonderful memories, I also brought my Mum and Dad with me too. They hadn’t been to see the Windsor suspension bridge yet so one afternoon this week, while the Little Postcards were still at school, we took a walk up the Rock and along the bridge. I have to say, since my last visit, a discernible creak has developed as you walk from one side of the gorge to the other which did put me slightly on edge. The view is still as stunning as ever from there though.

Not much painting going on…

Inspired by our summer holiday in Southwold back in August, I decided that my next paining project should include some of the beautiful beach huts you see along the seafront. Last week I spent the entire lesson trying to sketch out the huts freehand, and not using a ruler. Unfortunately due to the composition of the photo I’m using and it’s perspective, even when just one line was out of place, it made the whole thing look wonky and a bit rubbish.

This week after a quick refresher lesson on perspective, horizons and eyelines, my teacher very kindly gave me some tracing paper to get the skeleton of the picture down onto the paper so that at least next week I can start painting. Shhh, don’t tell anyone I cheated 😉

Interesting keyhole



I went exploring over the border in La Linea on Friday morning looking for yarn shops (not that I need to buy any more after Yarndale last weekend mind you). I had heard there were some and that they sold nice stuff. Thinking ahead to Christmas presents and such like I thought it was worth following it up.

Almost next door to a really lovely yarn shop, this most unusual keyhole caught my eye on the front door of an old building. There’s some really lovely architecture amongst all the late twentieth century and more modern apartments and shop fronts if you keep your eyes open. Next time, I need to take my camera with me….

Cake anyone? 

Yesterday, if you were in Gibraltar town centre there’s a good chance you were  ‘encouraged’ to part with your cash for raffle tickets and cakes for the Scouts. As two of the Little Postcards are in Scouts, there was a bit of baking going on this week for the annual cake stall fundraiser. My fairy cakes aren’t in this picture, they were hidden down at the other end of the stall… I photographed the pretty cakes instead 😉

Rainbow hope blanket completed


Begun on the last day of August (the very last day of the school summer holidays) and completed on the last day of September – it’s taken me a month to complete my contribution to the Sixty Million Trebles project. The blanket I made will join hundreds of others and be joined to make the worlds biggest ever blanket. It will be used to yarn bomb a site in London before being unpicked to make ‘normal-sized’ blankets which will go to charities in the UK and Syria.

The project is being run to raise awareness about the plight of the sixty million refugees who are displaced from their homes around the world at the moment. It will also raise funds for the cause too. It’s hoped that sixty million treble stitches will be crocheted to represent all the people who have been driven from their homes. Where ever my Rainbow Hope Blanket ends up, I hope it brings some hope to whoever receives it. This 36″ square blanket adds 10,656 trebles to the current count of almost five million.

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Nat at Threads & Bobbins. For more information about it, and if you would like to join in, why not  pop over to her blog.

 


Sunday Sevens #45 21.8.16

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An evening stroll up the pier

We were really blessed with perfect British Summer weather last week, even into the evenings. We enjoyed a lovely walk one evening and found ourselves back down at the beach and went for a wander along the lovely pier at Southwold. It’s a very interesting place – unlike any other pier I’ve visited elsewhere. Watch this space, there’ll be more coming up soon about this great venue.

Willow dragon

On Tuesday morning we drove to Potter Heigham and collected a day boat we’d hired to spend the day cruising the Norfolk Broads with four other Postcard family members. We have hired a small boat for a few hours before but this one was a bit bigger (to take 6 adults and 3 children) and we were able to explore a lot more. We moored up at St Benet’s Abbey and had a walk up to the ruins.

I had never heard of St Benet’s before this visit and it was a really beautiful surprise. It was  so peaceful and really picturesque. A local community project had produced this great willow dragon sculpture with yarn, ribbon and fabric woven into the willow body. There’s a local legend that a dragon lives in the tunnels below the Abbey and this was their representation of the mythical creature.

Rainbow cloud at sunset

Can you see the vertical rainbow in the cloud to the right of the biggest mast? I have never seen anything like this before. We had walked along to the harbour on the River Blyth from our little holiday home in Southwold one evening to get dinner at the Harbour Inn. As we sat outside on the picnic tables waiting for our food to arrive, I spotted the rainbow in the sky and thought it was just my sunglasses playing tricks on my eyes so paid it little attention until Mr Postcard spotted it and said he could see it too.

