The Ancient
Kingdom of East Anglia
By Caroline M. Jackson
The ancient kingdom of East
Anglia – that balloon of land north east of London – may be as flat as a
Dutch pancake but it is far from featureless. Originally made up of north
folk (Norfolk) and south folk (Suffolk), the landscape immortalized by the
painter, John Constable, is punctuated with picture-perfect windmills,
Norman churches and medieval villages. ) The coastline is fringed with
swathes of sandy beaches, salt marshes, and fascinating fishing ports
including King’s Lynn, birthplace of Captain George Vancouver. The
absence of mountains also makes this region Britain’s driest and sunniest
spot. Watch the BBC weather forecast and often a sunshine icon will be
hovering over the East of England even when other areas are experiencing
inclement weather. Perhaps this is why the TV scouts chose the East of
England as the setting for programs such as Kavanagh QC, Lovejoy and P.D.
James Mysteries.
The closest major airport
is Stansted just south of Cambridge or you can drive from London and spend
the night in my favorite gateway village, Lavenham. This unspoiled example
of a Tudor village is one of the prosperous Suffolk wool towns. Slow down
your pace after the fast drive north on the M11 and you will truly unravel
skeins of colorful history. If you have a purse of sovereigns, treat
yourself to a night at 15thC Swan Hotel which is a veritable honeycomb of
fascinating nooks and crannies, sloping ceilings and low timbered doorways
which one is wise to commit to memory. Of particular note is the
hotel’s Elizabethan Wool Hall.
In the morning, amble along
Lavenham’s narrow streets and lanes with their timber-framed buildings and
pastel-washed cottages. A notice flapped in the breeze on the
door of the Village Hall. It read: “Tonight Mr. Wheeler will be
giving a talk on Graveyards, Cemeteries and Epitaphs”. A town truly
steeped in the past, the High Street boasts many quaint craft, china, gift
and teashops with perfect bow windows. Look upwards to admire facades with
unusual raised plaster motifs. Called pargeting, these decorations
especially the fleur-de-lys, are signs associated with the wool trade.
To get a flavor of local history, visit the magnificent 16thc Guildhall.
Over the years it has served as a place for feasts and pageants, a town
hall, a workhouse, an almshouse and a wool store. Today it is managed by The
National Trust and the museum is well worth a visit. Lavenham was famous for
its blue broadcloth which was ‘dyed in the wool’ rather than after being
woven into lengths of cloth. Wander around the walled garden which explains
the common plants used by dyers of yore. Near the adjacent mortuary and
prison, an aging sign advertises that the church sexton will for a Shilling
toll the bell in memory of the deceased. Those of us in the land of the
living, however, should opt for a refreshing cup of tea and home baking in
the adjacent tearoom complete with minstrel gallery. Before departing
from Lavenham, drop by one of England’s finest parish churches, the 15thC
Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul. If you are a church aficionado,
this will be the first of 2,000 churches for you to visit in the East of
England.
Just ten miles north of
Lavenham is the beautiful market town of Bury St Edmunds with its 10thC
Benedictine Abbey ruins. We arrived in the early afternoon and being a
Wednesday, the market was bustling with shoppers laden with wicker shopping
baskets. The cheese stall was doing a brisk business selling bargain priced
Cardinal Sin which comes from Monastery cheese makers in Somerset. Since the
vendor had sold out of this particular delicacy, I asked her if she had
anything else. “Oh yes,” she said, “I’ve got Stinking Bishop. She
must have seen the horrified look on my face so she explained that the
cheese is poured through the rind of a Bishop pear. I bought some and it
tasted delicious. Another popular stall was the sausage counter where locals
were buying rings of sausages with unique combination of ingredients: Wild
boar with fruits of the forest, Pork & Stilton, Gressingham duck and
orange.
Our next destination was
Norwich which in the Middle Ages was the third largest city in England
complete with city wall and castle. Its Norman Cathedral built of pale cream
limestone brought over from Normandy, is one of England’s finest. In the
Nave, look in the centrally placed mirror and admire the 15thc stone bosses
in the vaulted roof. Norwich has the most complete medieval street pattern
in England with 1,500 historic buildings, cobbled streets, fine Georgian
houses and a daily market. Our itinerary wasn’t elastic enough to check
them all out, but after negotiating the maze of narrow streets, we were most
impressed with the magnificent Dragon Hall - a medieval merchant’s house
and nearby, the cell of 14thc English mystic, Juliana of Norwich. Her book
“Revelations of Divine Love” was the first known book in the English
language to be written by a woman.
After a refreshing
night’s sleep at Stower Grange just northwest of Norwich, we drove towards
the coast. En route, we decided to check out Pensthorpe Waterfowl Park
which is one of Europe’s finest collections of endangered and exotic
water birds. Our ten-minute visit expanded to a couple of hours as we
wandered round the gargantuan aviaries housing nesting birds. Outdoors,
armed with binoculars and camera, we sauntered around the 200 acres of lakes
and meadows. Our eyes feasted on colorful harlequin ducks, scarlet ibis and
the amazing antics of a male ruff which goes to great lengths to scare off
intruders.
Continuing north, we drove
through the villages of Little Snoring and Great Snoring towards Walsingham
which drew pilgrims in the Middle Ages. Dubbed England’s Nazareth, it has
often been compared to Lourdes in France and Fatima in Portugal. Today
around half a million pilgrims from many parts of the world visit the Shrine
of our Lady of Walsingham and the Roman Catholic Slipper Chapel. It would be
easy to spend a whole day here walking along the Holy Mile, visiting the
Holy Wells and many churches and wandering around the ruins of the
Augustinian abbey set in seven acres of peaceful gardens and woodlands.
From Little Walsingham we climbed aboard the miniature steam railway for a
four mile ride through farmland and poppy fields north to Wells-next-the-Sea
which before the encroachment of sand dunes, used to be Wells-on-the-Sea.
The North Norfolk Heritage
Coast is wild and windy, its sandy beaches shouldered with dunes and pine
forests. From Wells, we hiked the length of the boardwalk then along
the beach past rows of colorful bathing huts set high on stilts. After
trudging barefoot along the sea fringe, we sat on a wooden groyne and
watched the sandpipers playing tag with the incoming tide. Wistfully I
looked westwards towards the setting sun. I’d like to have walked further
along the Norfolk Coast Path then visited the Stately Home at Holkham Hall
and the Queen’s summer home at Sandringham but all that would have to wait
for another visit, another time.
Travel
tips:
Unlike
much of the rest of the UK, this area is not overrun by tourists. Locals are
friendly and tourist offices are chock-a-block with good info and free
brochures. On arrival at cathedral towns like Norwich, pick up a map
listing short term and long term parking spots. It is also wise to
ascertain market days ahead of time.
Visit
Britain http://www.visitbritain.com
