Essential Suffolk March 2014

March 2014 | Priceless

Essential SUFFOLK

SUTTON HOO 75th Anniversary of Suffolk’s Historic Discovery

Theatre | Food | Fashion | Homes & Interiors | Elite Properties

www.essentialsuffolk.com

CELEBRATING ALL THAT MAKES OUR COUNTY GREAT

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Breathe new life into your garden for spring!

ROGER GLADWELL LANDSCAPE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION LTD Maypole Green, Dennington, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP13 8AH

Telephone: 01728 638 372 Mobile: 07785 966 221 sales@rogergladwell.co.uk www.rogergladwell.co.uk

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Foxwood is an established local family business offering an extensive range of ceramic, porcelain, glass and natural stone wall and floor tiles. Our showroom has a comprehensive display with the majority of products being exclusive in our region with both contemporary and traditional ranges to suit all budgets.

As well as our quality tiles we have wonderful bathroom products on display including baths, basins, fitted furniture, showers, taps and designer radiators.

SHOWROOM: 36–38 Woodbridge Road (A1214) Rushmere St Andrew, Ipswich, IP5 1BH T: 01473 617050 E: info@foxwoodceramics.co.uk

www.foxwoodceramics.co.uk

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MARCH 2014

Lesley Rawlinson Director lesley@achievemoremedia.co.uk T: 01473 809932 M: 07519 477583

Adrian Rawlinson Director adrian@achievemoremedia.co.uk T: 01473 809932 M: 07718 149307

Alison Watson Account Manager alison@achievemoremedia.co.uk T: 01473 809932 M: 07546 485204

Anne Gould Editor editor@achievemoremedia.co.uk M: 07411 701010

Paul Newman Designer paul@alanbrannandesign.co.uk Cover image: National Trust

| Welcome

WELCOME Welcome to Essential Suffolk, a new exclusive glossy magazine, for what we think is the most beautiful county in the country. Essential Suffolk is brought to you by the team that previously published Places & Faces (Suffolk) and like our previous title it is delivered to individually selected homes.

Essential Suffolk focuses on all that’s great in Suffolk – the best places to eat, the best places to walk, to shop, our exceptional entertainment opportunities and the people who make it tick. For instance this month we have an interview with Lady Clare Euston, this year’s president of the Suffolk Agricultural Association talking about her plans to help rural poverty. We meet the award-winning committee of the Woodbridge and District branch of Macmillan Support, which has raised over £750,000 through relentless hard work and determination and is now directly paying for its own Macmillan nurse plus there’s the pioneering work of Jo Mudhar, who has followed her dream to create a community low carbon farm on the edge of Ipswich.

On the entertainment front we’ve got an interview with CiC Howells, a multitalented actor musician who’s taking the lead, at the tender age of 23 of a new production of the Threepenny Opera at the New Wolsey. We also talk to Nick Pandolfi about life after local radio and his project to shed light onto one of Suffolk’s biggest wartime mysteries.

Meanwhile we’re thrilled to be launching our new magazine with what’s perhaps the most well-known international image of Suffolk – the mask of King Raedwald. It’s the 75th anniversary this year of the discovery of the secret of the Sutton Hoo mounds when Basil Brown excavated a site that’s changed world views about the Anglo Saxon era. The story doesn’t end there, today researchers are looking for the site of his palace somewhere in the Rendlesham area and of a pagan temple too.

Along with our new title comes our brand new website EssentialSuffolk.com where you will find a selection of our articles, old and new, latest news from around the county as well as even more events than we are able to cover in our magazine in our ‘What’s on’ section. In addition there is an archive of recipes from Suffolk chefs and all Darcy’s much loved pub walks.

See all our Social photos at essentialsuffolk.com Follow us on twitter @EssentialSFK

Happy reading.

Anne Gould Anne Gould Editor

TERMS AND CONDITIONS Copyright on all content is with Achieve More Media Limited.

Reproduction in part or whole if forbidden without the express permission of the publishers. All prices, events and times were to the best of our knowledge correct at the time of going to press and you are encouraged to contact the venue prior to booking.

All expressions and opinions within the publication are those of the editor including contributors. Essential Suffolk is a trading name of Achieve More Media Limited.

editor@achievemoremedia.co.uk

Essential SUFFOLK is Suffolk’s most exclusive magazine delivered only to individually selected homes, businesses and venues. It is brought to you each month with the valued support of our commercial partners. Please let them know you saw them here.

To subscribe either:

12 issues for £24 Single issues just £2.95 All delivered straight to your door

1. Visit www.essentialsuffolk.com/essential-shop 2. Send a cheque for £24 (for 12 issues) or £2.95 (for a single issue) to Achieve More Media Ltd, 21 Terry Gardens, Kesgrave, Suffolk IP5 2EP Prices include postage and packaging.

Personal details will be used for subscription purposes only.

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KITCHENS

BATHROOMS

BEDROOMS

HOME OFFICES

Put a Pro in your kitchen Suffolk-based Celebrity Chef, Paul Foster is supporting our experts on a range of kitchen designs as well as hosting cooking demos at our showroom to inspire our customers to cook up a storm at home.

Pop in and see us, we’re here to help!

HOME CINEMAS

34 Gloster Road Martlesham Heath Ipswich IP5 3RD 01473 610 192 www.angliafactors.co.uk

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Contents

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50

42 64

FEATURES

08

The Countess of Euston

98

My Suffolk

Sutton Hoo Celebrating 75 years since the discovery of King Raedwald’s burial ship

31

Macmillan Fundraisers

36

Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm

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The new president of the Suffolk Agricultural Association on helping rural poverty

Geraldine Milsom of Milsom Hotels & Restaurants

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98

48

Pub Dog Walk

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Food and Drink

The award-winning Woodbridge and District committee

Suffolk’s first community farm

Mothering Sunday Gift ideas to make your Mum’s day

PEOPLE

26

CiCi Howells

28

Nick Pandolfi

REGULARS

13 14 23

Multi-talented actor musician and lead lady in the New Wolsey’s Threepenny Opera

Life after local radio

38

Suffolk in Brief News from around the county

Walberswick to Southwold and back taking in The Bell and The Harbour Inns

Reviews of The Ship, Jimmy’s Farm and Snape Maltings’ Café 1885 plus recipe from exciting new chef Greig Young from the Shepherd & Dog. Rob Chase shares his latest wine musings plus the ever popular dining gallery.

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Homes & Interiors

74 77

Gardening

91 92

Motoring

Planning your new bathroom plus win a beautiful personalised typographic poster

What’s On Where to go and what to see in Suffolk this March

Mini Previews Maggi Hambling and Andrew Lambrith exhibiton (The Minories, Colchester), This May Hurt A Bit (Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds), English Touring Opera (Snape Maltings), Finding Home (DanceEast, Ipswich)

Fashion Pastel shades for spring

The begonia and bedding revival

Property A selection of our county’s finest homes for sale

The new hybrid Range Rover

Essential Faces Highlights from Suffolk’s social calendar

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MARCH 2014

WHAT LIES BENEATH? If there was one iconic, internationally-known image for Suffolk surely Raedwald’s burial mask would come top of the list. Yet 75 years ago it was buried, forgotten beneath the ground. Anne Gould visits Sutton Hoo

Š Fisheye Images

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Sutton Hoo 75th Anniversary

© The National Trust

W

ho knows what lies hidden and undisturbed under Suffolk soil? Until 75 years ago the Anglo-Saxon treasures of Sutton Hoo lay dormant and secret for centuries, in a tomb that belonged to a king. The glittering gold, the burial ship, the ceremonial mask and extraordinary, although not always so glittering, finds have cast new light not just on King Raedwald and his East Anglian dynasty but have helped academics and archaeologists to reinterpret almost everything that it known about AngloSaxon history. It seems the so called ‘Dark Ages’ are not so dark anymore, thanks to Edith Pretty, Annie Tranmere and archaeologist Basil Brown.

The benefactors – Mrs Pretty who gave the treasure and anything that should be subsequently be found to the British Museum and Mrs Tranmere who gave the property to the National Trust – have without doubt given the nation a huge gift. But for some Raedwald’s legacy is not just about the burial mounds, overlooking Woodbridge high above the banks of the River Deben – they are sure there is more to the epic story. This year it’s the 75th anniversary of the dig, by Basil Brown, the archaeologist from Ipswich Museum who uncovered the secrets of the Sutton Hoo mounds. It is also the 30th

anniversary of the Sutton Hoo Society – an organisation that has a roll call of 400 members from across the world including academics, archaeologists, historians and Anglo Saxon devotees.

The society, an independent charity, was originally set up to support excavations that were going on at the time – and take visitors on tours of the site. Today it continues with its work in partnership with the National Trust conducting tours but it also supports continued education and research into the area, organising academic lectures and grant funding for students. ‰

Sutton Hoo, safe in governance of the National Trust, now has a swanky new visitor centre, holiday cottages and is a major tourist attraction for visitors to Suffolk. At weekends and holidays children play on swings in the playground, families picnic in the field next door and walkers wander past once isolated and sacred resting places.

Its secrets are now on show in a new and specially designed section in the British Museum, there are interactive talks at the on-site Sutton Hoo museum and on occasion visitors are even allowed to handle the replicas kept safe behind glass cases.

© Fisheye Images

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MARCH 2014

Last year the group organised a rare visit, for members, to the Corpus Christie university library in Cambridge where they were able to see centuries old documents and letters written about Raedwald, his life and his home.

The society has also paid for museum quality replicas of the Sutton Hoo treasures that are on display in the exhibition hall. According to Michael Argent, Chairman of the Sutton Hoo Society, there’s possibly more that has yet to be revealed. Somewhere in the vicinity there’s an Anglo-Saxon palace and possibly a pagan temple too.

Basil Brown © Suffolk Archaeological Unit

Michael explained there are various universities working in the area and the Suffolk Archaeological Unit is currently excavating on private land on another site that overlooks the river.

“It might be Raedwald’s palace but as is was a wooden building it won’t have survived because of the local soil” and for now and for many reasons the exact location remains a secret, but he says there’s no public access anyway. The society’s publicity officer, Nan Waterfall says that the ancient author and scholar The Venerable Bede, writing in the seventh century said that Raewald’s Palace was at a place called “Rendil”.

Certainly work in the Rendlesham Forest area, being carried out by Professor Chris Scull from the University of Cardiff has revealed various coins and Anglo-Saxon artefacts and these are going on display at Sutton Hoo, from April to October, as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations.

All images © British Museum

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Sutton Hoo 75th Anniversary

© Fisheye Images © British Museum

Michael says, “Later in the year we are going to Lyminge in Kent where archaeologists have uncovered the Anglo Saxon palace of the King of Kent, to see if there’s anything that might help us.”

However, there’s also evidence to suggest that the pagan temple was in Rendlesham too, possibly under the site of St Gregory’s Church. “Bede also wrote about the Temple of the Two Altars. We know that Raedwald went to visit the King of Kent when St Augustine came and he was converted to Christianity. Apparently he came home and put another altar beside the Pagan one – something that appears to have been approved by Pope Gregory – who was pope at the time. We also know that Raedwald gave up his new religion – because of pressure from his wife.”

Evidence suggests that the church of St Gregory in Rendlesham was built on top of the temple, so it’s possible that it will never be found however research continues, and the annual Basil Brown Memorial lecture will be by Angela Care-Evans, who worked on excavations at Sutton Hoo in the 1960s. She will be talking about changes in interpretation, and will tie in with the newly refurbished galleries at the British Museum, where the Sutton Hoo treasures are housed.

The society is also planning a conference at University College Suffolk later in the year which will be of great interest for those wishing to learn more.

To celebrate this year’s anniversary the National Trust has organised a special event on July 25; Mrs Pretty’s 1930s

Garden Party. It’s going to include some period music and entertainment, there will be an opportunity to learn how to lindy hop, see vintage cars and train sets, children’s activities and see original and replicated Anglo-Saxon treasures.

According to Emily Badger, the Visitor Experience officer at Sutton Hoo, this event will replicate the garden party held

by Mrs Pretty on the eve of the 1939-45 war to celebrate the finds.

“As far as we can tell from letters, Basil Brown the guests were trying to stand near and on the mounds to have a good look inside. According to him they were destroying the sides of the mounds and in danger of destroying evidence at the same time. By all accounts everyone had a rather jolly time!” she said.

© British Museum

INFORMATION Basil Brown Memorial Lecture will be held at the Riverside Theatre, Woodbridge, 14th June 2014 For more information about the Sutton Hoo Society visit: www.suttonhoo.org Sutton Hoo visitor information: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sutton-hoo

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“MASTERS OF BESPOKE FITTED FURNITURE”

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News

SUFFOLK in brief Local business association Businesses of Saxmundham, is keen to promote excellence within the local business community and has started its search for the best business in the IP17 area.You can vote for your favourite retailer or service company and/or the person who you feel gave you service above and beyond what you were expecting. The competition will run until 31st March 2014 and the awards will be presented in April 2014. There’s also an opportunity for voters to win £100 Waitrose vouchers. To find out more visit www.essentialsuffolk.com/latest-news.

The Seckford Foundation has awarded a £1500 grant to a Felixstowe youth development group, which aims to re-engage young people who are not in education, employment or training through a transition project to help them progress into college or work. The money will be used to fund weekly ‘Ready to Work’ sessions aimed at young people aged between 16-25. A recent HMRC report has identified that one in four young people in the Felixstowe area are in poverty and the sessions are specifically aimed at those from vulnerable families who are disadvantaged. Graham Watson, director of The Seckford Foundation said: “We are very pleased this grant will help some 40 young people towards gaining work or further training and towards a more positive future for all of them.”

Four young skiers from Woodbridge School have attracted national interest following their excellent performances at the English Schools Ski Association national finals which were held at Norwich Snowsports Club. Alex Lillywhite (14) has received the call up to compete in the International Schools Federation World Championships next March. Lolli RichardsonBrooker (13), Lucy-May Turner (14) and Chris Grainger (14) have all been selected to join the England Schools senior ski squad which will see the trio taking part in training and competitions on the European slopes over the winter.

visiting www.suffolkcf.org.uk. Alternatively, please contact either Jade Wilding or Emma Rawlingson at Suffolk Community Foundation on 01473 602602. The programme is open for applications now, closing on 4th March 2014. Don’t forget to do your bit and enter the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Games on Sunday 23rd March – and keep raising cash to help change lives. Find your nearest event and enter now at www.sportrelief.com.

The New Wolsey Theatre has been named runner-up at The Stage Awards, in the category Regional Theatre of the Year. The judges said “The New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich secured a major hit last year with its production of Our House, which opened at the venue before touring across the UK. Aside from this, its efforts to forge partnerships with other organisations – both charitable and commercial stands out and this year’s spring programme proves the point.” Peter Rowe, Artistic Director said “Since re-opening as The New Wolsey Theatre in 2001 our aim has been to create the most diverse programme of work for every kind of theatre-goer. We are particularly delighted that this nomination recognises the extraordinary range of performance work that now takes place under the New Wolsey Theatre umbrella”.

To commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee the village of Crowfield commissioned a new village sign which was unveiled on February 1st 2014 by local resident and much loved comedian and actor Roy Hudd. After days of rain the skies cleared for the 'reveal' and a large crowd gathered to witness the event. Designed and crafted by Norfolk sculptor Steve Eggelton the sign depicts Crowfield's All Saints Church with a ploughed field in front being scoured by crows. Fund raising to generate the £3,500 was led by village resident Denise Wilcox with a large part of the money required generated by a ‘one-off ’ celebrity concert by Roy. To see photographs from the unveiling visit www.essentialsuffolk.com/crowfield-sign.

Working in partnership with Comic Relief and the East Anglian Daily Times, Suffolk Community Foundation has announced the launch of a new fund for communities across Suffolk. Sport Relief Community Cash grants of £500 to £1,000 are available to small organisations that are doing great work to help local people living tough lives. If this sounds like you, make sure you apply for a Sport Relief Community Cash grant now by

The Country Land Associaton (CLA) East is backing a new T-shirt that has been designed to raise awareness of the dangers sky lanterns pose to people, property, livestock and the environment. It’s been launched by the CLA and Twitter-based farmers’ group #clubhectare.

The T-shirt features a sky lantern in a red prohibited sign.

CLA East recently called for local authorities to amend Entertainment License policy so new licences for certain venues or events can include a clause prohibiting the use of sky lanterns. It has also called for this to be backed up by a ban on Council-owned land.

Tesco’s recent decision to stop selling sky lanterns is a major boost for organisations seeking a ban on their sale and use. The Tshirts are to be sold at £6.75 each with 50p per sale being donated to the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution. Contact Mr Dixon via Twitter using his @sunkfarmer handle – follow and then direct message him for more details.

Five Royal Hospital School pupils have been successful in gaining places in the prestigious National Youth Choir of Great Britain. William Saunders, Director of Music at RHS, said, “This is a staggering achievement – the choir equivalent of an Olympic team. Congratulations to the five successful pupils but also to three others who have been asked to re-audition next year as they show tremendous promise”.

Originally set up as a single choir of 100 of the best singers in the nation, NYCGB now provides the widest musical experiences for over 750 young people aged 8-26. Through its core programme of activities, NYCGB provides the experience of a lifetime for its members, working alongside distinguished conductors and choirs.