Unfortunately the photo doesn’t do the colours full justice but you can still just make it out. Have you ever seen such a thing before at sunset?

Now that’s a beach…

I’m afraid this section deserves two photos (Sunday Eights again this week…) This is the beautiful wide sandy beach at Gorleston-on-Sea. I know Gibraltar’s very proud of its beaches and rightly so, but come on… that is a BEACH! Also that’s a beach at peak season and there’s still loads of space. It’s even got a small paddling pool for young children and a boating lake (below).

A trip up the lighthouse


After two weeks admiring the lighthouse from below, both at night and during the day, we finally decided to climb it on our final day. It is a really elegant building and our tour guide was excellent, injecting humour into his extensive knowledge about the important role the lighthouse plays (thank you Brad).

I thought it would be a piece of cake to climb the 155 (I think) steps to the top, what with all my Med Steps training. What I hadn’t taken into account was the fact that the handrail on the stairs was a little lower than I would have liked and I had to walk up and down the staircase afraid to look down and pressed like a limpet to the wall! I’m such a wimp. I was very glad to be back on the ground at the end. The view from the top was worth it though.

All good things come to an end

It took 11 hours door-to-door, taxi, plane, taxi – one of the down sides of living so far away from family, but we finally made it home to Gibraltar from our summer holiday in England late on Friday evening. The day began with handing in the keys to our home for the past two weeks in Southwold, then our final Adnam’s breakfast (don’t tell anyone, but we’ve had a few Adnam’s breakfasts during our stay). We then got a taxi to drive us all the way from Southwold to Gatwick Airport.

As we set off the rain started, so I guess it was time for us to leave ;-). We had never seen Dartford Bridge before and the Little Postcards were all very impressed as we crossed the Thames and headed closer to the airport. Then as we flew south, a chance look out of the plane window gave me my last glimpse of the English south coast. So long England, we’ve had a wonderful month… I hope it won’t be too long until next time.

Post holiday blues

I know I’m spoiled, I’ve just had a fab month away in England, and I have returned to our lovely home in Gibraltar but I’m feeling a little blue. I have nothing at all to complain about but I do miss our family back in England and I miss lots of other things about living there. See I told you I was spoiled – how can I say that with this kind of view from our windows? I’m sure I’ll soon snap out of it once the reality of the huge pile of laundry has reduced and we get back into our routines!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have had a good week.

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series featuring seven photos from the past seven days. It was created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins, pop along to her blog to find out more.


Summer Craft Challenge 2016 Part 6

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Day 36 : Saturday 13th August


I know I’d only been working on this blanket for 8 days when I took this photo but there’s an awfully long way still to go!! I have crocheted every day so far and have used a complete ball of white wool edging the circles so far. As one Instagram and blogging friend Wakeymakes pointed out at least I’ll have good memories of the different locations where I’ve made all of the squares 🙂

Day 37 : Sunday 14th August 


Time for a spot of slow Sunday morning stitching at breakfast time…

Day 38 : Monday 15th August


It was the turn of the Little Postcards to be crafty on Monday morning with a pottery painting session at Gallery Thea in Southwold. This effort was a lighthouse, just like the one at Europa Point, by the Littlest.


Did you know that Monday was Granny Square Day 2016? Here’s my contribution to the collage blanket collated by @suregal27 on Instagram. I only had a few colours with me on holiday so I used the colours in my current blanket WIP. 

Day 39 : Tuesday 16th August


A new chunky wool project was begun on a boat on the Norfolk Broads. We hired a day boat and chugged around the Broads for about six hours, it was really lovely. I have run out of my white wool for my blanket WIP (cue : shock, horror, teeth gnashing) so I had to start something new that was portable. Littlest Postcard saw this rainbow wool in a wool shop last week and asked me to buy it and make him something. He’s getting a scarf if the wool lasts long enough…

Day 40 : Wednesday 17th August


We loved it so much at Rendlesham Forest last week that we made a return trip. We had a lovely woodland walk and I enjoyed a quiet few moments of crochet while Littlest Postcard enjoyed the adventure playground. 

