There and Back

One of the many things I look forward to in Spring, are the amazing colours all around us. After a period of months throughout winter when all can be dull and bare, the arrival of a world of colour is great to look forward to. Here are some colourful images taken as spring arrives. A mass of Bluebells in Layham Grove Buttercups galore!  Pink Dogwood I think. Just behind our house. On the riverside by Layham Mill The shades of greens  you see in the field and hedgerows are amazing. As well as a whole mass of colour, there are individual splashes of colour, many of which only appear this time of year. So in the hedges and side of the road --- Dandelion - a weed we call them, but lets face it, they are pretty! Alway a good sign when the first of the Orange Tips appear. And then the beautiful display of May Blossom in the hedgerows. How can you not notice spring with all its beauty.  Index of posts  

Although I have been through Diss several times, I had never been into the town centre and was unaware of the Mere. So a visit today to rectify this! Diss acquired its name from the Saxon word 'Dic' or 'Disce' meaning a 'ditch of standing water' which I assume refers to what in now the mere. One of it`s famous residents was Sir John Betjeman, who loved Diss above all East Anglian towns, and often said he was more proud of being president of the Diss Society than he was of being Poet Laureate - some complement. So here follows some of the thing seen as I meandered around. The Diss sign is topped with a shield bearing the town’s coat of arms, two sets of blue and white wavy lines. The sign (below) is two sided, with both sides depicting stories related to royalty – though the stories are separated by nearly 300 years. “John Skelton Rector of Diss (1505-1529) Poet Laureate and tutor to the young Prince Henry (Later Henry VIII) give instruction to the prince and his...

Having read the following article in the news, I was intrigued to see for myself what this `object` was. Here it is described on the Ipswich Borough Council site: Ipswich Borough Council is delighted to announce the successful switch-on of the first-ever Portal in the United Kingdom, the fifth Portal worldwide, now live in Ipswich’s historic Cornhill. Designed as a window between distant countries and cultures, the Ipswich Portal now offers residents and visitors a way to meet people from around the world. Unveiled at 1pm on Wednesday 22 October, the Ipswich Portal connects to a growing network of identical Portals, currently located in Vilnius (Lithuania), Lublin (Poland), Dublin (Ireland) and Philadelphia (United States). Together, they serve as a bridge to a united planet, inviting communities around the world to meet and share cultures, beyond the borders of our countries. Ipswich is ranked among the top 10 UK locations for start-ups and has the fifth-fastest growing economy in the...

At the heart of the village of Stowlangtoft is St George's church, a magnificent Perpendicular building erected around 1370. It is thought to stand on the site of a former Roman camp. The church was built in one concerted effort, and as a result, is a beautiful example of early Perpendicular Gothic without later embellishments. The major patron was the lord of the manor, Robert Dacy de Ashfield, who was buried in the chancel in 1401. Also buried in St George's is Peter Tillemans (d. 1734), one of the most influential painters of sporting scenes in English history. The church was restored in 1855 by William White. It retains the base of a 15th century painted screen, and 15th-century benches in the nave with carved poppyhead ends. There are more 15th-century benches in the chancel, with several nicely carved misericords, brought to Stowlangtoft from either Thetford Priory or Bury St Edmunds Abbey at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The Marble `altar reredos` in the church has...

This particular year (2025) appears to have been a very fruitful one for all sorts of `fruits of nature` - I guess a damp spring and a long dry, warm summer have all contributed to this wondrous crop on all the hedgerows in the countryside. Here are just a few images taken on the countryside around where I live and walk. Rose Hips - common enough but prolific this year. Snowberry (Symphoricarpos Albus) - is considered an invasive plant in the UK because it can spread aggressively and outcompete native species. It was introduced by the Victorians for game bird cover and now forms dense thickets through its fast-growing root systems, suppressing the growth of surrounding plants. Blackberries - a fruit which most of us a familiar with but which were only introduced into America in the mid 19C A Pyracantha (Firethorn) hedge is a dense, evergreen, and thorny hedge that produces white flowers in late spring, followed by clusters of red, orange, or yellow berries in the fall, which attract ...