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MARCH 2014

WHAT’S ON FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 2 The 13th Aldeburgh Literary Festival The Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh Tickets: £11 each, Rover ticket is £165 SATURDAY MARCH 1 10.00am Sarah Dunant on Blood and Beauty, a Novel of the Borgias 11.30am Charles Moore on Margaret Thatcher 2.30pm Peter Hennessy: Distilling the Frenzy – Writing the History of One’s own Times 4.00pm Hermione Lee on Penelope Fitzgerald 5.30pm Jon Canter and John Lloyd: The Life and Works of Douglas Adams SUNDAY MARCH 2 10.00am Tom Holland In the Shadow of the Sword: The Battle for Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World 11.30am Miranda Seymour: Noble Endeavours: The Life of Two Countries, England and Germany, in Many Stories 2.30pm Professor John Mullan: What Matters in Jane Austen – Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved 4.00pm Nicholas Shakespeare: Priscilla: the Hidden Life of an Englishwoman in Wartime France For further details: www.aldeburghbookshop.co.uk/page/ the-aldeburgh-literary-festival

MARCH 1 Singing Safari – a six week choir from scratch St Peters by the Waterfront, Ipswich. 7.30pm In January an intrepid bunch of singers set off on an imaginary Singing Safari to collect songs from all over the world. They will be sharing the songs they’ve learnt in an evening of song, joined by local female quartet Way Beyond the Blue.

Tickets: £5 (£2 under 16s) Contact: Chris Rowbury 01394 610486 www.chrisrowbury.com www.stpetersbythewaterfront.com

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Champions of Magic Mercury Theatre, Colchester.

3pm and 7.30pm Join the award-winning team of liars, swindlers and cheats for a spectacular night of trickery you’ll be trying to work out for a long time to come. Audiences will witness mastery of card manipulation, death-defying stunts and mind boggling sleight of hand from four of the world’s top performers, including the star of BBC1’s ‘The Magicians’ Pete Firman.

Tickets: £10 – £22.50 Box office: 01206 573948 www.mercurytheatre.co.uk The Storybook of Leopold Thorn The Cut, Halesworth. 7.30pm East Anglian writer/performer Darren Gooding ventures once more into the extraordinary, wondrous and occasionally downright ridiculous world of the most beguiling and mercurial of all Magicians for this brand new cycle of stage shows. Leopold Thorn: Conjuror (professionally), Liar (reputedly), Visionary Scientist (quite possibly) and Strutting Dandy (unquestionably), is facing his most daunting challenge to date: telling bedtime stories to entertain his decidedly precocious and resolutely insomniac six-year-old daughter.

Box office: 0845 673 2123 | newcut.org March Hare Collective Craft fair The Apex, Bury St Edmunds, 10am – 4pm A collective of handmade arts and crafts including, printmaking, pottery, crochet, gifts card, tea cake stands, paintings and much more. A great range of gifts and home wares will be on display all day.

Entry price: Free Contact: marchharecollective@gmail.com www.marchharecollective.co.uk Farmers Markets Stradbroke, Business & Enterprise College, 9am – 1pm Beccles, Beccles Heliport, 9am – 1pm Metfield, Village Hall, 9am – 12 noon Snape Maltings, 9.30am – 1pm

MARCH 2 Antique and Collectables Retro Vintage Fair Snape Village Hall, Snape. 10 am to 3pm

A Fair comprising Antiques, collectables, retro and vintage items Entry price: £1 per person Contact: 01728 833633 michael@tynobiscuits.freeserve.co.uk Julian & Jiaxin Lloyd Webber – A Tale Of Two Cellos The Apex, Bury St Edmunds. 7.30pm Julian Lloyd Webber is one of the finest musicians of his generation. Together with his wife, fellow cellist Jiaxin Lloyd Webber, they present a brand-new concert featuring world premiere performances of duets for two cellos with piano as well as featuring music from the great composers across the classical spectrum.

Tickets: £25 – £15 Box Office: 01284 758000 www.theapex.co.uk

Ipswich Orchestral Society Family Concert – Music Magic Grand Hall, Corn Exchange, Ipswich. 2.30pm Conductor: Adam Gatehouse. Our Popular Family Concert with some special surprises! Dr Who, The Planets, Harry Potter, Cinderella, The Sorcerer's Appentice, The Nutcracker and much more!

Box office: 01473 433100 www.ipswichregent.com A Celebration of Schools Music Snape Maltings. 7pm For six days every March Snape Maltings Concert Hall rings with the sound of young people’s music making. Bringing together schools from across the county, over 1500 pupils from 50 schools perform in one of the world’s greatest concert venues. Every kind of music imaginable, all ages and all abilities join together in this unique partnership between Aldeburgh Music and Suffolk County Council. With support from, and in partnership with Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Music Hub. Tickets: £7 Box office: 01728 687110 www.aldeburgh.co.uk

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What’s On

MARCH 4 AND 5

MARCH 4 – 8

MARCH 6

BalletBoyz – The Talent Mercury Theatre, Colchester. 7.30pm

Refugee Boy New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich. 7.45pm

Following triumphant UK and international appearances on stage and screen, this phenomenally popular company featuring ten exceptional young dancers presents an exhilarating evening of exciting and explosive dance. BalletBoyz is one of the most cheekily original and innovative forces in modern dance. Led by former Royal Ballet dancers Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, the company thrills audiences and critics the world over with its distinctive style, fusing spectacular dance both energetic and graceful, with stunning music and film.

Tickets: £10 – £25 Box office: 01206 573948 www.mercurytheatre.co.uk

Alem is fourteen, in London with his father on the best holiday he has ever had, only then the unthinkable happens, he awakes to find himself alone, a stranger in an unfamiliar country. Gail McIntyre, West Yorkshire Playhouse Associate Director, brings together the work of two of the UK’s most prolific and revered poets, Benjamin Zephaniah and Lemn Sissay in a heartbreaking and hilarious production that pulses with energy, love, loss and hope.

Box office: 01473 295900 www.wosleytheatre.co.uk

Woodbridge School Sixth Form Fashion Show The Seckford Theatre. 7.30pm

To see more event listings for this month and beyond visit www.essentialsuffolk.com

Students from Woodbridge School Sixth Form stage their Fashion Show in aid of Rays of Sunshine charity.

Entry price: £12 adults, £6 children and students Box Office: 01394 615015 boxoffice@woodbridge.suffolk.sch.uk The Aldeburgh Festival Club Dinner & Lecture – The Pickwick Scrapbook The White Lion Hotel, Aldeburgh. 7pm Arrivals for pre-dinner drinks 7pm. A two course dinner at 7.30pm followed by the lecture given by Mike Petty. Club membership £12.50 single, £25 couple.

Guests always welcome for a ‘taster’ visit on application to the secretary to these regular events. Other event dates and topics throughout the month for this group can be found on essentialsuffolk.com/whats-on Entry price: £18.75 pp including dinner Pre-booking essential Contact: 01728 688350

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MARCH 2014

Eric and Little Ern Mercury Theatre, Colchester.

4pm and 7.30pm

MARCH 7

This affectionate, moving and fantastically funny homage to the greatest comedy double act that Britain has ever seen vividly brings back warm memories of a bygone era, recreating the all-ages appeal of Morecambe and Wise in their heyday.

Tickets: £10 – £25 Box office: 01206 573948 www.mercurytheatre.co.uk

MARCH 6 – 15 This May Hurt A Bit Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, 7.30pm

Madness Tribute Night Thorpeness Country Club. 8pm (arrival) Ultimate Madness is the UK's No.1 Madness tribute band and they are coming to the Thorpeness Country Club. Ultimate Madness strives to authentically emulate Madness in concert in both appearance and sound.

Formed in 2002, it’s become the madness tribute band that everyone is talking about.

Having met Madness back in 2004 the band were given the thumbs up by Suggs and the boys!! Entry price: £20 per person Contact: 01728 452176 or email events@thorpeness.co.uk www.thorpenesscountryclub.co.uk The Doors Experience The New Cut, Halesworth, 7.30pm

See mini preview p23 Box office: 01284 769505 www.theatreroyal.org

Take a trip back in time. If you weren’t lucky enough to be a part of the 60s’ psychedelic peace-and-love era, you can be now. British band The Doors Experience are much more than a band playing Doors covers. ‘It ain’t just a show it’s an experience’, explains their front man who unquestionably could pass for the legendary Lizard King himself, Jim Morrison.

Box office: 0845 673 2123 | newcut.org

MARCH 8 Charity Gala Concert School Chapel, Royal Hospital School, Holbrook. 7pm This show-piece Charity Concert will feature a range of music from sacred and secular vocal to classical and jazz instrumental and will include pieces by the chapel choir, band, orchestra, chamber choir, jazz band, barbershop group and soloists. Pre-concert drinks available from 6.30pm. All proceeds raised will go to the Patient Welfare Fund at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.

Entry price: £10 (concessions: £5 / U18s: Free) Contact: 01473 433100 boxoffice@ipswich.gov.uk www.ipswichregent.com

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BOOK

O NLINE

V ISIT O UR W EB SITE F O R THE LATEST NEWS , EV ENTS & M ENUS : www.thehadleighram.co.uk

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5 M AR K ET P LACE , H ADLEIG H , SUFF O LK , IP7 5 DL

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What’s On

Free Cooking Demonstration with Celebrity Chef Paul Foster Anglia Factors, Gloucester Road, Martlesham.

Noon – 3pm Foster, who recently left Suffolk restaurant, Tuddenham Mill, for Mallory Court Hotel in Warwickshire, will be offering two demonstrations which will show attendees how to prepare simple yet impressive food and use new techniques to wow friends and family. The demos will include: a modern take on rhubarb and custard, preservation techniques using the vacuum pack machine and slow cooked lamb rump, leeks with minted pear. www.angliafactors.co.uk

Circus Of Horrors Regent Theatre, Ipswich. 7.30pm

Late Risers The Cut, Halesworth. 7.30pm

The show that stormed into the finals of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ is back with an aweinspiring rock n roller coaster of show that fly's like a bat out of hell to celebrate an astounding 18 years of shock n’ roll. Ever since it’s conception at the 1995 Glastonbury Festival the show has toured the world achieving cult status and dragging circus screaming and shouting into the 21st century and beyond.

Box office: 01473 433100 www.ipswichregent.com

Acoustic roots band The Late Risers play a fusion of folk, blues, country and old-time mountain music – all with a good-time feel.

Formed in Cambridge over ten years ago, this band of hot pickers, pluckers and blowers combine strong original material from singer guitarist Will Oldham with re-workings of Appalachian tunes.

Box office: 0845 673 2123 newcut.org

Bawdsey Bird Club Illustrated Talk Bawdsey Manor. 7.30pm Illustrated talk by RSPB South Suffolk Coast warden David Fairhurst; ‘Work at Hollesley Marsh and Snape Wetland Reserves’.

Refreshments available after the talk Tickets: Adults £2.50 (Under 18s £1) Prior booking not needed wa@sandlings.co.uk

Orchid Show St Michael’s Church Centre, Martlesham.

10am – 4pm Tom Hart Dyke will be opening the Suffolk Orchid Society Spring Show. In addition to a magnificent display of orchids there will be first class orchids for sale, re-potting demonstrations, advice on the cultivation of orchids and problem solving. Refreshments including light lunches will be available.

Entry price: £1 moturner@hotmail.com

SPRING I SUMMER 2014

PERFORMANCES

AT THE JERWOOD DANCEHOUSE

Spring cookery demonstration & open day Saturday 8th March 10.00am – 3.00pm

CONTENDER CHARLIE, CHINA PLATE & WARWICK ARTS CENTRE

29 MARCH

AVANT GARDE DANCE

4 APRIL

GECKO

1 – 3 MAY

Join us for our open day and pick up spring cooking tips with demonstrations from our professional Aga/Rayburn cook.

There will be complimentary food and wine as well as special open day offers on some Aga & Rayburn cookers.

20%

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NUNO SILVA

9 MAY

HOFESH SHECHTER COMPANY

16 MAY

HEADSPACEDANCE

6 JUNE

ARACALADANZA

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27 & 28 JUNE

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JERWOOD DANCEHOUSE IPSWICH BOOKING INFORMATION

01473 295230 Gecko Institute Photo: Farrows Creative

DANCEEAST.CO.UK

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MARCH 2014

Eye Bach Choir 40th Anniversary Concert Eye Parish Church. 7.30pm Handel: Dixit Dominus and extracts from Judas Maccabeus and Occasional Oratorio; J S Bach Jesu, Priceless Treasure (chorales); Rutter: Look to the Day. Eye Bach Choir with Eye Bach Choir Chamber Orchestra and soloists. Conductor Leslie Olive.

Tickets: £12 (reserved) and £10 (unreserved) Contact: eyebachchoir@aol.co.uk or 01728 747371 Farmers Markets Halesworth Town Centre, 9am – 1pm Woodbridge Community, Centre 9am –1pm

MARCH 8 – 14 Maggi Hambling and Andrew Lambrith exhibition The Minories, Colchester See mini preview p23 www.cobboldandjudd.com

MARCH 9

MARCH 12 – 22

Cello Recital Harkstead Church, nr Ipswich. 5pm

Threepenny Opera New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich

As part of his cello pilgrimage, Orlando Jopling will be playing Bach Suites No 1 in G Major, No 6 in D Major and Cassado Cello Suite (1926). Places are available for a candlelit supper in church after the concert.

Tickets: £10, £5 students Supper ticket £10 per person Contact: Sally Wilden on 01473 327140 sallywilden@hotmail.com or Eleanor Soar 01473 328291

See feature pages 26 & 27 Box Office: 01473 295900 www.wolseytheatre.co.uk

Prometheus Orchestra concert Aldeburgh Jubilee Hall, 7.30pm An upbeat programme of Boyce, Mozart and Bizet in aid of RNLI Aldeburgh Lifeboats.

Tickets: £15.

Box office: 01728 687110 www.prometheusorchestra.co.uk

To see more event listings for this month and beyond visit www.essentialsuffolk.com

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MARCH 14 Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Regent Theatre, Ipswich. 7.30pm Under the baton of conductor Paul Daniel, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra returns to Ipswich Regent Theatre to perform a programme of Beethoven’s most ‘heroic’ works. The concert opens with the majestic Egmont Overture, written during the period of the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815).

Following this, acclaimed British pianist John Lill takes to the stage to perform Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto, in what promises to be a truly dazzling performance.

The evening concludes with one of the composer’s undisputed masterpieces, the ‘Eroica’ Symphony.

Box office: 01473 433100 www.ipswichregent.com

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What’s On

Juan Martin Flamenco The Apex, Bury St Edmunds., 7.30pm

MARCH 14 – APRIL 5

This truly awe-inspiring guitarist returns with singers and dancers from Spain for a show at the vanguard of modern flamenco that brings together ‘the cream of Spain’s dancers’ (The Times) with the intensity and emotion of one of the world’s finest guitarists.

Tickets: £18 (£16 concessions / £5 U25s).

Box Office 01284 758000 www.theapex.co.uk

Betty Blue Eyes Mercury Theatre, Colchester. 7.30pm with 2:30pm matinees on Saturdays and Thursdays.

Betty Blue Eyes tells the story of humble chiropodist Gilbert Chilvers and his domineering, social-climbing wife Joyce.

In Austerity Britain 1947, a lavish banquet is planned to celebrate the forthcoming royal wedding – complete with a highly illegal pork roast. When Joyce and Gilbert’s invitation fails to materialise, they resolve to do whatever it takes to get their fair share of the feast!

Tickets: £10 – 25.

Box office: 01206 573948 www.mercurytheatre.co.uk

MARCH 15 Suffolk Sinfonia Spring Concert The Apex, Bury St Edmunds. 7.30pm Suffolk Sinfonia welcomes the conductor Christopher Braime for the first concert of their season, which includes Brahms

Unique.

Bespoke.

Craftsmanship.

Symphony No1 and Glazunov’s concerto for saxophone performed by the talented soloist Luiza Lale.

Tickets: £10 (£8 concessions / £4 students) Box Office: 01284 758000 www.theapex.co.uk

Grisly Tales From Tumblewater The Cut, Halesworth. 7pm Join fearless orphan, Daniel Dorey as he races to save his sister and battles evil Caspian Prye on the rain-soaked streets of Tumblewater. A darkly comic, high-energy adventure with laughs, frights and live music, it’s got something for everyone from age eight upwards. Dickens meets Dahl via Horrible Histories.

Box office: 0845 673 2123 | newcut.org

SUNDAY ROAST

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MARCH 2014

Pink & Lady GaGa Tribute Night Ufford Park, Woodbridge

Trio con Brio Copenhagen St Mary's Church, East Bergholt. 4pm

Vicky Jackson as Pink and Lady GaGa. Featuring Pinks big hits including songs from ‘The Truth About Love’, hits from the early R ‘n’ B inspired Pink days and an amazing tribute show to one of the most influential artists of the decade with GaGa’s number one hits and cult smashes.

Tickets: £17.50 www.uffordpark.co.uk

This trio who are part Korean and part Danish have been highly acclaimed. Critics have praised the Trio con Brio Copenhagen for its “sparkling joie de vivre” and “magic dialogue,” saying “they cast a spell over their audience… so alive, so musical… ravishing.”

“One of the finest piano trios on the current scene.” The New Yorker.

Entry price: £12.50 (students £6 /child free with paying adult) Contact: 01206 298426 or weatheralld@btinternet.com Tickets also available from Griers Estate Agents (East Bergholt) or at the door www.svam.org.uk

Finding Home Jerwood Dance House, Ipswich.