I was also able to collect our pottery productions from Gallery Thea, they had rushed our painted bits and bobs through the kiln in time for us to pack them and take them back to Gibraltar with us. Littlest’s lighthouse came out really well 🙂

Day 41 : Thursday 18th August


One last pint of Adnams Spindrift sitting on the South Green in Southwold on the last night of our holiday.  We’ve had a wonderful two weeks here and are sad to be saying goodbye…

Day 42 : Friday 19th August


No craft today I’m afraid, for the first time this summer craft challenge I haven’t picked up a needle, hook or brush. This was our last glimpse of Blighty as we flew home to Gibraltar (I think we were near Southampton when I took it). Eleven hours door to door, we’re a little jaded, normal service will be resumed tomorrow…

A postcard from Walberswick

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Earlier this week we were joined by six other members of the Postcard family and took a short trip across the River Blyth from Southwold to Walberswick. For the princely sum of £1 you can be rowed across the river, but we were traveling in such a large group that we opted for four wheels rather than two oars to get there.

It’s a picturesque and peaceful spot popular with families who were out enjoying a bright summer’s day.

Walberswick is famous for something other than being pretty…. crabbing. It’s the home of the World Crabbing Championships after all, so we thought we’d have a go.  Armed with bait (bacon), a crabbing bucket, net and several crabbing lines we set off on a crabbing adventure.

After a long wait with our lines, we got a nibble, we got 3 or 4 in fact but each time we tried to pull the line up and out of the water the crab let go and plopped back into the water. Eventually, one of our party waded into the shallows and scooped up the ultimate prize in the net… a crab!!!

A neighboring family had much more success with a multitude of crabs, fish and even a bucketful of jellyfish. 

After Crabby the crab was returned to his home, we walked back towards the village centre – there are crabs everywhere round here!

And we ended up in this gorgeous little place nestled behind the Bell Inn. It’s called the Barn Café.

I had a gorgeous lunch of locally bred pork pie – delicious!

In the loos of the neighbouring pub there were crabs there too!

After lunch a short stroll took us into the village centre with its lovely village green.

Ooh it’s so pretty here with thatched cottages and gorgeous little gardens.

There are a few small shops selling local crafts, cakes and souvenirs.

We really enjoyed our trip to Walberswick- it was a treat for all the family.

We even brought a crab home with us!

A postcard from Southwold 

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Unless you are completely new to this blog, it won’t have gone unnoticed that we are currently on our summer holidays at Southwold in Suffolk. It’s a beautiful English seaside town which has loads of charm and character. 

It’s famous for its beach huts, lighthouse, beach and pier as well as the Adnams beer which is brewed locally. Mr Postcard grew up quite nearby, so Southwold has been a regular venue for day trips for us many times over the years while in Norfolk and Suffolk visiting his family. This time, however, is the first time we’ve actually stayed in the town. 

I thought we had probably seen all that it has to offer in the 20+ years we’ve been coming but I was wrong, one and a half weeks into our stay we are still finding quaint alleyways and new places we have never seen before. 


Would you like to join me for a look around? 

Southwold Museum

The little museum seems like as good a place as any to start… Manned by volunteers and open for just two hours a day it holds all sorts of relics from the towns past.

From figureheads from boats to fossils and mammoth teeth.

It has all sorts of bits and bobs relating to the town’s past, this little display was connected to the town’s tailor which is still operating as a clothes shop known as Denny’s. Whether they’ll make you a three piece suit out of tweed in this day and age, I’m not sure.

There were also lots of items relating to the religious life of the town with fragments of stained glass windows from the church of St Edmund’s which was close to a direct hit by German bombs during World War II.

Church of St Edmund’s

The church is home to Southwold Jack, a figure who strikes a bell with his sword. He was once part of a clock and chimed the time. He is an emblem for Southwold and even appears on the bottles of beer produced in the town.

It’s a beautiful big church…

There’s a fair amount of needlework on display here; in the choir stalls…

And in all the pews.

