Day Three - Bungay and Beccles - 13 May

It was a sunny Sunday and we had a lovely day driving east of Diss along the Waveney Valley criss-crossing the Waveney River on very minor roads. The flat countryside was looking very pretty with its brightly coloured yellow oilseed rape and churches seemed to be popping up everywhere as we drove along. Today I drove, Henk navigated, Liz was still our cultural advisor and it was Tomas’s turn in the backseat to sit and enjoy the ride. Our goal was to visit two towns - Bungay and Beccles. On our way we called into the very small village of Homersfield.

Liz’s old guide book described the pub overlooking the river and very old iron bridge and we were thinking of having a coffee overlooking the river. Unfortunately, the pub wasn’t as close to the river as suggested and it wasn’t opening until noon. It was, however, a lovely little village with a name plaque depicting the bridge. When we arrived in Bungay it was extremely busy as there was a triatholon being conducted and the markets were being held in the long, wide high street. It had a great sense of energy. There were cars everywhere and Liz and I prayed to the car parking angel and within seconds we had a car park! It was now late morning and we were in dire need of morning tea. We found the Buttercross Tea Rooms down a side street from the unique Buttercross market place which dates back to 1690.

We spent sometime walking through the market looking at each of the stalls. Everyone seemed to be making the most of the sunshine after some very wet weeks. There were easily eighty stalls displaying their wares up and down the two sides of the street. They were predominately plant and food stalls and everyone seemed keen to buy their plants for summer planting.

Bungay also has a nine hundred year old castle, Bigod Castle, which was donated to the town by the Duke of Norfolk in 1987. We walked around the scant remains of the castle and the Priory before moving onto Beccles for lunch.

Beccles was only a short distance away and is called the gateway to the Broads. We wandered around the pretty marina and river looking over the boats before walking into the old market square for lunch. We chose the Bear and Bells pub which seemed to be a popular choice.

We decided that as it was a Sunday we would have a shorter touring day and we were back to the house just after four o’clock. Tomas and I went off for an afternoon nap, Henk went for a walk around Diss for an hour and a half and Liz worked on her workshop on stainglass windows. After dinner Liz delivered the second part of her three-part workshop on Stainglass Windows up to the Reformation. We are her guinea pigs and are giving her feedback. We are finding it very interesting and we are learning quite a lot. Liz will be delivering her workshop in Hereford on Saturday.