Snape Maltings - Britten's Benediction

The Maltings at Snape rise up from a sea of reeds like some dark red ocean liner against the sky - as the sun lowers. Gulls cry and down on the estuary of the River Alde oystercatchers chatter and a single curlew plays its part in this Score.

Immediately one is in mind of the very visceral opening bars of ‘Dawn’ the first of the sea interludes* in Britten’s Peter Grimes. Unmistakable. And like this estuary and its mud flats the music and the place is so special to Suffolk.  These parts inspired so much of his music; broad skies, constant winds and a light that orchestrates the whole land.

 Snape Maltings is an arts complex on the banks of the River Alde at Snape, Suffolk, UK. It is best known for its concert hall, which is one of the main sites of the annual Aldeburgh Festival.

*The Four Sea Interludes were published separately (as Op. 33a)

FOOTNOTE 

We were exploring around Orford Ness and Aldeburgh, with special friends Jane and Trevor, staying in a wonderful Martello Tower which they had rented to celebrate T’s birthday. 

Trevor appears several times in this blog in the ‘Travel’s with my Architect’ posts.

On Suffolk's shore - treasures and shrapnel

Treasure Irresistible

The National Trust site at Orford Ness includes a number of single story brick buildings, used, when the whole area was under military rule, for some scientific or social purpose.

During our special tour of the site we went in one of these buildings. It was no more than fourteen foot square. In the centre was a large glass display case full of geological specimens and exciting detritus from the immediate landscape.

Rocks, pebbles, shells, shell cases, bits from boats and a child’s sandal were amongst the riches on display. This treasury of the sea had to be drawn.

This has put me in mind of my shoreline obsession, which I have been feeding for many a year. The first collection, assembled in 1992 hangs in a small glass fronted frame in the bathroom. Downstairs small Perspex cases house other marine memorabilia.  Under my workbench are two boxes of driftwood, gathered in a September storm, in South wales, waiting for deployment.

We are all such shocking poseurs, so good at inflating the importance of what we think we value.

Iris Murdoch – The Sea The Sea

Suffolk Tales: To the lighthouse

During the Second World War an Italian fighter aircraft landed on the shingle of Orford Ness.

Orford Ness is a spit of land on the coast attached to the rest of Suffolk at Aldeburgh.  Doubtless the lighthouse was the pilot’s landing mark!

Immediately arrested, looking disconsolately he asked his captors ‘tell me the name of desert please’.

Even when the sun does shine this broad desolate landscape appears to reach into infinity, punctuated by the lighthouse that will itself soon fall into the sea.

Hares patrol this desert; above seagulls perform a fly past. Its ‘sands’ are an admixture of rusting armaments, scientific paraphernalia. Every so often signs appear warning not to stray off the foot paths for risk of unexploded ordinance.

FOOTNOTE We were exploring around Orford Ness and Aldeburgh, with special friends Jane and Trevor, staying in a wonderful Martello Tower which they had rented to celebrate T’s birthday. 

Trevor appears several times in this blog in the ‘Travel’s with my Architect’ posts.

Suffolk Special: Thorpeness

Thorpeness is another delightful piece of Suffolk coastal silliness. Way back in 1910 Railway magnet Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie developed Thorpeness into a private fantasy holiday village, to which he invited his friends' and colleagues' families during the summer months.

He added a country club with tennis courts, a swimming pool, a golf course and clubhouse. Many holiday homes were built in Jacobean and Tudor Revival styles. 

To hide the eyesore of having a water tower in the village, the tank was clad in wood to make it look like a small house on top of a 5-storey tower, with a separate water-pumping windmill next to it. It is known as the ‘House in the Clouds’, which you can rent for the fantasy price of £3000 per week.

Great Little Bus Routes: The 353

The 353 bus scooped me up from Gerrards Cross and on a warm Spring morning, carrying me home to Beaconsfield.

We trundled down through Chalfont St Peter village with its take-aways, a community centre and a co-op and various shops. Since the building of Gerrards Cross railway station in the late 1800’s century, the population of Chalfont St Peter increased dramatically, making it now one of the largest villages in the UK.

Then on to Chalfont St Giles, the parish church of St Giles, rises up from behind the village green: Norman architecture, a pretty lychgate, and iron cannon balls embedded in the stone, believed to have been fired by Oliver Cromwell's troops when they camped in the neighbouring field, kicking back after the Battle of Aylesbury.

During the Great Plague in 1665, John Milton withdrew to Chalfont St Giles, to finish off Paradise Lost. We passed Milton's cottage; it is open to the public if you fancy it.

Seer Green is the next village.  The "Seer" is derived from the Norman French for "dry or arid place". Since those times several private swimming pools have been built in grounds ofthe larger houses in the village.

In manorial rolls of 1223 it was called La Sere, (much grander) although local legend has it that the ‘Seer’ refers to King Arthur's Court visiting the area and locals consulting his seer. Believe what you choose. More importantly Val Doonican, Frederick Forsyth, and Jon Anderson, musician and lead singer of Yes all have made homes in Seer Green. Again, it is a handy place for the train to London.