We had an email from Nancy Young a neighbour in Toowoomba wih the suggestion that we might visit Colchester and Constable country where her sister Sue (pictured above with Carol)lives in a small village called Langham. We had met Sue when she visited Toowoomba,so I gave her a call and she was more than pleased for us to call on her. The drive down was all major highway and took us past Stanstead Airport which was useful as we are flying out from there for Iceland next week. Colchester is the oldest Roman settlement in England and we could easily spend a day touring around there. We did visit the magnificent 11th century castle which is in remarkable condition for it's age. Colchester itself has survived a Norman invasion, a siege during the English civil war (Oliver Cromwell and that lot) and an earthquake in the 19th century. We also visited the ruined Priory buildings an original monastery from the 12th century - which although a real ruin was well depicted in it's original form with imaginative illustrations at the site.
We drove out to Langham, Navigator Carol doing another superb bit of work with the occasional blast at the driver -"I said take the second left you ******* ignoramus -get a bloody hearing aid" All in good fun of course!!
Sue lives in a lovely house set on an expansive garden block just off the motorway. We had a drink and Sue rang David and Nancy to have a brief chat. That's when we found out that David's planned itinerary for their visit in May/June included a visit to us at Ramsey during the time that we plan to be in Norway! The school half term is the only time we can get to Norway to see Sarah and Baard so we are waiting to hear what alternative plan can be made.
Langham is in the centre of the district know as Constable country. The famous Landscape artist was born here and painted his memorable works around this area .We drove to Dedham a glorious village where we visited the church which was a lot larger than the usual village church due to the village having been the home of a large weaving industry. The photos above are of Flemish weavers cottages which have been maintained and still comfortably habitable. After a pint of ale in the old pub we took off for Flatford.
This is a National Trust project commemorating Constable's life, and needs really to be visited in dryer weather as walking is de rigeur. However we managed toget a very good idea of this beautiful part of England.The top left photo is of Willy Lott's house a farmhouse built about 1600 and part of the National trust.
Back to Sue's for a delicious late lunch. While feeding ourselves it started to snow and actually just settled onto the ground before stopping thank heavens - driving on snowy roads is something my navigator is reluctant to trust me with!
Sue gave us directions for a quicker route home and we made it back in excellent time having had a most enjoyable day.
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