Monday 3 October 2016

October 3rd 2016: Suffolk: Southwold

Monty the Motorhome has had a minor operation this morning to remove the Sat Nav. This unit is fitted into the dashboard, meaning that removal is not an easy affair - at least to someone with my skills. Truth to say this was the primary reason we came to Suffolk - so someone at the techy company could take the Sat Nav out and give me instructions on how to refit it. Extraction involved removal of a plinth around the unit, then insertion of special prongs which somehow released the whole unit so it could be pulled out. Then to my horror there was a spaghetti of wires that had to be disconnected - I just hope the techy people fix it over the next couple of days so we can return and they do the re-fit. There is an outside chance that it will take longer than a week, in which case it will be posted back to us! 
So now there is a gaping hole in Monty’s dashboard, with all sorts of different coloured wires inside. Most unbecoming

So with that task done we headed to Darsham Nurseries for breakfast. This place is a plant nursery with a cafe. These days it seems most plant nurseries have a cafe attached to them - food sells just as well, if not better, than the plants. However Darsham is a cut above the rest, so much so that it has been featured in a Sunday Times list of best cheap eats in the UK.
Unfortunately for us the resident chef was away for the next couple of days, but we were warmly greeted by an understudy and provided with a breakfast platter of cornbread and banana bread, with homemade marmalade (delicious - and I say that as a marmalade maker myself), ricotta laced with lemon (novel idea, but it worked) and honey. We were really pleased with it all.

Outside the cafe there is plenty of colour and interest
Tummies full we pressed on to Southwold. The main car park is on the seafront, just north of the pier. Three spaces were provided for motorhomes and we got the last one, but that mattered little as it was such a large car park and only half full. 
We walked along the seafront, past the pier and all the brightly coloured beach huts, before coming to the harbour. This is slightly out of town and on a little inlet. The place bustles with activity from a number of boats, boatyards, cafes, fishmongers, locals and tourists.
We stopped at the first cafe and had fish and chips. Well you just have to when by the seaside. The food was ok, but it was the lady in charge that provided the most amusement. She was a bit of a Dawn French lookalike and soundalike - even if she didn’t realise it herself. Each new customer got the same spiel about what was on the menu and what the specials were. Then she ended by announcing, in a downhearted voice, that there was no Pinot Grigio today. It just seemed so bizarre in the setting and we could just picture Dawn French coming out with such a comment in a comedy sketch.

Southwold is famous for it's Beach Hut, or at least it is famous for the price they fetch - up to £100,000 !!

Tummies full (once again) we strode off back towards Southwold. The town itself is dominated by the parish church of St Edmund - a beautiful flint masterpiece that has been described as the “grandest galleon of churches that once sailed the Suffolk coast”; it certainly looked impressive gleaming in the autumn sun. 

The picture does not really do justice to this beautiful church
Another famous building in Southwold is it's lighthouse, which is set back from the seafront and lies amongst housing and shops



After a quick walk out to the end of the pier we returned back to our campsite to catch the last of the sun.

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