Exploring Woodland and Coast

February has been such a lovely sunny and dry month and we have been exploring some coastal areas and enjoying some woodland walks.

It's not Cornwall but there is sand, there was sunshine and the sea lapping on the beach sounds just the same. 

We parked at Winterton-on-Sea which is about 90 minutes from us and walked along the beach with friends.

Some chose to go at a 'serious' walking speed to cover maximum distance and find the main seal colony, closer towards Horsey Gap - but they're in training for half marathons - and others were happy to trog along at a more leisurely pace, happy to encounter the odd seal pup and its mum, rather than hundreds.  So, with a lunchtime arrangement to meet back at the Fisherman's Retreat in Winterton for some pub grub, we ambled on.

And walking back through the dunes, up and down the sandy trails, back and forth through the grasses, with the sun on your face - I really was reminded of Hayle in Cornwall - Lovely. And the dogs, away from the seal pups and off the lead, had a great time

Apparently we were on the Norfolk Coast Path!

Lunch at the pub was scrumptious, in a brightly decorated dining room with comfy sofas, friendly staff and a convivial ambiance. The Fisherman's Retreat can be highly recommended.

Woodland: we have an estate near us - Thornham - that allows us to walk through their grounds almost every day of the year. The 12 miles of ancient woodland and parkland has paths and tracks and a small cafe with woodburning stove and the best gluten free lemon polenta cake I have ever tasted.

There is parking at Thornham but I usually park a little further away, near a sweet little church and take the footpaths and bridleways across to Thornham Walks, allowing the dogs a bit more of a run before putting them on the leads in the estate itself.

The estate has a walled garden that is now looked after and cultivated by Beyond the Wall who have a seasonal plant stall. The grounds also hide a folly and woodcarvings and sculptures, a children's play area with mythical creatures carved into fallen trees and benches and other natural curiosities but a little bit of natural art caught my eye, a woodland monster slithering through the winter leaf mould, reminding me of Nessie on Loch Ness

And the snow drops are out and whispering that spring is on its way

whilst running a little white carpet through the trees

and the first primrose of the year welcoming us back to the wee church.

Another couple of weeks and the graveyard will be full of primroses reflecting the sunshine and cheering on the spring.

Now Felixtowe is not necessarily a coastal venue I would have chosen as a day out but since we had an appointment there one afternoon we thought we would make the most of the trip and parked up and found this little gem. The Spa Gardens and Sea Front Gardens are along the Promenade between the Pier and Cobbolds Point.

They aren't quite Tremenhere Gardens or St Michael's Mount but nevertheless they do have some exotic plants and a return trip will be on the agenda in sunnier times to investigate the rose garden and what plants reveal themselves in summer months - not least to ensure I return to this little eatery. 

Nestled within the gardens is Clifftop Cafe. Oh wow ...... inside with the art on the walls, cappuccino in a bowl sized cup and a slice of warm gluten free pear and ginger upside down cake, I could have been in St Ives in Cornwall. Even the musical play list was cool. Bliss!

The view from our table tried its very best to be stunning but the Suffolk sea just lacks the blue of Cornwall. Is it ever blue? Probably not but again I reiterate "the lapping of the waves sound the same" and I will always be guilty of looking for silver linings. A bit of sea air and that 'edge of the world' expanse. Wonderful.

February has shown me several silver linings, including some happy guests in our Piggery.

And it really does feel like spring is on its way, beautiful birdsong, longer and lighter days, ducks on the pond, daffodils poking their shoots through, buds on all the trees and hares racing around in the fields. Fab!

And into the New Year we go

A busy October and then a quiet November and December at Potters Farm allowed us to get on with overdue projects, enjoy some dog walks and 'trip' into the New Year feeling like we had caught up a little bit. 

Two dogs became three as I had my son's dog to stay in November and she is very photogenic. 

I love a walk in the woods, moss, trees, funghi .... what's not to like? But we have a community meadow close by and an investigative walk revealed some interesting sculptures.