Riverside & harbour

Beside Southwold lies the River Blyth which offers the town a natural harbour. Here you can catch a ferry (rowing boat) across to the picturesque village of Walberswick on the other side.

It’s a really beautiful spot. We took a walk along the riverside on evening on a quest to find somewhere to have dinner. We were lucky enough to see a seal swimming in the harbour.

Along the riverside lie many black huts belonging to the fishermen who work these waters.


After a very pleasant walk we found ourselves at the Harbour Inn and enjoyed a lovely meal outside with the Little Postcards as the sun went down.


The Sailors’ Reading Room 

The Southwold Sailors’ Reading Room is a really special place. It’s a kind of club for sailors but it’s open to the public to visit for free. It’s filled with photographs of sailors from years gone by and photos, paintings and models of their boats too. Cameras are not permitted inside, so I can’t show you the interior but it really is worth a visit. 



Lighthouse

The town is dominated by the Trinity Lighthouse. Nestled in amongst the terraced cottages and next to a pub, it’s open for visitors to climb the many steps to the top to look out across the sea and coastline.

RNLI

The RNLI has a strong presence in Southwold. In summertime there’s a lifeguard station and all year round there’s a lifeboat station, manned as always by brave volunteers. There’s even a museum dedicated to the great work these amazing people do and have done over the many years they’ve been on duty here. 

On our first day here, we were lucky enough to see a display by the local lifeboat and the larger lifeboat (below) from nearby Lowestoft. As you can see, hundreds of people turned out to see the event from the cliffs and the beach as the lifeboat crews staged rescues of surfers, a fishing boat crew and swimmers.

The town 

The town of Southwold itself is beautiful. It’s filled with many independent shops including great food shops, a big favourite of ours was the Two Magpies Bakery (my waistline will testify to that fact!)


Behind the town lies the common complete with it’s two striking water towers, and also currently, the circus.


There are so many beautiful buildings lying up alleyways and tucked away off the beaten track.

Oh, and there’s a brewery here too… I think I may have found a new favourite tipple 😉

If you should happen to be in this neck of the woods, I would really recommend a trip to Southwold. We just can’t help keep coming back for more…

Sunday Sevens #44 14.8.16

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We’re still on our summer holidays in Suffolk and have had a really lovely week. The weather has been kind to us most of the time and we’ve been able to get out and about a lot, here’s a few of the things we’ve been up to:

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside…


I had the prom to myself on my Monday morning run. It meant I could ogle the gorgeous beach huts without feeling too self conscious. I have long been an admirer of these little wooden huts in all their gorgeous rainbow colours…

We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo


We had a lovely day out at Kessingland Africa Alive Zoo near Lowestoft. The sun shone (most of the time) and we saw loads of lovely animals. Two of the bravest little Postcards got to hold millipedes at the minibeast presentation. Apparently they tickled… Needless to say I was too squeamish to attempt such a thing 😉

Paddling


We got up bright and early one morning and almost had the beach to ourselves. We had a few hours there before heading off to do other things. One of the joys of staying close to the beach has meant we can have several shorter beach trips rather than committing to a whole day there. 

Transport Museum


As one of the Little Postcards is an avid fan of all things public transport related, we often pay a visit to the East Anglia Transport Museum at Lowestoft when we’re in this part of the world. There are trams, trolley buses, a steam train, buses galore and a steam powered road roller. 

Manned by enthusiastic volunteers the museum is an interesting day out for young and old alike (even those of us who don’t get over excited by such things 😉 ).  It’s really well maintained and the collection is constantly being added to and restored. A great favourite for us was the ‘Half-decker bus’ which was designed to hold more passengers than a single decker but still be able to fit under low bridges:


The staggered seating areas were like small train compartments and really cosy. The central corridor led to both upper level and lower level seating. It was a really ingenious use of space – shame this is the only example of this kind of bus still remaining today.

The Cathedral of the Marshes


The church of the Holy Trinity at Blythburgh is striking as it rises above the marshes of the Blyth estuary. Known as the Cathedral of the Marshes, a church has stood on this site for 1400 years. It has a stunning carved wooden ceiling with angels running the length of the roof. The cemetery is a wildlife sanctuary which is maintained in such a way as to promote both the plants and creatures which live there. We always stop and pay the church a visit on the way past, it’s really tranquil spot. 