2.30 and 5pm See mini preview p24 Tickets: £7, £5 concessions Box office: 01473 295230 www.danceeast.co.uk

MARCH 16 Farmers Markets Harkstead, Village Hall, 9am – 12 noon Aldeburgh, Church Hall, 9am – 12.30 Beccles, Beccles Heliport, 9am – 1pm Debenham, Community Centre, 9am – 1pm

MARCH 18 – 22 Twelfth Night Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds. 7.30pm Two worlds collide in Filter’s explosive new take on Shakespeare’s lyrical Twelfth Night.

This story of romance, satire and mistaken identity is crafted into one of the most exciting and accessible Shakespeare productions of recent years. Experience the madness of love in this heady world where riotous gig meets Shakespeare.

Box office: 01284 769505 www.theatreroyal.org

MARCH 18 Gabrielle Regent Theatre, Ipswich 7pm Gabrielle, one of the UK’s most loved singer-songwriters on tour with the release of her new album ‘Now and Always – 20 Years Of Dreaming’.

Box office: 01473 433100 www.ipswichregent.com

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What’s On

BrushStroke Festival of Art St Peter's Church, Sudbury.

Tuesday 12 – 5pm, Wednesday to Friday 10am – 5pm, Saturday 10am – 4pm Fundraising event in aid of Success After Stroke, a Sudbury based charity that provides support in rehabilitation for stroke survivors, helping them regain quality of life. Supported by a dedicated team of therapists and volunteers SAS is dependent on private fundraising. There will be a wonderful array of artwork on display and for sale from over 70 artists, including Francis Bowyer, previous President of the Royal Watercolour Society and teacher of Life Drawing and other well known and local artists.

Entry: £2 (includes catalogue) Information: lizziealston777@btinternet.com

MARCH 20 J.S. Bach; St Mattthew Passion St Edmundsbury Cathedral. 7.30pm One of the towering masterpieces of Western art; moments of deep introspection combine with jubilant choruses and stunning arias to create a work that is both profound and beautiful. In this performance the acclaimed Britten Sinfonia is joined by the Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge and a glittering line-up of soloists.

Tickets: £25 – £10 (£5 U25s) Box Office: 01284 758000

MARCH 21 Inner Wheel of Woodbridge Quiz Evening Woodbridge Community Hall. 7.30pm The Inner Wheel Club of Woodbridge is holding its tenth annual Charity Quiz with proceeds donated to Just 42. Teams of 4 – 6 are invited to participate at a cost of £6 per person. Participants will need to supply their own liquid refreshments and snacks.

Booking & information: Deirdre Griffin on 01473 612049 tandd@griffin3373fsnet.co.uk Emily,The Making of a Militant Suffragette The Cut Halesworth. 7.30pm A year after the centenary of Emily Wilding Davidson’s death at the Derby, this iconic suffragette’s life is movingly portrayed by Elizabeth Crarer. Set in the context of the struggle for women to have the vote in the first half of the twentieth century, Emily resonates with questions that still challenge the world today.

Box office: 0845 673 2123 | newcut.org

Salsa Night – with Salsa Chillout Jerwood Dance House, Ipswich.

7pm – midnight Join double Salsa Award-winning tutors Terry and Yolande Lewis from Salsa Chillout for a steamy night of seductive moves. All levels of experience are catered for in the accessible, energetic and friendly workshops and the evening finishes with the chance for you to showcase your best moves in the freestyle party where authentic Cuban rhythms will be provided by the finest salsa DJs. Beginners class: 7 – 8.30pm Improvers class: 7 – 8.30pm Party: 8.30pm – midnight Tickets: £12 (class and party) £8 (party only) (Age suitability 18yrs+) Box office: 01473 295230 www.danceeast.co.uk

To see more event listings for this month and beyond visit www.essentialsuffolk.com MARCH 22 Farmers Markets Easton, Easton Farm Park, 9am – 1pm Woodbridge, Community Centre, 9am – 1pm Harmony in Harlem The Cut, Halesworth. 7.30pm Alongside a selection of vibrant swing and jazz from the greatest composer/bandleader in the history of jazz, Duke Ellington, the Cambridge-based jazz orchestra Harmony In Harlem will be performing all of Ellington's highly-acclaimed album ‘Such Sweet Thunder’ to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the Bard's birth.

Box office: 0845 673 2123 | newcut.org

MARCH 23 Farmers Market Lavenham, Village Hall, 10am – 1.30pm Fascinating Aida – Charm Offensive Regent Theatre, Ipswich. 7.30pm Following a sold-out 2012 tour, three Olivier Award nominations and over 10 million YouTube hits for Cheap Flights (their infamous anthem to budget air travel), Dillie Keane, Adele Anderson and Liza Pulman celebrate 30 years of Fascinating Aïda with a brand new show. Expect topical new songs hot off the press, plus some outrageous old favourites, as Fascinating Aïda continue to grow old disgracefully!

Box Office: 01473 433100 ww.ipswichregent.com

Family Funday Jerwood Dance House, Ipswich. From 10am

This fun-packed morning of activities for families kicks off with the return of Baby Loves To Boogie Children’s Disco. The party then moves into a delightful Teddy Bear’s Picnic. So bring along your favourite teddy bear and a packed lunch, or grab a special picnic lunch box from danceeats! café and enjoy a relaxing afternoon after a busy morning dancing.

Tickets: £3 Adult, £2 Child, Family Ticket £5, Free for non-walking infants.

Age suitability: children under 5yrs and their parents Box office: 01473 295230 www.danceeast.co.uk

MARCH 26 French Macaroon Demonstration & Tasting Cafe 1885, Snape Maltings. 6pm A special Macaroon demonstration by master pastry chef Henrietta Inman as she shares the secrets behind the mystery of how to create the best Macaroon.

Complimentary glass of Prosecco and savoury bites on arrival. Tea and coffee will be served with the macaroon tasting. Each participant will take home a tasting bag of three macaroons from the flavours tasted during the demonstration.

Entry price: £9.50 per person with places limited so booking in advance essential Contact: 01728 688303 www.snapemaltings.co.uk

MARCH 27 Ipswich Firewalk in aid of the MS Society Belstead Brook Hotel, Ipswich. 6pm Can you handle the heat? After two hours of training to prepare you for the challenge ahead, you'll walk 20 feet over hot coals – all to help people living with multiple sclerosis.

Registration: £25 – places are limited so book today to avoid disappointment.

Contact: Holly Lambert (Area Fundraiser) for more info 0208 438 0836 hlambert@mssociety.org.uk

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MARCH 2014

MARCH 27 – 29 English Touring Opera Snape Maltings See mini preview p24 Box office: 01728 687110 www.aldeburgh.co.uk

MARCH 27 – APRIL 5 Miss Nightingale The Musical New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich After taking the UK and the West End by storm in 2013 Miss Nightingale The Musical comes home to roost. Peter Rowe's nationally acclaimed production of the hit show is back by popular demand and it’s now funnier, more moving and has some amazing new songs and costumes.

Box office: 01473 295900 www.wosleytheatre.co.uk

MARCH 29

The Chapel Choir has become one of the most important and prestigious ensembles within the Music School performing regularly at St Paul’s Cathedral, St Martin-in-the-Fields and the Royal Albert Hall. Pre-concert drinks available from 6.30pm.

Entry price: Adults £10 (Concessions: £5 / U18s: Free) Contact: 01473 433100 boxoffice@ipswich.gov.uk www.ipswichregent.com Macbeth – Blood Will Have Blood Jerwood Dance House, Ipswich. 11am

MARCH 30 Ruby Wax: Sane New World The Apex Theatre, Bury St Edmunds Ruby Wax is a much loved US born comedian, actor and writer and has more recently become a mental health campaigner.

The show is based on her critically acclaimed book Sane New World which helps us understand why we sabotage our sanity with our own thinking.

Entry price: £17.50 Box office: 01284 758000 www.theapex.co.uk

An unforgettable reimagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth for children aged 9 to 13 years. Reinvented for young audiences, Macbeth – Blood Will Have Blood is an accessible and unforgettable introduction to Shakespeare’s shocking story of ambition, greed and the abuse of power.

Tickets: £8.50 (£5 concessions) Age suitability 9yrs+ and their families Box office: 01473 295230 www.danceeast.co.uk

School Choirs' Concert School Chapel, Royal Hospital School, Holbrook. 7pm

To see more listings for this and coming months and to tell us about your event visit essentialsuffolk.com We cannot guarantee inclusion in print but all suitable listings will be included online

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milsoms Kesgrave Hall, Hall Road, Kesgrave, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP5 2PU

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Mini Previews

THIS MAY HURT A BIT

In 2006 the renowned theatre director Max Stafford-Clark suffered a series of massive strokes and was suddenly propelled into the jaws of the NHS. What followed were many months spent in hospital, being treated and rehabilitated whilst making his steady way through the digestive system of this sprawling and much maligned institution.

As his wife, playwright Stella Feehily, observed the frequently frustrating, often comical, and at times heart-warming moments that one finds in hospitals and in the system that we love to hate she felt the beginnings of a play...

This May Hurt A Bit is written by Stella Feehily and directed by Max Stafford-Clark, and follows the journey of a lady in her late eighties as she deals with the dramas of having had a brain haemorrhage. Played by the magnificent Stephanie Cole who’s best known for depicting the formidable Delphine Featherstone in Open All Hours, and Sylvia Goodwin in Coronation Street, this promises to revel in her perfect comic timing and acting prowess to bring humour as well as pathos to the production.

Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds March 6-15 INFORMATION Box office: 01284 769505 www.theatreroyal.org

After many years of development, the play has progressed from a script about the NHS, to an in depth exploration of our most revered and most complained about institution, and how it has fared on the stormy seas of politics and economics for the past 70 years. After its premiere at the Theatre Royal, This May Hurt A Bit will tour before moving into the West End.

MAGGI HAMBLING & ANDREW LAMBRITH EXHIBITION

The Minories, Colchester March 8-14 INFORMATION www.cobboldandjudd.com

Set up by Cobbold and Judd Fine Art this is a joint show of new work by Maggi Hambling and a longstanding friend and collaborator Andrew Lambirth. Her celebrated series of North Sea paintings began in 2002 and the new series, Five Mornings, presents her response to dawn on the North Suffolk coast over five consecutive days.

Andrew Lambirth began his career as an author by working with the veteran surrealist Eileen Agar on her autobiography, published in 1988. His exhibiting debut as a collagist took place last year at the prestigious Discerning Eye exhibition at London’s Mall Galleries. This exhibition is an exciting and rare, if not unique event presenting the work of a leading artist and one of her professional critics, both of whom live in Suffolk.

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MARCH 2014

Presented with Tom Hobden Dance this is Dance East’s largest and most ambitious community dance performance to date including 200 performers from across the county. The audience is invited on a journey into Granny’s house to meet her family and hear about her fascination with the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen. Finding Home is a thoughtful and emotional performance combining film projection mapping with live dance performance to explore how we communicate with those different from ourselves. It’s an exciting new work produced by the Learning and Participation team at DanceEast under the artistic direction of Tom Hobden Dance.

FINDING HOME Dance East, Jerwood Dance House Ipswich. March 13 INFORMATION Performances are at 2.30pm 5pm Tickets: £7(£5 concessions) Box Office: 01473 295230 www.danceeast.co.uk

Finding Home draws together the established Boys in Babergh duo of choreographer Tom Hobden and film director Kate Flurrie alongside local dance artists Lucy Blazheva and Mary Davies.

An intergenerational cast includes over 200 performers from local schools in the Babergh, Mid Suffolk and Forest Heath districts, DanceEast Performance Groups Boyz United, The Elderberries and Suffolk Youth Dance Company as well as an adult community group.

Taking part in the performance are Forest Academy Primary, St Christopher’s Primary School, Wells Hall Primary School, Ormiston Sudbury Academy, Stowmarket High School, Thomas Gainsborough School, Thurston Community College and The Mix Film Group supported by The Apex, The Mix, John Peel Centre for Creative Arts, Ashton KCJ Solicitors, Babergh & Mid Suffolk District Council and Forest Heath County Council.

ENGLISH TOURING OPERA Snape Maltings. March 27-29 English Touring Opera returns to Snape Maltings this month with three full-scale productions of acclaimed operas by Mozart, Britten and Tippett, and two operas for young people. Mozart’s The Magic Flute, the wit and charm of which has enchanted music and theatre lovers of all ages for hundreds of years, kicks off the season on March 27. The opera tells the tale of a terrifying and joyful journey in pursuit of love, wisdom and happiness, with a beautiful score ranging from the show-stopping arias of the Queen of the Night to jolly folk tunes. Next day there’s a performance of Paul Bunyan, a collaboration between composer Benjamin Britten and poet W. H. Auden, often described as a cross between an opera and a musical.

The music incorporates a wide variety of styles, including folk songs, blues and hymns. This new production recreates the great myth of the North American frontier in a charming, dreamlike adventure which features lumberjacks, singing geese and cats, good and bad cooks and an accountant.

Paul Bunyan himself is a legendary folk hero – a gigantic lumberjack, the American equivalent of Robin Hood or King Arthur. He is a character cloaked in mystery and in Britten’s opera appears only as a powerful voice off-stage. For ETO’s production the part has been pre-recorded by Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor Damian Lewis, famous for his roles in Homeland and Band of Brothers.

The company’s final night at Snape Maltings on March 29 gives audiences a rare chance to see Michael Tippett’s opera King Priam, a tale of gods and men, character and destiny set in the world of classical myth in the besieged city of Troy.

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INFORMATION Box office: 01728 687110 www.aldeburgh.co.uk www.englishtouringopera.org.uk

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MARCH 2014

Multi-skilled and multi-talented actor musicians are probably the ultimate all round performers. Anne Gould speaks to CiCi Howells – the leading lady in the New Wolsey’s Threepenny Opera

CICI TAKES CENTRE STAGE S

he’s only 23 and out of university for two years, but multi-talented CiCi Howells has been stunning audiences around the country almost since the day when she picked up her degree. But maybe it’s not surprising, she plays so many instruments she can’t list them all, she sings, she dances, she acts – and if that weren’t enough she performs in open mic sessions in pubs too. What’s more, if you happened to have been at the New Wolsey’s latest panto, Dick Whittington, you’ll have seen in her action too – as Taffetta the Cat. Her next role in front of Suffolk audiences will be the lead on a national tour of Brecht and Weill’s Threepenny Opera – a contemporary morality tale of uprising.

It’s a five-way co-production with Peter Rowe, artistic director of the New Wolsey and Graeae, the UK’s foremost disabled led theatre company.

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Preview | Threepenny Opera

CiCi spoke to Essential Suffolk during a break in rehearsals and says she’s thrilled to playing Poly Peachum.

“It’s my first lead role and it’s a massive thing as I’m finding out today.

The character is great and it’s a big thing taking on this sort of role at 23.”

Being an actor musician though means rather a lot more than learning your lines. There’s learning the music too – just the tenor saxophone, flute, piccolo and trumpet this time and there’s singing as well. “With the music I am better at remembering it. I play it through three times and then try to do it without the music but the lines are going in well too.” Cici says these sorts of productions are different from normal musicals because everyone ends up doing the same amount of work.

“If you don’t have loads of lines you’ll probably end up playing loads of music and vice versa.”

by the time she was 16 was in a rock metal band, Twisted Tale with performances at the NEC in Birmingham. Meanwhile she was also dancing achieving Advanced certificates in ballet and tap and was the Eisteddfod disco dancing champion for several years in a row. With Grade 8 certificates in flute, trumpet and saxophone and grade 6 in a whole range of other instruments she then headed off to the Musical Theatre Academy in Islington.

Since graduating she has had five professional jobs including panto at the New Wolsey and with the Watermill

Theatre where she worked with Strictly’s Craig Revel Horwood on the Witches of Eastwick. “He was lovely, nothing like he is on telly,” she added. And – as if her life isn’t full enough as it is, when she’s on tour she organises gigs for herself at local pubs doing open mic sessions as she’s also a singer songwriter. “I’ll go straight from the theatre to the pub.

It’s great fun.” During the pantomime she performed at the Spread Eagle and the Steamboat in Ipswich and if anyone wants to hear her acoustic set on March 23 she’s planning to be at the Steamboat again.

Her road to the theatre started at school in Welshpool, on the Welsh border where anyone with an instrument was offered free music lessons. As time went by a cost was introduced, but at £2.50 a lesson it was an incredible snip, especially for someone like CiCi, or Caroline as she’s known back home. She went on to play in the Powys Youth Orchestra and

The New Wolsey Theatre will be the second venue of the national tour of the The Threepenny Opera, which is as topical now as it was eighty-five years ago. This production has been created by the New Wolsey Theatre, Graeae Theatre Company, Nottingham Playhouse, Birmingham Repertory Theatre and West Yorkshire Playhouse. Teaming up with Graeae, the UK’s foremost disabled led theatre company, it will be the first fully integrated production of Threepenny Opera ever performed. Using audio description, a creative combination of BSL interpretation and captioning and an integrated cast of disabled and non-disabled performers, the co-directors, Peter Rowe and Jenny Sealey, will bring their unique combination of theatrical passion to this modern classic.

Peter Rowe, Artistic Director of the New Wolsey says: “I wanted to do a version of The Threepenny Opera where we create a company of contemporary “beggars” to tell the tale from their perspective – a parable about the corruption of the world, told by those excluded from it. Jenny's production of

Reasons to be Cheerful seemed to have exactly the spirit that The Threepenny Opera requires – defiant and irreverent, funny and fearless and set me thinking... What would it be like if we brought together the Graeae motley crew with the Wolsey actor-musicians? Brecht's own mash up of John Gay’s Beggar's Opera has a brilliant, instinctive, cabaret flair. The team we are putting together to re-invent this musical for our times aims to recapture that heady mix of gallows humour, razor-sharp satire and up front entertainment. I can’t wait.”