Christmas was a family affair here. A Suffolk family affair as the clan gathered at ours for the first time. It was lovely to be able to host Christmas Day nosh and tomfoolery and fairly stress free as everyone contributed, sharing the catering and bringing roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings, 2 turkeys and scrumptious puddings with us just doing veg and some gluten free bits and scavenging enough cutlery, crockery and chairs to go around the combined tables. Super fun ..... but for the chest infection that laid me personally a little low and got me out of all the washing-up!

I had a little R&R in Austria with some great gals for a few days and now we are back trying to ensure The Piggery is warm enough for our guests. 

Our Airbnb space is open plan which has advantages - you get a light, airy space and you can watch TV in bed - but as the winter months have enveloped us and we are not as full as the summer months with regard to guest numbers, managing and particularly heating the studio for guests has become a new challenge.  

In the summer, the sunshine kept The Piggery at a comfortable temperature, windows and doors could always be opened to cool the space and the thermostatically controlled radiator only ever needed to turn on in the evenings. Keeping The Piggery comfortable in winter has been more difficult. With fewer guests we don't want to leave the heating on full blast all the time, clearly that is not environmentally friendly and does not make economic sense. We have tried to compromise by having the heater on very low when no guests, giving ourselves a 48 hour booking lag, rather than same day, so the heater can be turned up prior to guests arriving and adding a portable gas stove to the space, which can boost the ambient warmth instantly, plus providing a snuggle blanket for sofa and/or bed. 

These things help but still do not always make every guest as comfortable as they would like to be. Part of our problem is that we are not a super heated Premier Inn. We are much prettier than a Premier Inn inside, and out with an eclectic collection of aesthetically pleasing furnishings, kitchen area for producing your own scrummy food, as many tea or coffee sachets as you want, complimentary milk and a small colourful shower room, big bath sheet towels and mature trees and a green space visible from every Piggery window but in the winter you do need to bring some extra clothing layers when you stay, whether that be cardigans, jumpers, bed socks and/or a hot water bottle - if you don't have anyone to snuggle with. 

I consider The Piggery to be a heathy temperature - very similar to our farmhouse - but it is weather dependent and if the temperature outside is "freezing" or below, then The Piggery will only manage a background heat of 14-17 degrees C with the radiator.  The gas stove will improve that, as does the winter sunshine on the building but you may still not be able to barefoot it around in shorts and a T- shirt!

The truth of the matter is that we appeal to some people and most people come prepared, pack appropriate clothing according to the weather and enjoy their sojourn with us. There are information pages to read in The Piggery, as guidance on how to use facilities but we are here to ask or phone if the instructions don't make sense. And simple things like shutting the doors to ensure warmth stays in the shower room - and doesn't get lost into the open plan area - and when unpacking and packing the car, remembering to push the outside door shut, to keep what warmth is inside, inside. These are strategies that make a guests' stay as comfortable as we would like it to be for them. I also work on the premise that super heated homes are not that healthy for us! And we like to encourage good health, mental and physical and an ethic of recycling whilst you are with us.

Inevitably, for some we are 'not quite what they were expecting' which is why the blog is here and I try to make our Airbnb advert as accurate as I can (although sometimes I get caught out with small print Airbnb have auto filled and I have not read), to make us as transparent as possible and ensure when you overnight with us you can fully enjoy all that is nice about our bright and airy space, with its classy wall mirrors and giant carved wooden bed, hot towel rail and comfy mattress, its privacy and peace, gorgeous green space surrounding and amazing lack of light pollution on a starry night.

Warbleswick Walk in November

I have yet to discover much of Suffolk but I have discovered Warbleswick and I love to walk there. The dogs love it too, we park off Lodge Road near East Sheep Walk and wander down through the trees onto Oldtown Marshes, across the footbridges and Corporation Marshes and down to the pebble beach.

The sea might not be the same colour as in Cornwall but the waves echo the same sounds on the shingle and  elicit the same feeling of space and freedom. Lovely.

And the flotsam and jetsam is similar, with the sea sculpting tree trunks into strange shapes and mouldings.

Along the coast path we wander, towards the beach huts and the ferry.