Rendlesham


We headed to Rendlesham Forest for a lovely woodland walk on a very sunny morning last week. It is such a beautiful place, one we have never visited before. It was the site of a series of famous UFO sightings in 1980 and there’s a specially marked out UFO Trail you can follow to see where the sightings were. Aside from the extra terrestrial side of things it’s a really lovely spot.

For the love of lemon bonbons 


There’s a lovely old-fashioned sweet shop here in Southwold and we have found ourselves drawn to it a couple of times. I have reaquainted myself with the delights of the bonbon on this holiday, rhubarb and custard flavour were very nice but my all time favourite has to be lemon… Yum!

I hope the last seven days have been kind to you. Thank you very much for stopping by!

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series featuring seven (whoops eight again this week 😉 ) photos from the past seven days. It was created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins blog, check her blog out if you want to find out more.

Summer craft challenge 2016 Part 5

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Day 29 : Saturday 6th August 


Making circles while sitting outside the Red Lion at South Green in Southwold. We drank Adnams Spindrift out of plastic glasses in the evening sun, the perfect end to a sunny summer day. 

Day 30 : Sunday 7th August


Another Adnam’s beer to accompany my circle making on Sunday evening. I am on holiday and I’m supporting the local brewery so I think it’s a good thing… food miles and all that 😉 Slowly does it with this blanket…

Day 31 : Monday 8th August


Making the most of a few spare moments before heading out for dinner by squaring a few circles.

Day 32 : Tuesday 9th August


Early morning on the beach and we were lucky to have much of it to ourselves. While a major feat of civil engineering was begun (a sand fort with double walls) I set about on my first pink circles for my current blanket project.


Back at home with a cup of tea in the late afternoon, once the cloud rolled in and made the beach a bit too cool the cross stitch beach huts made another appearance. 

Day 33 : Wednesday 10th August


Making a few more Fondant Pink circles while sitting in the driveway of our holiday cottage waiting for Little Postcards to wake from their hire car slumbers… Silence was golden but it didn’t last too long 😉

Day 34 : Thursday 11th August


A spot of evening crochet before heading to bed 🙂

Day 35 : Friday 12th August


Time for a colour change on a picnic in Rendlesham Forest.

And finally…


Do you remember the crochet wreath I was working on last week? Well it’s finished and has arrived at its new home so I can reveal it in all it’s glory now. I think it turned out ok 🙂


A postcard from Southwold Pier

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We may be back at home in Gibraltar now, but a little bit of me has been left behind in Southwold, where we ended our lovely month in England. In fact there has been a little bit of me (and Mr Postcard) in Southwold for over a decade now, but more on that later.

Southwold is famous for many things, the pretty town centre, the beach huts, the brewery, the harbour, the fish and chips, the church etc etc but the place we always associate with our visits to the town is the pier.

In its (first) heyday, at the turn of the last century,steam liners used to moor at the end of the pier and allow holiday makers to alight and enjoy the delights the town had to offer before rejoining the ship and moving on to their next destination.

Over the years since then it’s been damaged by storms, shortened during the war, rebuilt and extended. It’s length has changed from 250m at it’s longest to just 18m at it’s shortest.

In the late 90s new investment was pumped into the pier and it was repaired and extended to the size it is now, the final T-shaped end being completed in 2002 so that the last seagoing paddle steamer, the PS Waverley could once again call at the town.

Fans, or should I say, parents of fans of the CBeebies programme Grandpa in my pocket may recognise the pier as one of the venues used to film the show. Miss Smiley’s café was on the pier.

When you first arrive on the planks of the pier, you can see beautiful mosaic tables all around you. They are for the restaurant which is situated at the start of the pier.

Most of the time that we were there during the last two weeks, all the tables were taken – I only managed to get photos of these two! Fish and chips seemed to be a popular choice on the menu when we were passing.

One feature which always has a small group admiring it is the water clock. Built by locally based inventor Tim Hunkin, it puts on a special performance every half hour.