There will be some very familiar faces to the New Wolsey Stage; Garry Robson and Stephen Collins (Reasons To Be Cheerful), Natasha Lewis (Billie from Our House) and Sophie Byrne (Julie from Our House) will be returning for this production. Will Kenning, fresh from four years’ service as the pantomime dame, is playing the role of Tiger Brown. With live music played onstage by the actors themselves, delivering a score that includes such well-known songs as Mack the Knife and Pirate Jenny, expect a riotous musical comedy that audiences will be begging to see!

Threepenny Opera will be performed at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich from March 12 – 22 Box Office: 01473 295900 | www.wolseytheatre.co.uk

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MARCH 2014

SUFFOLK in his SOUL

Nick on the beach at Shingle Street, the scene of one of Suffolk’s biggest wartime mysteries

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Suffolk People | Nicholas Pandolfi

Nicholas Pandolfi has been a stalwart of the Suffolk airwaves for longer than he probably cares to remember but that’s all changing – Anne Gould talks to him about his new projects

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here comes a time for most of us when, no matter how much you love your job, it’s time to move on. For Nick Pandolfi, it was when he realised that he had to break up too many fascinating interviews for traffic reports about queues on the A12. “The sort of local radio I was doing was great and those traffic reports are a vital part of the service but I felt it was time that I did something that had, well a little bit of a legacy.” So to the heartbreak of his loyal fans he’s upped sticks from Town102 and is now freelance – doing a fascinating part time project for Radio 4 and working with digital agency Green Spark as well.

His project work has taken him down a road to a fascinating world that most of us have never thought about – the tramp. “Back in the 50s, 60s and 70s literally hundreds of men downed tools and abandoned their families. Many of them were former soldiers and a good number of them took off and just vanished. Growing up in Felixstowe I remember there was a familiar tramp who we often used to see,” he said.

These were often the men who returned from war and, for whatever reason, couldn’t adapt to the changing society they found back home, so quite simply cut loose and started again. “It turns out that many of these men wrote diaries about their experiences or love letters to their families and that’s what I am researching at the moment.”

His patch covers the whole of the East of England and while he hasn’t encountered one of these old tramps yet, he’s tracing heartbroken families who lost husbands and fathers. “I’ve only been doing it for three weeks and there’s some amazing material already.

Nick as a child actor in Grange Hill (left) and more recently as the voice of Breakfast on Town 102 FM

The brilliant thing is that because I’m freelance I can edit the audio at home on my computer and just send it to London.” But through working on this project he’s also been given the go-ahead to do some research on the famous so called, “Nazi landing” at Shingle Street too. “I’ve always been fascinated by the story and it’s interesting that there seem to be so many versions going around. It’s like a mini JFK with a number of conspiracy theories.”

came here to some auditions with Jill Freud in Southwold for the role of Tim in Salad Days. I got down to the last two but wasn’t successful so then I went for an audition at the Wolsey Theatre, which didn’t work out either. “So then I spotted Radio Suffolk and I went up to reception and managed to speak to Ivan Howlett, the then Head of Station, who wasn’t able to give me a job but asked if I’d go and do a review – Salad Days in Southwold as it turned out!

Nick, who lives at Alderton said his neighbour, a former resident of Shingle Street, says, like many local people, that the whole story is a load of nonsense.

However, there are others who claim that this was a German invasion and the bodies were loaded on a cart and taken off to Bawdsey, where they were buried in a pit. “The Government, I understand, also kept secret paperwork back. So I’m going round talking to people first-hand about what actually happened.” Despite his very BBC voice, Nick is actually a proud Suffolk boy – something that often surprises people, especially as Pandolfi is obviously an Italian name. “I am actually half Italian and although there are no actors or media folk in the family there’s a classical musician named Pandolfi somewhere.”

“After that I was given another review and then found myself working on the early breakfast show, putting on the tapes for Chris Opperman. Then it occurred to me that I didn’t have to be an actor I could be myself.” Three years later an opportunity came up to have his own show on a station in London owned

by Mohamed Al-Fayed, which was an interesting experience because it ended up being sold to a religious group called the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. “Suddenly I found that my boss was a 27-year-old Bishop and that I was surrounded with suit-wearing people who had super white teeth.” Suffolk called though, and Nick soon found himself back in the fold at Radio Suffolk moving on to SGR, Heart Suffolk and then Town102.

Nicholas was born at the old Phyllis Memorial Home in Melton and went to school in Felixstowe before moving to London. It wasn’t long before he started work either. He’s been employed since the tender age of ten, as a child actor.

He did a three year stint in Grange Hill, was in The Bill and Dr Who, has appeared in Oscar winning films and numerous West End shows, but it wasn’t until he returned to Suffolk that he discovered his love of radio. “I actually

Despite work being in Ipswich he says, “I moved to Alderton because I just wanted to be in that part of the county – I just love the bleakness of it all. You go out of the back door and there are these huge skies – it still amazes me and in winter the nights are charcoal black.

You go to put your bin out and it’s so dark and the in distance you can see the light pollution from Felixstowe and to some extent from Woodbridge too. But I look up at the stars – and it’s thrilling.”

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Woodbridge and District Macmillan Cancer Support Committee

TOP TEAM Teams that pull together often achieve something bigger than they’d ever imagined and award-winning Macmillan fundraisers in Woodbridge have done just that. Essential Suffolk found out more

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hey are the first committee ever to have won the prestigious Douglas Macmillan award. They are the first committee to have taken on the responsibility for funding a local Macmillan nurse. They are also probably the first committee that have pushed hundreds of dirty plates from one of their famous events in wheelbarrows up stone steps to raise money for their charity. Quite simply the Woodbridge and District Macmillan Cancer Support Committee are a team of people who seem to know no bounds in terms of dedication and hard work.

In the last 28 years they have raised more than £750,000 for the charity and with the local Macmillan nurse now part of their remit they have a further £100,000 to raise for her costs for the next two years.

So it seems amazing that when Juliet Bellfield was first approached in 1986 to start a committee her answer was a categoric “no”. “But then I was persuaded to give it a go and everyone who has joined me on the committee has been absolutely tremendous.” What’s more amazing is that half the current committee, David Dow, Chris Woods, Annie Lineker, Liz Miles, Elizabeth Pearson, Diana Montaldi, Margaret Fetherston, Valerie Le Marchand, Janet D'Arcy, Linda Ling, Sally Lumsden, Sarah Wyke, Mary Rolls and Sue KeyBurr are original members. “They are all incredibly dedicated, committed and hard working,” Juliet says. But they too speak of Juliet with awe for being totally inspirational. Juliet says, “Our committee is dedicated to do all it can to help ensure that nobody has to suffer cancer alone.”

The work they have done to achieve this aim certainly has gone way beyond the call of duty. Sue Key-Bar says that over the years they have literally been involved in countless events in and around Woodbridge. “We have flag days, collection boxes, balls, concerts, craft fairs, auctions, dinners, lunches and community marathons. One fund raiser was staffing Father Christmas's Grotto at a local garden centre. We took it in turns working a rota of one hour shifts all weekend every weekend for the six weeks before Christmas every Christmas for many, many years. We wrapped the presents beforehand – then, as well as standing at the exit holding collecting tins, we escorted Father Christmas through Woodbridge in his horse drawn carriage. Juliet had a rota of maybe one hundred Father Christmases!” ‰

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MARCH 2014

Right: Lord Tollemache presenting the Douglas Macmillan award to Committee Chairman Juliet Bellfield Below: Vicky Gannon General Manager UK Macmillan

“ All this has certainly not been easy – especially as the committee has become known for its excellent food and they do most of the cooking themselves. Right at the start, she said, they organised New Year balls at Woodbridge School for 500 people. “For the first two years the committee did all the catering – however after that we did get some help.” These days never an opportunity goes by without the committee making the most of it. For instance whenever a marquee is put up for a wedding or special event in the area they try and use it the following day for a lunch or a dinner. “I clearly remember being at one where we had so much washing up that we had to use wheelbarrows and push them up stone steps before we could get

Our committee is dedicated to do all it can to help ensure that nobody has to suffer cancer alone. This award acknowledges the committee’s hard work over more than 27 years them clean,” said Sue. “It’s an amazing amount of hard work but it’s also a huge amount of fun. There is a lovely feeling of camaraderie as well.” But, she said, none of this would have been possible were it not for the generosity of local people who have supported them time and again. “We had a recent auction of promises for instance. We were kindly offered the venue by Hungarian Hall.

In total that afternoon raised £27,000 which is amazing. Our treasurer said that the next day one man came round with a cheque for everything he’d bought and had added a donation of £1,000.”

So it’s perhaps little wonder that for the first time in its 103 years existence the prestigious Douglas Macmillan award

was awarded to the whole committee, rather than just the chairman. Juliet said: “Our committee is dedicated to do all it can to help ensure that nobody has to suffer cancer alone. This award acknowledges the committee’s hard work over more than 27 years and the kindness of our many friends who always support us so generously”. It’s not surprising then that this committee was chosen for a pilot scheme to support a local Macmillan nurse who works in the Woodbridge area from Wickham Market down to the outskirts of Ipswich. “It’s been a huge project but we have had such great help from the people around here. Macmillan takes up a large part of our lives, all our work is entirely voluntary but it makes a difference,” says Juliet.

Every penny of the money raised for Macmillan by this Woodbridge committee is spent in Suffolk.

If you would like to make a donation to help the Macmillan Woodbridge Fundraising Committee reach its £100,000 target for 2013 /2014 to fund Macmillan's local Cancer Care Nurse, please go online to www.justgiving.com/woodbridgemacmillannurse

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MARCH 2014

BEST JOB IN THE WORLD Clare Euston – the Countess of Euston, is a lifelong passionate supporter of Suffolk, the Suffolk Agricultural Association and charity work. She talks to Anne Gould about 2014 and plans to help the rural community

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here’s no doubt about Lady Clare Euston’s allegiance; she loves Suffolk, she loves helping the people who live here and she loves the Suffolk Show. Even better, this year she’s the president of the Suffolk Agricultural Association and is absolutely thrilled that children are being allowed in free to this year’s event on May 28 and 29 and that dogs have been allowed back into Trinity Park.

“Last year I took my three-year-old granddaughter, Constance, she had a ball from the moment she arrived from dancing to gymnastics and encountering life-size polar bears. The show is such a great place with everything from the grand ring to the flower show and the food. It’s also a great place for children and we are the first county show to let children in free and I am absolutely delighted about it.”

Although Lady Clare grew up in the Scottish borders she feels a lifelong connection to the county as her grandfather had a farm in Suffolk and the family used to holiday here during the summer when she was a child.

“He used to take us for days out to Lowestoft and he always made sure there was a little horse for us to ride.”

On marrying her husband, James Oliver Charles FitzRoy, the late Earl of Euston, she moved to Suffolk and the Euston estate and it very quickly felt like home.

She’s passionate about farming, breeding Suffolk Punches – she believes the most intelligent breed – wildlife preservation and conservation and even today is an active partner in managing the estate however she says the honour of being show president is something really special.

Top: The Countess with a beloved Suffolk Punch. Above and right: At last year’s Suffolk Show

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Suffolk People | Countess of Euston

She’s only the fifth woman to have ever taken in the role – others have included, Henrietta Lady Greenwell in 1982, Miss Mary MacRae DL in 1987, The Countess of Cranbrook OBE in 2004 and Lady Tollemache in 2008.

“I’ve certainly got some big boots to step into,” she said. “Somebody described being the show president as being the best job in Suffolk – but it’s better than that. Mark Murphy used to say that Suffolk is the world’s greatest county, so being president has to be the world’s best job.” What’s more this year at the show she also has a plan that neatly links the Suffolk Agricultural Association with her other great passion – the Suffolk Community Foundation, of which she is a founder trustee.

Lady Clare has been a great champion of local charities for many years and as a former High Sheriff has an incredible insight to parts of the county that many of us, even some of us that have lived here most if not all of our lives, have never encountered. “In fact I often ended up going to these places twice.

I’m not very good at finding my way so I had to go and do a rekkie the day before. It’s a beautiful county and on the face of it a very wealthy one too but that’s not the whole picture” she explained. The county and in particular the rural areas have pockets of real deprivation and many people are isolated so Lady Clare wants to use the show to launch the Suffolk Rural Life Fund. It’s an ambitious project to raise £1,000,000.

“I want to help people who live in villages and rural areas who may not be able to access services that are available in towns.” The sorts of issues that she wants to tackle include domestic violence and drug addiction. She also wants to help people who are isolated because of illness such as cancer or conditions like Alzheimers meaning they can’t get out. “People may not have enough money to buy food but they can’t get to the nearest food bank because there are no buses and they have no transport.” However she has an ingenious idea that could solve this problem but she doesn’t want to say much about that at the moment – it’s very much a case of the right conversations taking place and watching this space.

We hear of these issues in parts of Lowestoft, Haverhill and Ipswich, said Lady Clare, but the problems also exists in places that on the surface that are very wealthy – like Newmarket for instance. On the face of it we live in a very beautiful and abundant county but there are some corners where life expectancy is ten years below the national average. “We are not talking here about Liverpool or the suburbs of Glasgow, we are talking about rural Suffolk.” However she said some of the best ideas and charities have originated in Suffolk – the churches bike ride, the Ormiston Trust and of course the Suffolk Community Foundation and so in the spirit of this she’s very much looking forward to being at Trinity Park on May 28 and 29 and making her Suffolk Rural Life Fund a reality. “Suffolk is a county full of philanthropists but people need to be give ideas of what to give to.

I think if some of these people realised the situation that existed they would want to help.”

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MARCH 2014

Many of us love growing our own vegetables these days, whether it’s in an exquisite walled garden or in a few pots on the patio, but Joanne Mudhar is offering something else – a share in a Suffolk farm. Anne Gould finds out more

GROWING TOGETHER In addition there are social events three times a year and the chance to meet new people – later this year there are even going to be wedding bells for a couple who met weeding the leeks! Of course the members have to give something in return – an hour or two of digging, hoeing, planting every week, depending on the season and for £8 a week, a share in the harvest.

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t just £25 the price of a share in a farm on the outskirts of Ipswich comes – well almost at a snip. Hardly surprising then that people have been clamouring to join the Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm in Rushmere St Andrew. It’s the only community farm in Suffolk and it seems that here in Ipswich there’s an alternative movement that’s as much about preserving the environment and self-sufficiency as quality of life and connecting with the natural world.

Joanne Mudhar’s farm – now in its fourth year – offers the 54 people who’ve signed up a box of home-grown vegetables every week and in the season there are flowers too. There are also options to buy pork raised on the farm, chickens, eggs, a goose for Christmas dinner and with two red poll’s arriving this Spring the promise of roast beef in the not too distant future.

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“When we started out we offered an option at a different price for people who might not want to get involved in a work commitment but people weren’t interested. What we are doing is an experiment to try to produce food in an ecological way and make a living at the same time.” However for Joanna it’s something of a dream come true – she once had a highly paid job in IT at one of the world’s most famous investment banks. “Then one day in the office when I was designing a mobile telephone screen I had one of those ‘road to Damascus’ moments.” She decided that the environment was too important to stay in the comfy world of high finance so she moved to France, studied renewable energies and managed to get planning permission to build a wind farm.

Living in Corsica and then Normandy was an amazing experience, where she had land and the opportunity to try small scale farming. When she moved back to Ipswich, her home town, she had

the desire to buy a small holding and create a small market garden. “Then 12 acres of land came up for sale on the edge of Ipswich and as I had some money saved I decided to buy it. It was in an appalling state, it had only two percent organic matter and I started ploughing in, by hand, carts of muck from the stable yard next door. I started to grow vegetables which I tried to sell directly to the public but it was very, very difficult.”

At the same time Joanne was also involved with Transition Ipswich – a group involved in energy and climate change and the Ripple Food Co-op in Ipswich. “I think I must have gone to a meeting one day and just asked if anyone could come and help me. People responded and I gave them some vegetables in return. Then someone suggested I start a community supported agriculture scheme so a few of us got together in a pub and the idea for the farm was created.” It started off with 24 shares but every year as more land is cultivated its grown attracting people of all ages and widely differing jobs and professions. There’s been help from the National Lottery and the Esmèe Fairbairn Foundation and the aim is to try and make this ‘experiment’ financially viable. “We are trying to make a living, we are not trying to make a profit and so far it seems to be working” Joanne added.

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Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm

The farm now has three directors, Joanna, Tom Wilmot and Eric Nelson and they are really planning for a future that’s sustainable – even planting trees for a firewood scheme that won’t start producing for another 15 years. In the meantime spring means foraging walks for the “lean” months before the 2014 crops are ready. “We encourage people to have a go at making things like nettle soup, it’s delicious, and wild food salads.

Sometimes we’ll also share what we’ve found in a communal meal at Rushmere Baptist Church too.”

Early in the year Joanna sent out a survey to all her members asking what sorts of vegetables they’d like to grow this season and although some have fared better than others the leeks have been particularly successful. Recycling is another essential part of the philosophy of the farm – literally nothing is wasted and people now even offer the farm stuff before they decide to throw away with the result that the hen houses were once immortalised, in another incarnation, as part of a film set.

Beneath the ground there’s an old large freezer that has been buried for use as a cold clamp, for preserving parsnips and root veg, through the lean season.

Also brewers mash and old bread are collected regularly from Ipswich for the pigs. A preserving group has also been set up to make use of mis-shaped fruits and vegetables which will be shared out in the vegetable boxes during the winter.