Past the pubs and the shops with lovely cards and selections of jewellery and clothing, books and curios. There's a couple of cafes too but I prefer to walk on up through the village to the Black Dog Deli for coffee and Polenta Cake, if they have it. The quiches and lunch snacks are also delicious, as are the takeaway salads. There is even a bench just outside the deli, under the awning and a small garden area to the side if you want to sit and enjoy your purchases and to ensure your comfort there are blankets kept in a blanket box by the door to provide some extra warmth whilst you sit, should you need it. 

Then on up through the village, branching back onto Lodge Road and taking the bridleway alongside Hoist Covert and back to the car through the woodland and pathways.

4.3 miles and it took us 2.5 hours but I am sure you could do it quicker without so many dog photos and coffee stops!

 

Suffolk has been kind

Well harvest has long since been and gone and every last bit of green grass has turned yellow. The fields have cavernous cracks in them and the lawns are sandy and arid, resembling a landscape more like Spain or Cyprus than Suffolk. But the world it seems is suffering from extremes and I am grateful for the relative normality that I have and Suffolk still seems able to deliver on sunshine hours and the consistency of sunshine hours and the trees are somehow surviving, turning the landscape into a lavish gold and green.

Never before have I had a summer where I have got used to waking every morning to sunshine. The dichotomy is such a treat. 

Not even in Cornwall, with our unpolluted artist azure skies did waking to sunshine become habitual. And to be truthful august is the 'rainy season' in Cornwall. Popular to book because it is in the middle of the school holidays and expected to be warm, August 'monsoon season' in my eyes. If I had to recommend I would always suggest Feb/March - when Cornwall often has beautiful sunny days and tucked up against the cliff or sea wall .......gorgeous .....

and then June or early July and October when the earth and the sea has had the whole of the summer to warm-up and the days are not yet too short and the leaves are changing and the sun still warm. It is often when the grass has a regrowth  .... perhaps not this year.

In Suffolk, I am still willing the rainy season to start and desperately hoping for some sort of regrowth of grass in October or preferably before. The trees seem to be surviving and we have lots of them. Where they get their moisture from I have no idea and where do all the animals get their water from this year. We see the roe deer and the muntjacs walking across the stubble fields but as I walk the dogs around the plentiful footpaths and ride the horse on the byways, the ditches might be deep and shady but there is no water in them and even the moats have dried up around the Suffolk houses and the ponds that dot the  fields have all but a dribble still left in the bottom of them. 

I have seen pigeons drinking out of the dog bowl, so I have several dog bowls about the garden and Jeffrey my horse has two big water butts to 'share' and there is the birdbath too, which is on the floor, which might help hedgehogs and field voles. However I do worry how the wee small animals are managing. 

The dry ground is turning into quite a challenge for the farmers this year. The land is too dry to plough and get the next crop in, the soil won't break up enough and fine enough to sow the seed and there is no moisture in the ground to feed the seed! That in turn will have an effect on animal feed prices and human food prices, so there are definitely going to be challenges ahead for us all. 

On a more positive note our Piggery which we have been booking-out through Airbnb has been delightfully popular. Suffolk has been kind to me in my new venture of providing overnight accommodation and a token breakfast on your first morning. 

The cabin does look lovely if I say so myself. 

It is light, bright, airy and clean and offers enough kitchen space and utilities to easily provide a meal and a huge TV and two comfortable sofas to collapse on with a good movie in the evening! And the sunshine has meant people can either enjoy cooking outside on the bbq or just sit at the patio table and sip a glass of something in relative tranquility with the paddock and the trees surrounding you.

Most of our guests seem to be people 'escaping' (their words not mine) London for a night or a couple of nights. And we are just perfect for that. Several guests have used us whilst working in the area near Stowmarket or Bury and again we are perfect for them for although set in a rural area we are midway if you are travelling to Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds or Diss. Its a bit further to Norwich and Felixstowe but still do-able from us and if you are holidaying, the coast for a day trip to Aldeburgh or Southwold is only 45 mins away.

And we are a nice place for a romantic evening too, with some good pubs a short drive away and a great vegetarian restaurant nearby, if you don't fancy cooking. The Piggery has a choice of two sofas to cuddle on for a good movie after your meal and a huge bed to snuggle up in after the movie!

All in all, Suffolk has been kind to me and in turn, kind to our guests .......