Sutton Hoo - Part Two

The walk down to the River Deben viewing point wasn't too hard going although we didn't walk the whole circular route but doubled back after getting as close to the river as the paths would allow.  

We saw butterflies and dragonflies along the walk and I've never seen so many sweet chestnuts on the trees and strewn across the ground.

There was a bench close to this sign and visitors were asked not to use it because bees were nesting in the log.

We stood a little way from the bench and could hear a curlew's plaintive cry, so recognisable and one other bird that we didn't know. 

 

Bird Nerd told us that it was a Common Redshank.

Let's cross the river to Woodbridge for a while.  We'd stopped there on our way to Sutton Hoo and parked near the Co-op and a fresh fish stall.  It was a short walk to find the Tide Mill and nearby Museum and The Long Shed.

The Museum wasn't open until later that morning but The Long Shed was open.  What a treat.

 

Inside people were working on the building of a replica of the Sutton Hoo ship.  Three joinery apprentices have spent time working on the project.  More here about how this all came to pass and the organisations involved.

I haven't yet mentioned the exhibition in the High Hall at Sutton Hoo.  Rendlesham Revealed: The Heart of a Kingdon AD400-800 tells the story of the Anglo Saxon Settlement in the Deben Valley.  It was one of the largest and wealthiest at that time. 

I'm afraid we didn't spend too much time in here, we watched a little film about the gathering together of the grave goods to accompany King Raedwald on his journey. It also spoke of difficult times ahead and changes in both culture and beliefs.  It was warm and very noisy as there was a class or two of schoolchildren inside which made taking any photos almost impossible.  They were having fun, dressing up, making drawings and finding answers for quiz sheets.  It's good to see young ones learning about history.

I did take a couple of quick photos.  The exhibition covers two or three burials from recent excavatons one of a young woman found quite recently and also that of a warrior.  We also meet other characters along the way.

We decided to come back later but that didn't happen as it was still very busy so I didn't get a full appreciation of the exhibits which were a mixture of both original and replica items.  The exhibition runs until the 29th of this month.

All for now.