Members are also canvassed by email if something special is needed urgently be it old newspapers, glass jars or something more unusual and, as the whole idea is to reduce the use of carbon, members are actively encouraged to get on their bikes to do their farm work with a prize every six months for the person who has cycled the most.

INFORMATION www.the-oak-tree.co.uk

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MARCH 2014

By Malene Birger Fiurica pale pint coat £379, Marianna

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Those who like their fashion on the sweet side will be pleased to know that pastels are a key story for Spring 2014. Choose your favourite from the tones of lilac, pistachio, baby blue and blush pink that were all over the catwalks. Pastels look beautiful as tailored outerwear like this

By Malene Birger coat and this season team them with white for a contemporary look.

Emma Lloyd Marianna Boutique, Ipswich

Set linen jumper with cat intarsia £159 Marianna

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Set stone and blue print biker jacket £239 Marianna

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Fashion 1.

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Choise striped top was £49.50 now £37, Choise scarf £16.50, Caramel Choise green top was £78 now £59, Caramel

By Malene Birger necklace £99, Marianna Olsen Botanic Beauty jumper £89, O&C Butcher

pastelle PALETTE 1 2 4 3

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5. Good Lookers (+2.5) reading glasses ‘Tilly pink’ £13.50, matching case £11.50, Caramel 6. Beaumont blue coat £92.50, Caramel 7. Betty Barclay hand bags, variety of colours available £62.50 (each), Caramel

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Fashion

FLOWERS FOR FAIR TRADE

Essential

FASHION FIND We discovered this beautiful classic shoulder bag by London based hand bag designer Harriet Sanders while shopping at O&C Butcher in Aldeburgh. The slim, soft leather exterior is available in no less than eleven shades but what we really love is that you can choose the colour of the interior suede lining and personalize your style with either pink, red, purple, yellow, or pale blue. It’s available in two sizes, large retails at £130 and the smaller version at a neat £100 so why not drop in to O&C and have a look for yourself?

People Tree and Orla Kiely continue their successful collaboration for the Spring – Summer 2014 season with a capsule collection launching for Fair Trade Fortnight, 25th February – 9th March 2014. The collection showcases Orla's love of vintage-inspired prints with a 60's aesthetic that complements the mainline People Tree collection.

The print is based on one of Orla's trademark designs – ‘Flower Girls’ – reworked into three new variations.

The prints are exclusive to People Tree on 100% Fair Trade and Organic Cotton. “Many of our prints are inspired by nature. Growing up in Ireland, I loved Fuchsias. I always thought of the flower as a ballerina. This was the starting point for the print” said Orla.

This conversational print features flower girls in a ditsy all over print and a larger scale abstract monochrome print. This season, the colour palette features a black print on an ivory base on cotton poplin and a bright pop of summer pink, ocre and multicolour on on soft jersey. The 100% organic cotton collection is comprised of two dresses, a jacket and skirt in poplin, and three dresses in jersey. Two of the dresses feature open back details.

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MARCH 2014

Essential gifts for special mothers from some of our favourite Suffolk retailers

1

FOR THE LOVE OF

MUM

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A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity. It dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.

Agatha Christie

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Mothering Sunday 1.

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Layla Amber necklace £20, Love One Special occasion votive candles £6 each, Cake & Catwalk Treat your mum to a Milsom Hotels & Restaurants gift voucher –’The finest places to eat, drink, stay’ Afternoon Tea in Café 1885 from £12.95pp, Snape Maltings Dragonfly jug £15.95, House & Garden, Snape Maltings Solid pewter Love You Mummy keyring, made in the UK £9.95, Happiness Store Beautiful silver plated star necklace £24.95, Happiness Store Dr Vranjes reed diffusers for the home in a selection of beautiful fragrances from £49, Marianna Spa Day and Treatment Vouchers available from Ufford Park Spa Mothering Sunday cards from the range available at Love One

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My mother…she is beautiful, softened at the edges and tempered with a spine of steel. I want to grow old and be like her.

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10

Jodi Picoult

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11. Blend Collective’s Unwinding Range is a blend of natural oils carefully selected for their deeply relaxing tones from £9.95, Happiness Store 12. Mothers Day packages Hunter House Clinic 13. Kate Hamilton Hunter Mothers Day jewellery from £22, Love One 14. Long pendant with assorted hanging charms £24, Cake & Catwalk 15. Long Heart and circle pendant necklaces from £18, Cake & Catwalk

AESTHE

TIC ME ED DIC ICA ALL & BE AUTY TREATM T EN TS

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GIFT V OUCH E

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Ufford Park Woodbridge Hotel, Golf & Spa Yarmouth Road, Melton, Woodbridge.

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U F F O R D PA R K W O O D B R I D G E

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The Regent Theatre Ipswich Box office: 01473 433100

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Health

MARCH 2014

OVARIAN CANCER AWARENESS MONTH This month we caught up with Mr Barnaby Rufford, a Gynaecology Consultant based at Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust with a private practice at Nuffield Health Ipswich Hospital.

Barnaby Rufford grew up in Suffolk before moving away for his medical training in London and Australia.

With March being Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, he explains in more detail why early diagnosis and being more aware of the symptoms of the illness is so important “March is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, an important month for us to increase public knowledge of the disease”, explains Barnaby. “There are over 7,000 cases of ovarian cancer a year in the UK – that’s over 135 women being diagnosed every week – making ovarian cancer the fourth most common cause of cancer death in women. In over 75% of cases, women are diagnosed when the cancer has spread beyond the ovaries when successful treatment is much more challenging. One of the reasons for this is the failure to recognise symptoms.”

Some of the symptoms are: Increased abdominal size/persistent bloating (not bloating that comes and goes), difficulty eating and feeling full, pelvic or abdominal pain and needing to pass urine more urgently or more often.

Other symptoms can include unexpected weight loss, change in bowel habit, and extreme fatigue. Ovarian cancer symptoms can be confused with

those of irritable bowel syndrome but although the latter is more common, it rarely presents as a new illness in women over 50. Most women with these symptoms won’t have ovarian cancer but investigation with a CA125 blood test may be indicated if they are persistent. An ultrasound scan may also be indicated.

“The good news is that if tests are carried out promptly and ovarian cancer is discovered early then the prognosis is usually good. When diagnosed at the earliest stage, when the disease is confined to the ovary, the cure rate is above 90%. The risk of developing ovarian cancer increases with age and after the menopause”, explains Barnaby.

“Most cases are sporadic but it can run in families. Further assessment may be necessary if a family contains two or more cases of ovarian cancer or both ovarian cancer and breast cancer cases.

Some things protect against ovarian cancer – these include having children, breast feeding and taking the oral contraceptive pill. Common myths about ovarian cancer include that it can be detected by a cervical smear, that it is related to sexual activity and that it is a “silent killer” – most women do have symptoms, they are just often not investigated early enough.”

“I think the key message to women is that if you have any concerns or experience any of the changes above, act upon them. Always consult your GP initially who will refer you to a specialist if there is thought to be a need for further investigation.”

Mr Barnaby Rufford

Ovarian cancer treatment is managed at specialist oncology centres that cover large population areas. Ipswich is the cancer centre that covers most of Suffolk and Essex in an area extending south to the M25. The local private hospital, Nuffield Health Ipswich Hospital, is the regional BUPA accredited private hospital for managing gynaecological cancers.

Mr Barnaby Rufford, as well as qualifying as an obstetrician and gynaecologist, has undertaken a further five years training at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and the Royal Marsden Hospital to gain a fellowship in gynaecological cancer surgery. The additional skills gained during this fellowship have been invaluable through his career when undertaking all gynaecological surgery, not just that for cancer.

In 2006 an opportunity arose to take up a consultant post in Ipswich and he returned to his native Suffolk where he lives with his wife and three children.

He continues to do a session in London at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. As well as being Lead Clinician for Gynaecological Cancer at Ipswich Hospital, he has a private practice in general gynaecology and gynaecological cancer at Nuffield Health Ipswich Hospital and represents the East of England on the National Commissioning Group determining the management of all aspects of complex gynaecology nationally.

To find out more information on how to book a private consultation with Mr Barnaby Rufford, Consultant Gynaecologist, contact Nuffield Health Ipswich Hospital on 01473 279100. www.nuffieldhealth.com/ipswichhospital Visit www.nuffieldhealth.com/hospitals/events for details of all our upcoming events.

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Finance

James Wright

NEW YEAR TAX BLUES? Did the end of January leave with you with a large tax bill?

Are you thinking you’d like to reclaim some of it? There are investments available which can enable you to do so.

Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS) offer 30% income tax relief, tax free growth, and 100% inheritance tax relief after two years but must be held for a minimum of 3 years. In addition capital gains tax can be deferred and upon sale loss relief may be available. For example, investing £100,000 into an EIS could provide £30,000 income tax relief, £40,000 inheritance tax saving and defer a capital gain up to £100,000.

Many EISs invest with the aim of capital preservation in the renewable energy market. Investing in this sector takes advantage of predictable government backed income streams, helping to reduce the risk of these investments. By investing £100,000 into EISs on a 3 year rolling basis £10,000 of income tax relief could be claimed each year and from year 4 onwards the original capital can be re-invested to provide a further £10,000 income tax relief on the same original investment amount.

Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) offer 30% income tax relief, tax free dividends and tax free growth but must be held for a

minimum of 5 years. Therefore a rolling strategy would need an extra two yeas of investment however the tax free dividends may be a good addition to income in retirement along side income tax relief on pension income. Many VCTs like EISs invest into the renewable energy market benefitting from the predictable income streams to help reduce risk. A key benefit of EIS over VCT is the ability to carry back income tax relief to the previous tax year. If you’ve just paid an income tax bill for 2012/13 tax year an investment into EIS before 5th April 2014 could reclaim this tax.

EIS and VCT investments are very effective for claiming tax relief but are also high risk investments and their exits after 3 or 5 years can’t be guaranteed. They should always be considered as part of a diversified investment strategy and independent financial advice sought before investing into EIS and VCT to explain the risks involved.

If you would like information on how we may be able to assist you with tax efficient investments or any other financial planning matters please contact me at james.wright@scruttonbland.co.uk or on 01206 838400

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www.rendallandwright.com EssentialSUFFOLK

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MARCH 2014

PUB WALKS with Darcy This month’s pub walk takes Darcy from Walberswick to Southwold with options to visit the dog friendly Bell Inn and Harbour Inn on either side of the River Blyth Even before we had Darcy the core of this walk, beside the river from Walberswick to Southwold, was a favoured destination. The tranquillity of the Walberswick river bank contrasts sharply with the bustle of the working Southwold harbour opposite with its fishing boats and resultant fresh daily catch. For lovers of fresh fish a rucksack and ice pack is a highly recommended accessory for this route!

As we are still at a point where 2014 is in its infancy, with endless potential and possibilities ahead of us, we thought we would support this theme by bringing you a walk that gives you lots of options in addition to our suggested route. Although we chose to start it in Walberswick, due to better car parking options, it could just as easily be taken from Southwold. Small detours from our walk could see you taking in the delights of Southwold town centre, a beach walk at Walberswick or even an extended river walk should you choose the follow the path beyond the footbridge.

Departing from the river the walk crosses the town marshes and Southwold common. In such a short distance a great example of how

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agriculture, recreation and nature can seamlessly co-exist. If ‘twitching’ is your thing then a pair of binoculars should also accompany you on this walk.

The sight of the many species of geese grazing on the Town Marshes next to the cows is often entrancing and the possibility of herons, little egrets and kingfishers along the river bank is always a bonus.

Whichever route you decide to choose you can be assured that you and your four legged friend will receive a warm welcome at either The Bell or Harbour Inns either side of the river.

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THE WALK Distance: Approx. 4 miles (shorter options available) Time: Approx. 1 hour 15 minutes depending on your pace Terrain: Easy paths (can be wet under foot in sections 4-5) Stops: The Bell Inn Walberswick, The Harbour Inn Southwold Ordinance Survey Map: Explorer 231 Start Point OS reference: 499 749 (Walberswick Beach Car Park) As always please keep your dog under close control and follow any advisory signs. For a printable version of this and previous walks go to: www.essentialsuffolk.com/dog-walks where you will also find more pictures of each walk route.

1. From the car park turn right and walk towards the river.

2. As you near the river turn left taking the footpath (FP) that passes behind a row of huts. Follow this path until you reach the footbridge over the river then cross the bridge.

3. Once over the bridge take the second path on the right (marked Bridleway). After a short walk the bridleway passes behind a row of coloured cottages and emerges at a road. Cross the road and follow the FP sign directly opposite.

4. This FP sign leads you directly behind the Harbour Inn. Pass through the wooden gate and cross the field in front of you. The path, initially through meadow and then over Southwold Common, is well walked and should be visible but should you be unsure Southwold lighthouse in the distance ahead of you serves as a good directional target.You will pass through a further four gates and after the final gate walk up a small incline. This emerges by one of the holes of the Southwold Golf Course. Follow the sign marked ‘To the Town’ which will lead you beside the rugby pitches and finally to a car park.

5. At the car park turn right and follow the sign for the harbour. Keep to the right passing Centenary Cottage and Parkview on your left.

Follow this road (Gardner Road) until its end where you will see a FP sign marked Sandlings Walk and Suffolk Coast Path on your right.

6. Turn right at the FP sign and follow the path for approx. 10 minutes until you reach another sign marked Restricted Byway.

7. Turn right at this sign which will lead you along Southwold Harbour and after a short walk back to the Harbour Inn. 8. From the Harbour Inn, to return to Walberswick, take the FP beside the river that passes in front of the coloured cottages that earlier you walked behind. This path will lead you back to bridge which you cross then turn immediately left retracing your earlier steps.

NB: As you approach the Walberswick you will clearly see the Bell Inn which can be reached by passing the car park and taking the FP between the cottages.

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MARCH 2014

While Jimmy’s Farm is still very much a working farm, it is really putting itself on the culinary map these days. There’s plenty of family fun to be had and a generous helping of good food to enjoy too.

Lesley Rawlinson re-visited Jimmy’s renowned restaurant to see what the new spring menu has in store

FAMILY G

one are the days of Jimmy’s Farm as purely a rare breed pig farm. While pigs remain central to much of the operation, farmer and TV personality Jimmy Doherty has seen dreams of living the good life develop and grow with the farm now home to a multitude of animals and the venue ranking high on the list for day tripping families. Along with his wife Michaela and the Jimmy’s Farm team he’s created a must visit spot for adults and children alike to get close to nature and enjoy the Suffolk countryside. There’s plenty too for foodies with the farm shop, restaurant and field kitchen plus the chance of some retail therapy if you still need your fix.

Before we’d even left the car park we were drawn to the edge of the field where a family of Highland Cattle, well wrapped in their shaggy coats were

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feeding from a trough filled with hay and quite adorably oblivious to our arrival. This close up arrangement is indicative of how the farm works as visitors can wander quite freely near the livestock. Obviously they’re fenced off but with the trails and petting farm there are plenty of opportunities for children to gain first-hand experience of the animals.

When the 200 year old barn that has become the restaurant at Jimmy’s Farm was lovingly restored you get the feeling that, once again, families were top-ofmind. Light, bright and airy the space is certainly rustic and has a contemporary yet welcoming feel. A clever mixture of casual tea room, bar and restaurant - on the one hand there’s a good reserve of toys and books for keeping younger visitors entertained while parents and grandparents may appreciate the recent

addition of several Adnams cellar favourites to the already well stocked bar and some creative additions to the hot beverages – I spotted a ‘tea toddy’ on the blackboard, apparently a blend of Earl Grey tea with a shot of Bailey’s Irish Cream…intriguing!

When we last visited the restaurant it seemed ridiculous not to dive into a plate of home reared pork but the aforementioned developments have meant that Jimmy’s Farm Head Chef Katie Rowles has been able to create a menu for this spring with some surprising additions and she agreed to give us a preview tasting of some of the new dishes. First up were two of the starters; turkey with pomegranate & spring onion salsa and grilled halloumi with mixed vegetables, toasted walnuts and sweet balsamic dressing. Knowing that Jimmy’s Farm turkeys have been

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Dining Review | Jimmy’s Farm

FAVOURITE award winning in recent years we predicted that we were in for a treat however it was hard to imagine how such a rich meat would sit with the accompaniments but the reality was a light, fresh flavoursome starter where the moist dark turkey meat contrasted beautifully with the salad and salsa – a pretty dish too, jewelled with the pomegranate seeds. The halloumi salad was an equally harmonious blend of flavours with the sweet roasted vegetables and balsamic balanced by the saltiness of the cheese and the added crunch of the walnuts kept the textures interesting.

While I wasn’t overly surprised that Katie had chosen a lamb main course for us to try I hadn’t expected fish!

Whole baked Lemon Sole makes the cut this spring and it’s elegantly joined by a sorrel and spring onion salsa –

not dissimilar to the salsa on the turkey starter. This is another well thought out combination as the dish has both depth of flavour and a light fresh taste – a perfect lunch served with soft, buttery, earthy new potatoes. Just like the pork the lamb is reared and butchered on site and Chef’s idea of teaming it with creamy sweet potato mash and purple sprouting broccoli all brought together in a minted jus delivers a hearty plate of farm-fresh goodness.

The restaurant at Jimmy’s Farm is one of those places where you can dive in to any part of the menu at will so even if you’re full at the thought of starters and mains at lunch time an afternoon coffee could be accompanied by homemade cake or one of the irresistible desserts.

