June 14. Hadleigh

 

We prepared for today as though for an expedition - even though it's only a two hour drive to Suffolk. Going north from Kent there's London, then Essex, then Suffolk. We skirted the east edge of London and the Dartford Crossing  (tunnel going north, bridge going south) of the Thames was by far the slowest and most tedious part of the journey. Otherwise it was fine, and we had one stop at a services around Essex; I never cease to be surprised by services, on this occasion because they sell alcohol and there was a room of pokies.

Our first stop for the day was Melford Hall. A stately home with very large grounds containing fields of sheep and cows. We had some lunch and walked through the part of the house open to the public; the owners still live in one wing. It has a long history linked to the dissolution of the monastaries, an admiral and Beatrix Potter.

Melford Hall

Our next stop was Hadleigh, just a short distance away. This was our motivation for coming to Suffolk in the first place as it was the origin of the Alabasters. The whole clan came from one original family around Hadleigh and the name is a corruption of Arbalester.

You can imagine our horror and arriving in this quiet, historic town to find it overrun by Morris Dancers. There is a picture here of the first group we encountered on a corner of the high street, but we spotted at least three other groups terrorising the townsfolk.

We fled from the chaos and found some quiet around the church and adjacent guild hall. I looked for Alabasters in the cemetery, but the headstones were so old they had almost all faded to illegibility.

Guild Hall, Hadleigh

Finally we went on to our hotel for the next two nights, Hintlesham Hall. This is a stately home midway between Hadleigh and Ipswich. It hadn't occurred to me that turning a stately home into a hotel might be difficult, but getting to our room involves twisting corridors and several steps.