Tollesbury, Essex

As I spent Saturday with my sister and will see her again on Easter Sunday, we decided to miss out our usual Wednesday catch-up this week. So I woke without the alarm, had a leisurely breakfast and got ready with no particular aim in mind for the day ahead. Then, on a sudden whim, I jumped in the car and drove up to Ipswich. I’d been meaning to explore further an elegant rattan dining table and chairs which I’d discovered online, and which isn’t sold by many businesses. The furniture place in Ipswich had a sale on, and was by far the cheapest of anywhere to buy it. Thank goodness for SatNavs, as I wouldn’t have found the showroom otherwise! Anyway, the upshot is that I chose a fabric for the seat pads and ordered the whole set! I should have it in the next few weeks, and am very excited about that as I’ve had the same boring dining table and chairs since 1983!!

Once back from Ipswich, I had a late lunch and then got back in the car to go and explore the nearby village of Tollesbury. In my main blip and an extra is the lovely parish church of St Mary the Virgin, which had a tree laden with gorgeous white blossom right next to it. Sadly the church door was locked, so I was unable to have a look inside. Right next to the churchyard is a lovely old house with a pond. The big gate was securely shut and padlocked, and this was to prevent some of their livestock escaping. Please see Extras for more on what exactly was roaming about in the grounds. You can see one a way off in my photo, sadly rather out of focus - a strange sight in an English country village!!!