While there are lots of new additions to the menu this spring I’m relieved to say that the much loved ‘secret recipe’

chocolate brownie remains – complete with chunks of white chocolate found in its gooey dark chocolate centre. Katie also treated us to her light and fruity strawberry Bakewell served with clotted cream, surely the answer to an afternoon tea lovers dreams. So, all that remains is to devise a reason to return! Mind you, the packed spring schedule, including the ever popular Science & Nature Festival towards the end of this month, will give plenty of opportunities so I don’t think I’ll have to wait long.

INFORMATION Jimmy’s Farm, Pannington Hall Wherstead, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP9 2AR For a full list of facilities and events visit www.jimmysfarm.com

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MARCH 2014

in the PINK A top seller on the Shepherd & Dog Eaterie menu is Greig Young’s duck & beetroot dish. He says “it’s as much about the beetroots as it is the duck as the earthiness of the beets compliments the distinctive meaty flavour, all bought together with the richness of black pudding”

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Recipe | The Shepherd & Dog

Pan roasted duck breast, roast & dressed beetroots, black pudding cream INGREDIENTS Serves 4 For the beetroot: 20 baby beetroots with leaves (a mixture of varieties include golden, candy and red is ideal) 120ml water 20ml white wine vinegar 10g caster sugar 3 sprigs of thyme Black peppercorns

For the black pudding cream: 50g black pudding (we use Stornoway) 50ml single cream Maldon sea salt For the duck: 4 large duck breasts Maldon sea salt Olive oil

METHOD

Greig Young is the driving force behind the new innovative menu at the Shepherd & Dog. Originally from Scotland where he trained at the highly acclaimed Airds Hotel he has since been around the world working in some incredible restaurants including Michelin starred Number One at The Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh and most recently Sous Chef at 5 red star hotel The Vineyard at Stockcross in Berkshire. His move to Suffolk was prompted by the opportunity to open up his own restaurant with his partner in her home village, Forward Green.

Greig’s cooking style is modern British.

He uses cooking techniques that highlight the flavours and dynamics of simple seasonal ingredients. “I’m not afraid to change the way people think about certain ingredients by showing them in a different light. A great example of this is our set celeriac cream and salted walnut dessert�.

1. Pre heat oven to 180°C 2. Separate the beetroots into their different varieties making sure they are roughly the same size leaving one of each aside. Remove the leaves but keep them aside for later too.

3. Create a tin foil bowl for each variety and place the beets inside along with 30ml water and a pinch of salt, thyme sprigs and few black peppercorns then seal the top of it tightly to make sure no steam can escape while cooking. Bake on a tray for approximately one hour or until tender.

4. Gently peel the beetroots while warm (using gloves stops red fingers!) and put to one side.

5. Mix the sugar, remaining water and vinegar in a pot on a low heat until dissolved.

6. Slice the beetroots, that were put aside in step two, very thinly (either using a mandolin or a sharp knife). Cover with the vinegar/sugar mix and put them to one side for later.

7. In a small pot crush the black pudding with a fork and add the cream over a low heat and mix until incorporated and then press through a sieve. Lightly season with Maldon salt, keep warm until ready to plate.

8. Remove the duck from the fridge and remove any sinew. Gently score the skin with a sharp knife and lightly season with Maldon salt.

9. In a medium hot pan place the duck skin side down – without oil! Gently colour the skin pouring out the fat as it cooks. This should take 5-6 minutes. Once golden turn the breasts over to colour the other side for one minute.

10. Remove the duck from the pan and let it rest.

11. When ready to serve place the duck in the oven for a couple of minutes to warm through. Place a spoon full of the black pudding cream in the centre of the plate.

12. Arrange the cooked beets around one side of the puree mixing the varieties to make it look attractive.

13. Place the raw beetroots on top of the cooked ones as you please and use the left over marinade to dress the beetroot leaves and arrange them on top.

14. Remove the duck from the oven and cut in half length ways and place on the other side of the puree.

CHEF’S TIP In the restaurant we use a duck glaze to finish the dish but at home I use a good quality olive oil.

A modern pub and eaterie in the heart of the Suffolk countryside.

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MARCH 2014

Dunwich has become one of our favourite places on the Suffolk coast and so when we heard that The Ship Inn not only had a new chef but was also featuring live music on a regular basis, we needed little encouragement to investigate further

I

t was 5pm on a Thursday evening in February. Scenes of horrific floods across the country were cramming every news report and although the impact this side if Christmas had been relatively minor in this area the rain was still lashing down as we loaded Darcy, our Golden Retriever, into the car and headed up the coast. As we pulled away my husband remarked that it was surely the worst kind of weather for driving in and I had to agree, but nothing was going to stand between us and an opportunity to spend time in the warm and welcoming Ship Inn. Once off the main road and heading through the villages and lanes we dodged the torrents of water spilling from the fields.

As the dark evening closed in we rounded a corner very close to our destination and there, right in the centre of the road – startled and staring straight

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GREAT NIGHT INN

at us – the most majestic and statuesque stag. Thankfully we’d been driving at crawling pace so no need for hard breaking but with two bounds he was gone, out of sight and away in the woodland from where he’d appeared.

We’ve seen deer on Dunwich Heath before, always at dusk, but never this close and it was quite breath taking.

As we checked in and were shown to our rooms by manager Matt Goodwin we were keen to share our tale, forgetting that he walks his dogs in the local woods two or three times a day. “It’s surprising how many deer I see” he said “they’re the masters of standing still and the dogs are completely stupid, they’re virtually oblivious to them when they can be just feet away, it all depends on the light”.

I think that’s the key thing for me about time spent in and around Dunwich.

Depending on the time of day the season and the weather the choices for walking are enviable. We favour two routes in particular – the first a circular that takes in the cliff and heath on the edge of the Minsmere reserve returning to the village along farm tracks and the second takes us through woodland and then across Dingle Marsh to the beach and back along the coast path. They say dogs don’t forget when they’ve been to a place before and it was clear from Darcy’s fairly frantic behaviour that she was expecting to get straight out and re-discover her previous paw-prints but with the inclement conditions it was decided that a quick turn around the village would have to suffice and that we’d head out on a decent walk the next day if the relentless rain ever eased.

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Short Break | The Ship Inn, Dunwich

Forthcoming Events LIVE MUSIC EVENINGS The Ship will be holding live music evenings on the last Thursday of each month. There is no need to book, just come along and enjoy what promises to be some fantastic nights with great food, drinks and live music.

BEER FESTIVAL Following their previous, very successful, Beer Festivals you are invited to join The Ship at Dunwich for another fantastic Beer Festival weekend on Saturday and Sunday 19th and 20th April 2014.

It promises to be a great weekend with live music and vintage market on Sunday and plenty of beer from our favourite local breweries.

When a pub like the Ship, one with original character and history, has become a firm favourite there’s always the risk that change – whether in personnel or décor – will some-how upset your own personal chemistry with the place. So as we settled in the bar the relief that everything appeared to be unchanged, left just as we liked it, helped the toils of the day melt away as the first sips passed our lips. That’s where Matt and his team are clever. You see the bar had been completely redecorated, but they’d taken such care to ensure that the previous colours were perfectly matched that unless you’d witnessed the process or caught a whiff of white spirit you’d be none the wiser – perhaps just amazed that unlike some ‘characterful inns’ the Ship never tires, never looks unloved.

Though the bar is by no means small, when busy it’s the kind of environment that encourages conversations between folks that might not have previously met.

I recently had the misfortune to travel on the London Underground where I’m sure you’d be issued with an on the spot fine if you make eye contact with or, heaven forbid, smile at a fellow traveller.

By complete contrast we soon found ourselves chatting to other couples, most

of who seemed to have also taken the opportunity for an over-night stay as they were there specifically to enjoy a favourite venue, good food and an added bonus – live music. I wasn’t sure what to expect from our entertainers, a young couple – pianist Jack Pescod and violinist Hannah Vogt. I hadn’t had time to research them on the web prior to arrival so was completely clueless of their style or genre. It turned out that their ethereal blend of sounds, that for me evoked a calm Celtic mood, was the perfect background for our evening.

I don’t use the word ‘background’ disparagingly – for the setting they delivered a well thought out set that was presented as an accompaniment allowing us to enjoy our meal, prepared by the Ship’s new chef Sam Hanison, without feeling that we were rude for not engaging with their performance. I can give them no greater praise than to pass on to you that I readily parted with cash for a copy of Jack’s CD there and then in the bar and have set it aside as the perfect Sunday morning mood setter.

Chef Sam’s background has seen him working in a number of well-known kitchens and even for a time as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s personal Chef. The proof as always was in the mouthwatering meal we enjoyed; ham-hock and caper terrine with sour dough toast followed by a succulent Barnsely lamb chop were my choices while my husband chose a cheese soufflé followed by a dish of braised ox cheek. In addition the steaming hot seasonal vegetables, creamy mashed potatoes and all round attention to detail were

faultless. Sam hasn’t arrived with a mission to change the type of food that the Ship is famous for but to build on it and take it up a level and certainly based on our dishes he has achieved this. We didn’t however just have to rely on our own opinions, we overheard very appreciative feedback from the three tables in earshot and though we were just too full to contemplate dessert, the apple crumble with custard and rich chocolate torte that arrived at the table next door brought murmurs of delight.

Retiring to our room, the distant crashing of waves on the beach ready to lull us off to sleep, I made a final check of the weather forecast for the morning – more rain – and it delivered.

We awoke to more of the dreaded drizzle but decided that once we’d been bolstered by the Ships very special English Breakfast we wouldn’t be able to return home without having taken Darcy at least for a wander on the beach. Choosing our own favourite components from the lengthy list of breakfast favourites, including local Blythburgh pork sausages and eggs cooked however we liked, we enjoyed a hearty plateful that set us up to battle the elements. Windswept but refreshed we climbed back in the car, albeit with a rather soggy dog, another soul satisfying stay at The Ship Inn complete.

INFORMATION The Ship, St James Street, Dunwich, Saxmundham, Suffolk, IP17 3DT 01728 648219 info@shipatdunwich.co.uk www.shipatdunwich.co.uk

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MARCH 2014

A CAFÉ ABOVE...

Situated in the House & Garden building at Snape Maltings Café 1885 has proved a popular meeting place and refreshment destination for visitors to the Maltings. As the Café approaches its third anniversary Adrian Rawlinson visited to sample the latest menu

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n preparation for the launch of our new website – EssentialSuffolk.com – I read and uploaded over 30 of our ‘My Suffolk’ interviews where, during the last three years, we have asked leading local Suffolk residents what they love most about our county and what they would recommend to others. A consistent destination, and I believe clear winner for the most mentions, was Snape Maltings. Over the last ten plus years the Maltings owners, Johnny and Alesha Gooderham, have created an attraction that regularly draws both locals and visitors to the county. As home to Aldeburgh Music and the main venue for the Aldeburgh Food & Drink

Festival Snape Maltings has a nationally significant profile however seven days a week, 52 weeks a year – only shutting for Christmas – it offers an enticing blend of experiences that will satisfy the curiosity of the most diverse party with just some of the options including an art gallery, the afore mentioned House & Garden shop, fashion retailers, food hall and of course the 1885 Café.

So it was with wind and rain battering my car that I headed to Snape to meet up with Mrs R for what is sadly a rare, but much welcome opportunity to meet for lunch. Publishing a magazine with a small team keeps us very busy and quite

often in different places. As I pulled in the news on the radio confirmed what I had suspected; it was officially the wettest January on record and with it on that day a chill east wind had appeared for good measure. I needed warming.

Café 1885 sits on a mezzanine floor above the main section of House & Garden. It is light, rustic, airy and welcoming. Tables and chairs for dining are complimented by a couple of comfy sofas for relaxing and catching up with friends so if you’re not up for a full meal there is also a great selection of teas, coffees, cakes, desserts and afternoon teas. Perfect fayre to refuel before you continue your shopping.

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Dining Review | Café 1885 at Snape Maltings

The main menu for the café changes once a month on the first Saturday to coincide with the farmers market at the Maltings, and each day there are a number of specials on the blackboard – local chicken breast stuffed with brie and wrapped in pancetta alongside side local slow roast belly of pork – were the two choices on the day of our visit.

Local is key to Café 1885 and they were rewarded for their efforts in 2012 by winning the Suffolk Food & Drink Award for best use of local produce.

Head chef Lauren Gregg told us that each month they will change four of the main dishes but certain choices are sacrosanct. There was a ‘near riot’ when the hugely popular Welsh rarebit was once removed so now it remains firmly in place but occasionally receives a slight refresh with the addition of a new ingredient – most recently a red onion chutney.

For our lunch I chose the Blaxhall Wild Meat Company open mixed game puff pastry pie with Adnams gravy served with sprouting broccoli, leeks and creamy mash. My good lady selected the chicken breast stuffed with brie, wrapped in pancetta from the specials board that came with sautéed potatoes and a rich tomato sauce. Both meals were excellent and mine was absolutely the perfect choice to banish the foul winters day.

As it was lunchtime we resisted the hugely tempting cakes and dessert menus. As delicious as choices such as Tarte au Chocolate, Vanilla Madagascar Cheesecake, Creamy Carrot Cake and Lemon Drizzle Cake were I knew I would be asleep in a layby if I partook on this occasion. A future pleasure to be looked forward to though.

Instead we opted to round off our meal with a coffee before once again going our separate ways. I am a little wary to admit to being a bit of a coffee heathen often enjoying a cup of instant over other much lauded ‘real’ coffees. I was however genuinely enthusiastic about the coffee at Café 1885 which was Roasted Bean Coffee made with 100% Arabica beans. Not only was I impressed with the drink but also the service that came with it.

My wife – a coffee lover – always drinks hers black so when the two cups arrived, the black one filled to the brim and mine with room for my milk, the attention to detail was appreciated.

The waiting team were friendly, enthusiastic and knowledgeable – tempting us with tantalising previews of the new dishes on the next month’s menu including a Thai fish curry and sticky sesame seed chicken with coriander, cucumber, carrot and red onion salad. If by the time you read this article you have missed those particular dishes I am sure their replacements will be equally as tempting.

With our meal concluded we took the opportunity to wander around for a spot of retail therapy. Having topped up stocks of my favourite paprika from the Food Hall and contemplated the purchase of more kitchen gadgets – for which we seriously have no more room – from House & Garden we went our separate ways. A perfect lunch and one we’d thoroughly recommend.

INFORMATION Café 1885 is open seven days a week.

10.00am to 5.00pm. For full details of menus and more about Snape Maltings visit www.snapemaltings.co.uk

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MARCH 2014

Ufford Park

The Dog

The Galley

The Park Restaurant, situated at Ufford Park Woodbridge Hotel, Golf and Spa is set in 120 acres of historic parklands. We offer a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere and have a seasonally-changing menu that offers lots of locally produced food and fresh vegetables. Why not treat your mum to a two course dinner with us on Mother's Day? From only £21.95 per person, say thank you to her on her special day! Open to all, non-members welcome.

Award Winning Public House, Restaurant & Bar. Our menu constantly evolves to reflect the changing seasons and celebrates the very best of locally sourced produce. Our ‘Specials Board’ is inspired by the prime seasonal ingredients available each day and the entire menu is complemented by a carefully selected wine list. New guest beer every week. Real ales and rustic ciders. Save 20% off food orders everyday between 5.30 and 6.30pm. Set price menu one course £7.50, two courses £10 or three courses £13.

The Galley in Woodbridge is a family run restaurant offering vibrant and exciting menus, using fresh local produce, in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. For those wishing to hold a celebration or business lunch, there are private dining rooms available. New two course lunch and early bird diner menu just £9.50, three courses £11.The team at the Galley are introducing a new special event on the second Sunday of every month – an extra delicious Sunday Roast! Next available on 9 March and 6 April!

Open: Monday to Sunday 6:30pm to 9:30pm Yarmouth Road, Melton, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 1QW 0844 847 9467 enquiries@uffordpark.co.uk www.uffordpark.co.uk

Open: Monday – Closed. Tuesday to Thursday 12 noon to 2.30pm and 5.30 to 11pm. Friday, Saturday and Sunday – open all day. Food Served 12 noon to 2pm (2.30 Sunday) and 5.30pm to 9pm daily The Green, Grundisburgh, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP13 6TA

Open: 7 days a week, lunch 12noon to 2.15pm, dinner 6pm to late (early bird diner 6 – 7pm) 21 Market Hill, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 4LX

01473 735267 www.grundisburghdog.co.uk

01394 380055 www.thegalley.uk.com

Fynn Valley

The Peacock Inn

The Middleton Bell

Open to everyone, not just golfers, we are the place you bring your family and friends for a wide range of tempting meals prepared by our talented chefs. Meals can be eaten in our cosy Courtyard Bar, The Terrace overlooking the golf course or utilising the entire spacious Valley Room on busier occasions. Full details of our menus and offers can be found on our website.

Situated opposite the picturesque bridge in the village of Chelsworth, The Peacock is a traditional half-timbered 14th century Inn, with cosy log fires and three rosette silver accommodation. Perfectly positioned for touring, walking and cycling in the beautiful surrounding countryside. Offering a selection of real ales and seasonal homemade food.

Try our Sunday roast in a relaxed atmosphere, bookings advisable, dogs welcome.

Set in the beautiful village of Middleton the award winning Value Pub of the Year 2012 Bell Inn offers top quality food using the best local produce at prices that ensure you will want to return again and again. Dine in the garden, traditional bar area or the beamed restaurant and enjoy home cooked food and ales directly from the cask. The Bell is the perfect venue to meet friends and family.

