Sutton Who????

Sutton Who??? Sutton Hoo, that's who. This is the place where several burial mounds where discovered some years ago. One of them contained the ship burial of an Anglo Saxon king buried 1300 years ago. His helmet, gold jewelery and fancy grave goods accompanied him into the afterlife. Sutton Hoo was another item on Jenny's "must see" list. Unfortunately after a 90 minute drive from Cambridge we arrived to find that this National Trust facility is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. We had to content ourselves with a gentle walk around the burial mounds.

Sutton Hoo Visitor Centre - all locked up!!

We did however discover another little gem in this area. The Woodbridge Tide Mill is situated on the River Deben and there has been a Tide Mill on this site since 1170. These mills use trapped tidal water to turn the wheel. The incoming tide flows into a mill pond through a one way gate. When the tide recedes the water is released to flow under the waterwheel and turn the machinery. This mill worked two four hour stints, twice a day, the time depending on the tides. Woodbridge Tide Mill ceased commercial work in 1957 and was the last operating tide mill in the country.

Woodbridge Tide Mill

In the evening we went out to a farewell dinner with our friends Janet and Alan who had travelled down from Cromer to meet up with us. We arrived at the pub to find all the patrons outside and the fire alarms ringing. Luckily there was no fire. Seems that the landlord was upstairs having a bath and the tub overflowed. The water was running down through a light fitting in to the bar and must have shorted the electricity. After the bar staff had finished mopping up all the overflowing bath water it was business as usual and our meals were served.

Jenny with Janet and Alan

Our previous post was done in a very strange Internet Cafe in the middle of Cambridge. It was full of very swarthy patrons smoking hubble bubble pipes. The computer kept shutting down and we were continuously loosing our work - most frustrating. This Internet Cafe is much more professionally run and things work fine. We have uploaded photos now for earlier posts so do check them out.