Bawdsey

The weather has been great today so I have been out and about. The day started early with a quick trip to the car boot sale at Stratford. It was quite disapointing but I did pick up some East Anglian magazines from the 1950s. I then headed off to the Suffolk Showground for another car boot! This was much more interesting! I picked up some old seaside souveniers, an old vanity case, a retro garden umbrella, a picnic set and a few bits and bobs for the girls including a brand new recorder for £1!! Later on, when my 6 year old blasted a recorder rendition of 'Jingle Bells repeatedly in my face I did wonder if this really had been such a good buy after all! Luckily peace returned when I took her to a birthday party later on!

The party was in Hollesley and nearby there are two great beaches - Shingle St and Bawdsey. They are a little off the beaten track and I like to think of them as secret little Suffolk spots. As it was nearly lunchtime I decided to take my other daughter to Bawdsey as it has nice cafe there - http://www.boathousecafe.co.uk/. After lunch we had ice creams on the jetty and waited for the ferry to come along and take us over to Felixstowe. Normally the ferry runs to and fro all day but today it wasn't there. Then I realised that it was actually towing another boat. A speedboat had started to sink and the ferryman had gone to its rescue and towed it back to shore! We passed it later on the beach at Felixstowe and the crew were still bailing out the water. They were lucky they didn't all sink along with the boat.

We bought some smoked haddock at the fish shack in Felixstowe then caught the ferry back to Bawdsey. We paddled along the shore and peeked at the crabs that people had caught in their buckets. I didn't take the camera but I've found this photo from Bawdsey manor website so you can see what a lovely spot it is.