Starting with a couple of bathers who squirt water out at you as the time approaches the hour or half hour, various parts of the clock move.

The actions move lower down the clock tower until a row of red tulips pop up and two boys drop their trousers to have a wee! (Those of an easily offended disposition; please look away now!)

There are many shocked giggles from the children and a few sharp intakes of breath from some of the adults, amazed that such shenanigans should be allowed!

Another of Tim Hunkin’s creations is the Under the Pier Show, an amusement arcade unlike any other you will see elsewhere. Full of home made machines including the Zimmer frame masterclass for crossing a road (below) to the motorised dog on a treadmill which gives players the opportunity to experience dog walking if they don’t own one themselves.

Along with eating establishments, there are also a couple of gift/souvenir shops selling beachy type things.


There’s even a micro bandstand!

Now to the plaques. Any visitor to the pier won’t fail to notice the hundreds and hundreds of plaques which run along the rails around the wooden promenade. Each one tells a different story. People can pay for a plaque to be mounted somewhere on the pier, the money is then invested in the fabric of the building to preserve it for future generations – a form of crowd funding, if you like.

Some are in memory of special people, some remember happy holidays spent in Southwold, others are for special birthdays. There was even a book compiled by a local writer who told the stories behind some of the many plaques on show.

Our most memorable wedding present was one of these plaques. It ws a great surprise for us when Mr Postcard’s Mum and Dad revealed that we were having our own plaque made. I can remember being led along the pier to see it for the first time.

Each of the Little Postcards, has been brought to the pier to be photographed in front of our plaque in their pram with the seaside town and lighthouse in the background. We have a lovely series of photos here as our family has grown and got bigger over the years.

So there you have it, that was my Postcard from Southwold Pier, a special place for us. I do hope you have enjoyed it 🙂

Sunday Sevens #43 7.8.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 11 Comments

It may be our summer holidays at the moment but we’ve packed a lot in this week: three train journeys, two big cities, two woodland walks and two trips to the coast (one on the Irish Sea, the other on the North Sea).

All aboard!

The Abbotsfield Park Miniature Railway is a must-do destination on our stays in Manchester. Myself and my brother were regular visitors to the Sunday-only train track and it’s grown in size over the years. 

Manned by enthusiastic volunteers who charge just 30p each for a ride around the circuit of track. It’s great value for money and really good fun. I may have to borrow some children when mine are too old to be interested in it any more so I can still go for a ride 😉

Sale Water Park

I’ve not visited Sale Water Park in years so we made the most of a dry sunny afternoon and headed there for a waterside woodland walk. 

Another train trip…


Monday morning meant another train trip for us, this time it was a short hop over to Liverpool to visit some friends (another family who once lived in Gibraltar and  have moved back to England with work). We had a fantastic day out visiting museums and seeing the sights. The trip deserves a whole post of its own so there will be one on its way soon.

Dandelions


I’ve not blown a dandelion clock for years. It was 12 o’clock apparently. The Postcard family did their bit for dandelion propagation at the local park.

A trip to the beach…

It’s August, we’re on our holidays – let’s go to the beach! We drove to Formby Point National Trust on the Lancashire coast to see the sand dunes and red squirrels. It was rather windy and we got well and truly sandblasted. My face was tingling hours later! We had a lovely walk though through the pine forest and it stayed dry so I’m not complaining.

A long journey 


On Friday morning we were up with the larks and off on the next leg of our trip. Mr Postcard checked Bunny into his health farm and flew to join us the night before. 8am saw us in central Manchester catching the train south & east. By late afternoon we’d finally arrived in beautiful Southwold our home for the rest of our holiday. 

RNLI Lifeboat week

The RNLI celebrated lifeboat week off the beach at Southwold yesterday. The local lifeboat crew was joined by the one from nearby Lowestoft and rescued surfers, swimmers and fishermen from peril in the dramatic display. The great weather brought crowds to the beach and the promenade above to watch the spectacle. What an amazing job these hero volunteers do. 

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins blog. It gives bloggers the chance to link up and feature seven photos from the last seven days. To find out more about it, pop over to Threads & Bobbins for more info. 

Until next time, thanks for stopping by 

🙂