Open: Monday to Saturday, 12pm to 3pm and 6pm to 11pm. Sunday, 12pm to 6pm (Food served 12pm to 2.30pm and 6pm to 9pm daily)

Open: Bar: Monday 6pm to 11pm, Tuesday to Friday – Lunch, 12 noon to 3pm, Evening, 6pm to 11pm, Saturday: 12 noon – midnight. Sunday: 12 noon to 10.30pm Food served Tuesday – Sunday Booking advisable please call for details

Open: Open lunch and evening except closed all day Monday and Sunday evenings.

Fynn Valley Golf Club, Witnesham, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP6 9JA 01473 785202 restaurant@fynn-valley.co.uk www.fynn-valley.co.uk

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37 The Street, Chelsworth, Suffolk, IP7 7HU 01449 743952 wilcri@aol.com www.thepeacockchelsworth.com

The Street, Middleton, Suffolk, IP17 3NN 01473 230293

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Food Gallery

The Fountain

The Angel

Butt & Oyster

Located in the lovely old village of Tuddenham St Martin, three miles north of Ipswich, informal bistro style restaurant set in an oldie worldy 16th century country pub with great food, great service and great value.

Parties welcome from two to 45 people. Full A La Carte menu and a set two or three course menu. Current specials always included on the website. Covered heated patio and spacious beer garden.

Using the best local ingredients from the excellent producers on our doorstep, we prepare great tasty food here on the premises and aim sell it to you at a reasonable price. Mon-Fri we offer a choice of tasty home cooked lunches for £5, in addition to our full menu. Sunday roasts and our homemade burgers are a speciality. We are equally proud of our drinks offering with 6 real ales (listed in the 2013 CAMRA Good Beer Guide), draught Suffolk Cyder & lagers, and East Anglia’s widest range of spirits with over 220 gins.

The Butt & Oyster is one of the best known public houses in Suffolk renowned for its good beer, good food and great views.

As you eat watch the changing tides on traditional timeless shores. Understand an artist’s inspiration with Thames barges, swans and the river, enjoying the finest Suffolk ales whilst being tempted by the wonderful aromas which welcome you. Food offers are available throughout the week.

See our website for details.

Open: Monday to Friday, 12 noon to 2pm and 6pm to 9pm. Saturday, 12 noon to 2pm and 6pm to 9.30pm. Sunday, 12pm to 7pm

Open: Monday to Friday, 12 noon to 3pm and 5pm to close. Open all day at weekends

Open: Monday to Saturday, 11am to 11pm.

Sunday, 12pm to 10.30pm Food served 7 days a week

The Street, Tuddenham St. Martin, IP6 9BT

Theatre Street, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 4NE (Just off the Market Hill)

01473 785377 fountainpub@btconnect.com www.tuddenhamfountain.co.uk

01473 230293 mail@theangelwoodbridge.co.uk www.theangelwoodbridge.co.uk

01473 780764 buttandoyster@debeninns.co.uk www.debeninns.co.uk

Arlingtons

The Plough & Sail

The Coach & Horses

Buzzing brasserie style restaurant with café bar set within the building converted from the Arlingtons Ballroom. The perfect venue to catch up with friends, talk business, celebrate special occasions. French style menu served in typical informal Brasserie manner offering a large selection of freshly prepared Suffolk reared meat dishes and vegetarian choices as well as fish & shellfish from sustainable sources. Plus takeaway deli, breakfast from 8am, light meals and homemade cakes throughout the day.

After two years at the helm of the Plough & Sail located at Snape Maltings, local twins Alex and Oliver Burnside’s passion for creating a quality dining pub serving a seasonallychanging menu is ever stronger. Enjoy ‘traditional’ pub food for lunch and in the evenings a modern ‘restaurant style’ menu alongside an extensive selection of ales, spirits and quality wines. Pre and post concert dining is available and booking is advised.

“We look forward to welcoming you soon.”

The Coach & Horses located just outside of Woodbridge, has extremely good access to the A12 with ample parking. Originally a staging inn or coach house, it’s historical role is equally well served today providing great family food. We offer a great combination of quality, value and atmosphere that the Deben Inns are renowned for. Food offers are available throughout the week. See our website for details.

Open: Monday to Saturday, 11am to 11pm Sunday, 12 noon to 10.30pm

Open: Monday to Saturday, 11am to 11pm Sunday, 12 noon to 10.30pm Food served 7 days a week

Open: Monday to Sunday, 8am to 10pm 13 Museum Street, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP1 1HE

Snape Maltings, Snape Bridge, Snape, Saxmundham, Suffolk, IP17 1SR

01473 230293 enquiries@arlingtonsbrasserie.co.uk www.arlingtonsbrasserie.co.uk

01728 688413 alexburnside@hotmail.com www.theploughandsailsnape.co.uk

Pin Mill, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP9 1JW

Melton, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 1PD 01394 384851 coachandhorses@debeninns.co.uk www.debeninns.co.uk

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Food Gallery

MARCH 2014

The White Horse

The Bildeston Crown

The Anchor

You’re always sure of a warm welcome at The White Horse. A fabulous little spot in Old Felixstowe, where you’ll find a range of fine guest ales and delicious personally selected wines.

The menu is made up of fresh, locally sourced produce, including daily seasonal specials and a wonderful traditional Sunday roast – all prepared by a talented team of AA Rosette winning chefs.

Please see website for details of forthcoming events, including the next beer festival to be held in the beautifully converted stable block.

In the heart of Suffolk’s picturesque countryside, The Bildeston Crown is a 15th century coaching inn, imaginatively renovated and refurbished in 2003.Their passion for good food means quality produce, sourced locally whenever possible, and used when in season to get the best results. ‘Ingrams’ is the 30-seater dining room which showcases the creativity of Head Chef Zack Deakins while ‘Classics’ is the more casual dining option bringing traditional British dishes up to date with modern twists.

Award winning pub with 10 rooms (includes 6 eco-clad garden chalets) in Walberswick, a stone’s throw from the sea & dunes.

A changing menu with daily specials, we use plenty of fresh fish, shellfish & meat produce from local farmers, vegetables from nearby allotments. We sell our own bread, cakes, chutneys & relishes. Extensive wine list (Harper’s Wine Pub of the Year 2011) and over 50 imported bottled beers. Large outside terrace, dog-friendly.

Open: All day every day. Food served 12 until 2.30pm weekdays and all day at weekends

Open: Food service is from 12 noon to 2.45pm and 7pm to 9.45pm daily (9pm Sundays)

Open: Every day from 8.30am for breakfast, lunch & dinner

High Street, Bildeston, Suffolk, IP7 7EB

The Anchor, Main Street, Walberswick, Suffolk, IP18 6UA

01394 277496 bookings@thewhitehorse-felixstowe.co.uk www.thewhitehorse-felixstowe.co.uk

01449 740510 reception@thebildestoncrown.co.uk www.thebildestoncrown.com

01502 722112 info@anchoratwalberswick.com www.anchoratwalberswick.com

Sibton White Horse

The Maybush

The Fox

A 16th century unspoilt destination inn set in the heart of the Suffolk countryside. Now into our ninth year and our craving for providing a memorable dining experience shows no waning. Relax with a pint of local cask beer or a glass of wine beside the log burner and absorb the atmosphere and charm of such a wonderful building. Indulge in our delicious thoughtfully crafted menu.

Built upon local, seasonal ingredients we offer an easy and unpretentious service, grounded in the tradition of the English inn.

The Maybush Inn sits on the banks of the Deben in Waldringfield. The busy riverside pub and restaurant affords panoramic views across the river and beyond. The Maybush has become famous for its excellent food offering with a wide range and varied menu including local game, meats and fresh seafood.

Vegetarian options and children’s menu available. Food offers are available throughout the week. See our website for details.

Imagine a chocolate box style village pub, beaming with pinkness, beautiful tranquil gardens and flowers around the door.

Add a loyal and friendly clientele and great food and you’ll wish you had discovered us sooner. Fine locally sourced food is offered seven days a week, all day at weekends and this is complimented by an ever changing range of guest ales and wines. Food offers are available throughout the week.

See our website for details.

Open: 12pm to 2.30pm Tuesday to Saturday, 6.30pm to 11pm. Monday to Saturday 12pm to 3pm, 6.45pm to 10.30pm Sunday

Open: Monday to Saturday 11am to 11pm Sunday 12 noon to 10.30pm Food served 7 days a week

Open: Monday to Saturday 11am to 11pm Sunday 12 noon to 10.30pm Food served 7 days a week

Halesworth Road, Sibton, Nr. Saxmundham, Suffolk, IP17 2JJ

Cliff Road, Waldringfield, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 4QL

The Street, Newbourne, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 4NY

01728 660337 info@sibtonwhitehorseinn.co.uk www.sibtonwhitehorseinn.co.uk

01473 736215 maybush@debeninns.co.uk www.debeninns.co.uk

01473 736307 fox@debeninns.co.uk www.debeninns.co.uk

TThe White Horse, Church Road, Old Felixstowe, Suffolk, IP11 9NF

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Wine

READING AROUND the subject

By the time this column goes to print, the vast majority of New Year resolutions will have been cast asunder and life will have returned to the same old, same old.

At the top of my pile of good intentions is to read more, and learn to sit still during the day for long enough to do so.

Last year, I digested a bare handful of publications, nearly all of which had been kindly recommended by the wellread and marvellously helpful crew at the Aldeburgh Book Shop. I did, however, spend a small fortune on two reference books: both – unsurprisingly – on wine.

The first was a weighty tome called ‘Wine Grapes’. The name might be simple, but the work which has gone into it (not to mention the strength required to pick it up) is anything but.

Researched and written by Masters of Wine Jancis Robinson and Julia Harding along with Dr José Vouillamoz, it is an ampelographer's delight, with 1200 pages covering 1,368 commercially-productive vine varieties. The authors suggest that there are a staggering 10,000 vines in existence, so perhaps we can expect several future volumes to cover the other eight and a half thousand varieties, which could be most useful in keeping doors from banging. This compendium will certainly appeal to wine aficionados with a bent for DNA mapping and horticulture (they do exist, believe me).

Did you, for instance, have any idea that the ancient central Dalmatian variety called Tribidrag is better known as Primitivo in Puglia in southern Italy and Zinfandel in California? A spot of useless information guaranteed to render dinner guests speechless, prior to nodding off in their starter. The accuracy and depth of knowledge found in this book has really only been made possible thanks to DNA profiling and if, whilst on holiday, you really want to discover the origins of

Rob Chase

some weirdo Croatian variety you have just ordered, then look no further than this epic compilation.

I am ashamed to admit that I bought the second reference volume as a ‘download’. This was a decision I instantly regretted, not least for having taken a sale from the bookshop – a sin as unforgivable as not buying wine from an independent merchant. I tell myself it was as much an experiment as anything, but I rue the day of the download. Sure, I am now able to take this hefty volume everywhere in tablet form, but I would infinitely prefer to be leafing through the pages of the latest, greatest and seventh edition of Hugh Johnson’s World Atlas of Wine, caressing its pages as I still occasionally do with Volume One, which I bought in 1971. Will I sit with my tablet in front of the fire, or in the shade of a Coolabah tree, as I sip a glass of something substantial from p117 (Northern Rhône) or something ethereal from p17 (Champagne)?

Absolutely not, and I hereby resolve never again to download a reference book, preferring as I do to pore myopically over the printed word, maps and pictures – accompanied by a glass which has suggested itself from an earlier, well-thumbed page. Wine: chapter and verse – a real-time illustrated tasting and read.

Once upon a time, Champagne was served in Champagne ‘saucers’: never the ideal glassware, as the bubbles tended to vanish into thin air rather quickly and in a crowded room, it was all too easy to have your fizz jostled out of its ‘stemware’ – a quaint term, I always think, for wine glasses. Fashion subsequently dictated that ‘flutes’ were the only appropriate vessel for bubbles, although the esoteric saucer still puts in an occasional and fashionably-retro

appearance. There is, however, a move afoot to come up with an even more appropriate and practical solution.

This is likely to resemble a regular wine glass, an idea that – for several reasons – I applaud. First, one has a fighting chance – when pouring it – of not losing valuable fizz as it froths over the rim in an embarrassing cascade; second, portions can be more generous and will therefore require fewer top-ups and third, the increased mass of wine stays cooler for longer. Flutes are also easier to knock over (or is that just me?) and those that didn’t get smashed earlier are much harder to dry up. The thinking and science behind specific or ‘varietal’ glasses is not new and the subtle differences between drinking a Chianti from a bespoke Sangiovese-specific glass and a run-of-the-mill ‘Paris goblet’ (heaven forbid) will be easily and instantly recognised.

Whether or not these ‘new wave’ glasses enhance the wine is subjective, but when I recently drank claret from a Duralex water glass, it did make me appreciate the subtleties of fine glass. Having got over the initial surprise, the wine actually tasted rather delicious, and I put this down to the fact that a) it was a very good claret and b) it didn’t elevate the wine to form a more important element of the dinner than the excellent company and delicious food. The enjoyment therefore, became a simplistic pleasure and also rather cathartic, similar to that of having a work-a-day carafe of rouge plonked down on the table along with your steak and chips, in a proper French café of yesteryear. ‘Ah, garcon, might I have a Cabernet-specific glass for my wine?’ would certainly presage a virtual clip around the ear and elicit much Gallic derision.

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MARCH 2014

STAYING POWER Shopping, music and media have been revolutionised by the internet and now forward-thinking Suffolk start-up, Inn Style, is about to work the same digital magic with the travel industry It’s time for a break; a couple of days away from the bustle of everyday life will see you right. And so you pick up your tablet or smartphone and browse the internet for the perfect retreat. You find one. The rooms look great, the price seems fair and so your eyes dart around the site for a ‘book online’ button.

But there isn’t one to be found. So there you are at 10.30pm, credit card details at the ready, high and dry. It’s too late to phone, so resort to another email conversation – like you don’t already have enough of those to deal with.

Of course, the accommodation owner is probably just as frustrated as you.

They’d love to be able to have an online booking facility. But such things can be expensive, clunky, and a painful alternative to the trusty diary they’ve relied on year after year.

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So what to do?

Suffolk-based entrepreneurs Adrian Melrose, Chris Waters and James Kindred have spent the last two years coming up with the answer, Inn Style, a free online tool that has the potential to help everyone – whether you are running a business or you simply want to go on holiday.

Adrian explained that Inn Style would allow people with holiday cottages, yurts, caravan pitches, bed and breakfast or even boutique luxury accommodation to manage their bookings, diary, administration, invoicing and payments and sell directly online – and on mobile too.

He explained this would cut out the middleman – the online travel agent (OTA) who often takes 30 percent of online booking fees.

“Assume you sell a £100 room. Selling it direct using Inn Style will leave you with £95.40 whereas selling it through the average OTA you'll be lucky if you get £70 after everyone's taken their cut.”

He said that up until now the ownermanaged or independent accommodation provider has largely relied on these expensive online travel agents. Mainly because of their substantial marketing but also because Independents can't find a simple, mobile-friendly, risk free and inexpensive tool to sell directly online.

Adrian, who has been at the forefront of internet business and digital disruption of traditional business models since the dotcom boom says, “And so we saw an opportunity.

“We are the only player that offers a product built from the ground up for mobile (that includes smartphones and tablets).

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Business Profile | Inn Style

“

A simple, mobile-friendly, risk free and inexpensive tool to sell directly online.

“Existing solutions are awful to look at and impossible to use on mobile.

They're inevitably not actually linked to the bookings diary so the punter is always left feeling that there's no availability so begrudgingly returns to the OTA to book online.”

Every effort has been made to make Inn Style easy to setup. It's totally selfservice – sign up in your own time and configure your accommodation at your own pace. But if you do get stuck, the friendly Inn Style team are only the press of a button away.

Adrian says most clients launch same day completely on their own steam.

The slog is entering your existing booking diary into the integrated digital diary but even that's made as simple as possible for you. The system automates confirmations either by email or as printable snail mail.

Inn Style also reduces the administration burden for the Independent by producing a checkout statement and final invoice. It allows them to add

“

THE CLIENT EXPERIENCE

items to the bill during the guest’s stay, saving hours and hours and makes the Independent look polished and more professional.

There are no contracts to sign with Inn Style and you can test drive it without ever paying a penny.

At the same time Inn Style has also discovered a wealth of excellent independent accommodation in Suffolk and is showcasing them in a directory called SuffolkPlaces.com “Our initial list for SuffolkPlaces.com is extensive, but we know there must be more great little retreats out there.

So if you think we're missing any quality independents please email us at listings@suffolkplaces.com with the name and Website URL.

Sasha Ayres says they’ve only just started offering holiday accommodation at Mollet’s Farm, just off the a12, near Farnham – and she’s been thrilled with Inn Style.

“It was so easy to set up. When we started on this venture I was looking at various booking systems and then heard about Inn Style while networking”. She said they needed at little bit of help at the start but the backup was excellent and now it’s working the only way she can describe it is, “brilliant”.

We don't charge for listings, we never will, we just want to help the Internet do what is fair – by empowering the Independents to cut out the middleman,” he said.

There are no contracts to sign with Inn Style and you can test drive it without ever paying a penny

Meanwhile at the Old Rectory at Campsea Ashe, the owner Sally Ball says that it’s made a huge difference to her booking systems. “Before we used a paper booking system which meant that people would have to ring up, and sometimes leave messages or send an email. People book online straight away now and it saves so much time for us and them. I think in the past we have lost clients simply because we weren’t there to pick up the phone when they called. Inn Style is really user friendly and we are very pleased with it.”

