Sea, sun and sights (...and six years!)

Monday
Today was a beautiful summer’s day. We started with a walk around Thorpeness, an attractive village centered around the Mere, a large, artificially created boating lake, and known for its “house in the clouds” and its windmill (top two photos). The house in the clouds was originally a water tower, built in 1923, but disguised with the appearance of a weatherboarded building to make it more in keeping with Thorpeness's mock-Tudor and Jacobean style. It has since been converted to accommodation, having 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and the magnificent room at the top! Then we continued on to the seaside resort of Southwold, with its pier, lighthouse (unusually located in the centre of the town, its rows of colourful beach huts, and fine church (left side, third from top). We found a nice little cafe near the beach to have some lunch, then went exploring. Finally, on our way back to the house, we stopped in the village of Huntingfield to see the church of St. Mary’s, famous for its painted ceiling, a masterpiece of Victorian church decoration, painted from end to end in brilliant colours, with carved and coloured angels, banners, crowns and shields. It was all the work of Mildred Holland, the wife of William Holland who was rector there for 44 years from 1848 until his death in 1892. Whilst tradesmen provided the scaffolding and prepared the ceiling for painting, there is no evidence that she had any other assistance with the work. (bottom 3 photographs).
Edit: Blipfoto has reminded me this marks my 6th blip birthday - not particularly impressive when you consider I started blipping over 10 years ago, but an accomplishment nonetheless, and a record I’m very glad to have - erratic though it may be! Thanks so much to my subscribers and others who stop by from time to time and leave comments stars and encouragement!