The Scallop by Maggi Hambling, Aldeburgh, Suffolk.
Warning: This post has lots of pictures!
Its a lesson my mother taught me. After my father died when I was 13, she used to take me away. Just for the day. Somewhere. She would ring the school and say I was sick and we would run away somewhere. Salisbury. Portsmouth. Winchester. Even the Isle of Wight. Somewhere that was within a day’s drive. Anywhere that was not home, not full of memories and sadness. It recharged our batteries, gave us the time to talk about what we had lost, and grow closer. I have very fond memories of those stolen days.
Running away is a lesson that I have brought into my adult life. Now, when things get a bit much, when we need to recharge, escape, or just rememebr who we are, Husband and I run away. This weekend, we ran away to Aldeburgh in Suffolk, which is about an hour’s drive from home. It is the town famous for its links with composer Benjamin Britten, and the music festival he set up. It is also the seat of a number of literary festivals, and the setting for MR James’s haunting ghost story, ‘A Warning to the Curious’. Fishing vessels work from the shingle shore, and you can buy fish straight from the boats, as well as smoked from the new smokehouse. (I recommend their smoked prawns with garlic dip, eaten straight from the packet on the beach, yum!)
Fisherman’s shack where you can buy excellent fish caught fresh that morning, or crab, lobster and various local shellfish in season.
Since I am trying to get back into the swing of taking photographs again, I took my camera, and here are some of the results. I hope they get your creative juices flowing.
And if you are lacking in Inspiration this week, why not plan a day to run away and just be.
Fishing boats hauled up on the shingle shore. Is that the figure of Willam Ager running along the strand?
Dead seedheads by the coastal path.
Old fishing boat on the shingle in the mist.
The Scallop by Maggie Hambling, a local Suffolk-based artist.
The Scallop is a memorial to composer Benjamin Britten, who lived in Aldeburgh. The words are from his opera, Peter Grimes: ‘I hear those voices that will not be drowned.’ (Are these also the voices of creativity, calling us?)
Approached from the Thorpeness side, the Scallop is said to look like a knight riding a charger.
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Utterly mad cow wallpaper found in The Crown Inn, Framlingham on the way home!
Happy Creating! EF
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