If you would like to sign up your accommodation to Inn Style visit www.InnStyle.co.uk

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MARCH 2014

BATH TIME Planning your bathroom and making the right choices for you are vital so here are some top tips with our Essential Guide to your new bathroom

Bathroom suite, Alessi by Laufen from Foxwood

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Homes & Interiors

SIZE You may be blessed with a palatial space or a more standard room but either way think about the right choice of bath, sink and loo for your bathroom. There are many space saving options available and you may even find that there is space for a separate shower – speaking to a bathroom designer to discuss your options is key.

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BED MONTH AT BARRETTS THROUGHOUT MARCH All beds, mattresses, headboards and bedroom furniture reduced

17.5% off Hypnos St James mattress with layers of Wool, Teased Horse Hair, Cashmere, Alpaca and Silver, and the revolutionary Hypnos 16 active turn UltraSens pocket spring, this really is the height of bed-time luxury

4’6� mattress was £1999 – now £1649 www.barretts.co.uk 40 The Thoroughfare, Woodbridge Free customer car park T: 01394 384300 E: sales@barretts.co.uk

WOODBRIDGE INTERIORS

• Large kitchen and bathroom showroom • Villeroy & Boch, Matki Aqata & Hans Grohe • German kitchen furniture, Corian & Neff • Full installation service • Free design

Kitchen Kitchen and Bathroom Bathroom showroom showroom Smithfield, Melton Melton Road, Road, Melton, Melton, nr. nr. Woodbridge, Woodbridge, IP12 1NG

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T el: 0 1394 386 390 Tel: 01394 386390 www .woodbridgeinteriors.co.uk www.woodbridgeinteriors.co.uk

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Homes & Interiors

A Vitra Eden 1900 x 900 bath, Bisque heated towel rails, Travertine natural stone floor and walls and LED floor lighting, Anglia Factors

Top: Wellness collection by Villeroy & Boch, Woodbridge Interiors Above: Make use of those difficult corners in your room with a bespoke angled shower cubical, Woodbridge Interiors

BATH & SHOWER Is it all about getting a good powerful wake up or more about a leisurely soak? Or both? Should the bath be a stand out feature, specially shaped to fit your space or will a simple panel bath suffice?

Is it important to you to have separate shower access or should you perhaps be considering a wet room option? All these questions need to be answered.

FURNITURE, LIGHTING & MIRRORS If clutter free is the way forward for you it’s time to think about fitted furniture to complement your suite and provide storage options for everything from towels to lotions & potions and cleaning products.

Mirrors and well thought out lighting are vital in your bathroom space, so often bathrooms are small in comparison to other rooms in the house but an illusion of light and space can be created.

Fitted Cabinets total ÂŁ3080 (excl. worktop and taps), Neptune Design Centre

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SHOPS 6 & 8 GOBBITT’S YARD WOODBRIDGE SUFFOLK IP12 1DD TEL: 01394 386896 WWW.PIPPAROLLS.COM - MULBERRY HOME - BYRON & BYRON - ZOFFANY - LINWOOD -

• ALL FL FLOOR OOR PREP PREPARATION ARATION • DOMES DOMESTIC TIC & C COMMERCIAL OMMERCIAL

- FARROW & BALL -- RAPTURE & WRIGHT - NINA CAMPBELL - IAN SANDERSON - THIBAUT - FIRED EARTH -

CURTAINS - DESIGNERS - WALLPAPERS FABRICS - RE-UPHOLSTERY - ACCESSORIES

• FREE LLOCAL OCAL DELIVER DELIVERY Y • FREE ES ESTIMATES TIMATES

Quality Qualit y Carpets & F Flooring looring Excellent Ex cellent Servic Service e Highly C Competitive ompetitive P Prices rices from the Lar from Largest gest Independent St Stockists ockists in the area area Established in 1981 EB Carpets ha have ve o over ver 30 yyears ears of suc successful cessful trading trading in which time we we have have built a rreputation eputation ffor or supplying quality quality pr products oducts with servic servicee tto o mat match. ch.

A ffamily amily firm we we ar aree the ar area’s ea’s lar largest gest independent st stockist ockist of all ttypes ypes of floor ccoverings overings and our fully tr trained ained tteam eam can advise on the ideal solutions ffor or both domestic and ccommercial ommercial use.

Wee rrecognise customers want qualityy and vvalue W ecognise our cust omers w ant both qualit alue ffor or moneyy and pride our ourselves delivering mone selves on cconsistently onsistently deliv ering both.

We We are are happy happy to to offer offer free free estimates estimates so whatever whatever you you are are looking for for please give give us a call. We We look forward forward to to helping you. you.

SPECIAL OFFERS SPECIAL EACH EACH MONTH

RUGS AND ROLL ROLL END OFFERS

CHOICE OF OVER 150 OVER ROLLS IN ROLLS STOCK STOCK We We will beat any any genuine genuine written written quote quote from from any any retail retail outlet

EB Carpets & F Flooring looring 246-248 2 46-248 High Str Street, eet, Walton, Walton, FFelixstowe elixstowe T:: (0 T (01394) 1394) 282538 282538 email:info@ebcarpetsandflooring.co.uk email:info@ebcarpetsandflooring.co.uk

• EXPERT EXPERT PERSONAL PERSONAL SERVICE SERVICE

Perfectly crafted timber windows and doors Come along to one of our showrooms to see more...

Bury St Edmunds 8 Fornham Business Court, Hall Farm, Bury Drift Fornham St Martin, Suffolk IP31 1SL. 01284 760222

Ingatestone The Old Forge, 53 High Street, Ingatestone Essex CM4 0AT. 01277 350950

Woodbridge New showroom opening Spring 2014 at Notcutts Garden Centre, Woodbridge.

www.burgess-group.com

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• FFAMILY AMILLY R RUN UN BUSINESS BUSINESS • UPLIFT OF EXIS EXISTING TING C CARPETS ARPETS

PIPPA ROLLS LIMITED

- BAKER LIFESTYLE - MANUEL CANOVAS - CLARKE & CLARKE - JAMES HARE - KATE FORMAN - G.P.&J. BAKER -

- JANE CHURCHILL - COLEFAX & FOWLER - OSBORNE & LITTLE -

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Homes & Interiors

Open plan shower with rain fall shower head, wall hung white ceramic toilet with concealed cistern and matching basin, Samuel David Construction

Bespoke Pippy Oak Cabinetry and panelling combined with tall glazed doors and illuminated open shelving, Debenvale

TILES The whole look and feel of your room can be dictated by your tile choice. With so many materials available; ceramic, glass, slate, porcelain to name but a few, thoughts may turn to longevity and ease of cleaning. How much of your room is tiled may also rest with the other style choices you’ve made and the wear and tear expected.

FLOORING As with your tiles the flooring you choose will need to tie together the other elements in your bathroom.

Practical considerations such as anti-slip, cleaning and warmth are all up for discussion but that doesn’t mean that style must suffer.

This attic bathroom was designed for grandchildren to use and the owner was very conscious of needing thermostatically controlled water temperature.

Anglia Factors installed a Grohe shower talentofil with two valves – one temp controller and one diverter – set above a Kaldewei steel bath. The wall and floor tiling are polished porcelain with walnut units and Corian surfaces.

Examples from the extensive range of ceramic, porcelain, glass and natural stone wall and floor tiles available from Foxwood

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A room to relax in…

Beautiful bathrooms designed for you.

Creating beautiful spaces for your home and garden At Samuel David Construction we pride ourselves on achieving total satisfaction for our customers.

• Landscaping • Refurbishment • Conversions • Renovation

Situated on the heritage coast, near Woodbridge, we offer a bespoke bulding service covering all aspects of construction. From planning to completion our work is always completed to the highest possible standard.

• Restoration • Complete Building Service • Planning and Design

Whatever your project, call us for a free estimate T: 01394 766837 M: 07889 129746

E: sdconstruction@btinternet.com www.samueldavidconstruction.co.uk

@samueldavidltd find us on Facebook

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Homes & Interiors

Revive towel range by Christies available in a beautiful range of colours including vibrant peacock, bold pillar box and warm Dijon, from £1.75, Barretts of Woodbridge

ACCESSORIES

Eva ducky yellow shower curtain £11.75 Noir shower curtain £16.25, Glasswells

Luxurious 100% cotton towels with a deep silky soft and absorbent finish, bath towels £12.95, bath sheets £21.95, House & Garden, Snape Maltings

Almond Collection bathroom accessories from £6.99, Glasswells

The ways in which you choose to accent your new bathroom with the colours and textures you choose for towels, blinds and occasional ornaments will have a far shorter life than the major purchase such as suite and tiles. Bring your scheme bang up to date by choosing on trend accessories that can be updated when you’re ready to refresh the look. Have fun with bold shades and shapes and take the chance to experiment with this less permanent aspect of your design.

Electronic Scale £14.99, Glasswells

STOCKISTS Anglia Factors 34 Gloster Road, Martlesham Heath, Ipswich.

T: 01473 610192 www.angliafactors.co.uk

Foxwood 36 – 38 Woodbridge Road, Rushmere St Andrew. T: 01473 617050 www.foxwoodceramics.co.uk

Neptune Design Centre Ltd Barton Road, Bury St Edmunds.

T: 01284 731025 www.neptuneburystedmunds.com

Barretts of Woodbridge 40-42 Thoroughfare, Woodbridge.

T: 01394 384300 www.barretts.co.uk

Glasswells Ranelagh Road, Ipswich or Newmarket Road, Bury St Edmunds.

T: 01473 253164 www.glasswells.co.uk

Samuel David Construction Ltd Unit 98, Bentwaters Business Park, Rendlesham.

T: 01394 766837 / 07889 129746 www.samueldavidconstruction.co.uk

Debenvale The Granary, Rendlesham Mews, Rendlesham. T: 01394 421214 www.debenvale.com

House & Garden Snape Maltings, Snape, Nr Aldeburgh.

T: 01728 688303 www.snapemaltings.co.uk

Woodbridge Interiors Smithfield, Melton Road, Woodbridge.

T: 01394 386390 www.woodbridgeinteriors.co.uk

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Essential Competition

MARCH 2014

WHAT DO YOU LOVE? At Essential Suffolk we love the great variety our county has to offer and were very happy to find a local company in Bury St Edmunds – Upto20words – to help us express this.

Whatever your passion – be it your county, town, village, family, dog or a hobby Upto20words creates a range of beautiful typographic posters for your home. A perfect way to personalise your decoration and starting at just £15 for their range of standard posters and £25 for a personalised one we are happy to recommend them as an Essential Home Buy. Upto20words has kindly agreed to provide us with two personalised A3 posters – one each for two lucky readers. For your chance to win one of these posters answer this simple question.

To coincide with the launch of Essential Suffolk we have a launched a new website where you can find even more content about our great county including comprehensive, and regularly updated, event listings, news from around the county as well an archive of many of our articles, recipes and dog walks.

The question is: What is our new website address?

Visit www.upto20words.co.uk to see their full range of standard and bespoke posters.

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To enter either email competition@achievemoremedia.co.uk with your answer, name, address and contact number or send your answer to: Poster Competition, Achieve More Media Ltd, 21 Terry Gardens, Kesgrave, Suffolk, IP5 2EP. Entries must be received by Monday March 31st. Good luck!

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Antiques & Auctions

SO HOW DID IT ALL BEGIN? At the launch of the new magazine it seemed appropriate for me to start at the beginning too (well almost!) so here goes.

As a young child I had a fascination with Auctions and would eagerly rush down to the Crown Hotel Assembly Rooms in Woodbridge after school so that I could sit on the rostrum beside my father and his assistants at the end of the sale.

It was also not unknown to try and use the public address system to offer some imaginary Lot for sale. The audience largely comprised those paying their bills and collecting their purchases and thus had little interest in my patter, or lack of it.

It was much the same some years earlier when trips to my grandparent’s home in Peterborough often resulted in an object, or more than one, being taken out on to the garden so that I could hold a sale. The attendance usually numbered one, an unlikely bidder in the guise of my grandfather’s dog, Ranger. Looking back, his quizzical gaze was quite understandable but I am sure it would have made for a better sale if some of the “grown-ups” could have joined in.

So it was then on to the real thing. Life at boarding school had quite probably been more challenging to the staff rather

James Neal

than to me. Although academia is found towards the start of the alphabet it somehow passed me by and it became clear that the strength of my desire to join the family firm was not matched by an ability to satisfy a board of examiners. So after a while I was relieved of my studies at school and repaid with a job in Woodbridge where the rewards were greater in terms of enjoyment rather than monetarily. Three pounds per week was the going rate with one pound of that for my keep, another for the use of my mother’s car and anything left over available for some amber nectar.

So, having sat alongside my father during his auctions for a year or so, recording the successful bidders’ names and the prices they had paid, those anticipated but unexpected words were eventually uttered…… “And I will now hand you over to my son who will sell the remaining Lots in the sale”.

Twenty or so Lots later the ordeal was over both for me and those still in the Sale Room. All the practice that I had undertaken couldn’t mask the apprehension or assist with the flow of words but my duck had been broken and I consoled myself with the thought that the next time might be better!

Escape, relax, enjoy...

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MARCH 2014

The British weather, always notorious for being unpredictable, has turned the gardening year upside down. Michael Perry, Thompson and Morgan’s plant hunter speaks to Anne Gould about your options

New edible variety – Tasty Pansy 74

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Gardening Bermuda Soft Pink Geranium

Bermuda Cherry Geranium

WHATEVER THE WEATHER T

rends come and trends go and these days that seems to apply just as much to gardening as it does to any other part of the home.

Traditionally March is a great time of year to start planning the shape and colour of your garden for the summer but planning what’s going to bloom in June, July, August and beyond has become increasingly difficult in recent years. The problem is the weather.

It’s either too dry, too wet, too cold and, well most of us wouldn’t complain if it was too hot! Michael Perry, New Product Manager for Thompson and Morgan says that he doesn’t worry about the weather too much though: “In my experience the plants will always seem to find a way round the conditions and sometimes to the gardener’s advantage. You might find that your plants flower twice, they might keep blooming, against the odds right through to December or they might put on an extra special display.”

Having said that the weather does seem to be having an effect on the sorts of plants people are buying. For instance, says Michael there’s a begonia revival underway. Once seen as a rather boring ‘old-fashioned’ plant they are now being looked on more favourably – because they are weather proof. “With our summers becoming ever more unreliable, the begonia is a bloom that copes admirably come rain or shine and they flower for a long time too - right through until October or November if you are lucky”. Also there are a whole host of new varieties available and some smell wonderful – like the Fragrant Falls

collection in lemon, apricot and rich yellow colours. There are cascading varieties as well, which are excellent for hanging baskets or ‘big bedding begonias’ that are great, if planted correctly, for keeping the weeds at bay.

Another trend that’s starting to emerge is for bedding, as illustrated in the BBC’s Great British Garden Revival series. The trick here is not just in the planting. If you want to keep the weeds down use the sort of scheme you might see in parks and public places but also in the variety of species you use. For instance there’s a Penstemon, called Orchestra Mixed which flowers for five to six months - an alternative to snap dragons. Bizzie Lizzies have been conspicuous for their absence in recent summers due to downy mildew however this year there’s a new variety that’s resistant called Divine. And what about that old favourite the pansy? This year there’s a new edible variety, in yellow lilac and blue, that’s been specially bred as a dual purpose flower. “It’s called ‘Tasty’ and is really high in Vitamins A and C and it’s brilliant in salads or if pretty cupcakes are your thing for decorating the tea-table.”

Purple Rain Carnation

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MARCH 2014

GARDEN TASKS FOR MARCH

BULBS Annuals and bedding apart though, March is also an ideal time for creating your snowdrop and bluebell display for the following spring. “It’s known as planting them in the green and it’s a much more reliable way of getting a good show next year,” Michael explained. You put them in the ground when they are just going off flower and the idea is that they continue growing and are able to establish themselves better than they might than if you used bulbs later in the year.

HYDRANGEAS This is the time of the year when you need to tidy up the hydrangeas but all you need to do is to remove the old flower heads. Michael explained that the blooms develop on the previous season’s stems so cutting them any further could damage the show later in the year.

HELLIBORES Should be in bloom during March (depending on the weather) but you should keep them tidy by removing any dead leaves and flowers.

Fragrant Falls Begonia

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ROSES It’s an ideal time for planting – and these are one bloom that never goes out of fashion. The rose of the year is called Lady Marmalade – not surpising then that it’s orange in colour. Also look out for hanging basket roses, ideal as a replacement for fuchsias, which can sometimes be reluctant to bloom.

THE LAWN At this time of year and especially if there’s been a lot of rain, lawns can be quite water-logged. If people have walked on the lawn a lot during the winter it may have become quite compacted. It’s really too soon to start mowing but it’s a good idea to go over it spiking it at regular intervals with a garden fork. Spring is also a great time for planting lawns, either with seed or turf, so start preparing the ground – raking and making it even.

BARE ROOT TREES If you want to add a tree to your garden or even a shrub, March is the ideal month.

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Property

Essential

PROPERTY 80 81 83 84 84 85 87 89 100

Clarke & Simpson Fenn Wright Grier & Partners Gobbitt & Kirby Hamilton Smith Castle Estates Jackson-Stops & Staff Neals Hopkins Homes

78 Foxhall

82 Woodbridge

86 Orford

88 Wilby EssentialSUFFOLK

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MARCH 2014

ROOMS WITH A VIEW

FOXHALL LODGE FACTS LOCATION: FOXHALL, NR IPSWICH GUIDE PRICE: ÂŁ1,950,000 AGENT: JACKSON-STOPS & STAFF

While Suffolk is blessed with some stunning properties the opportunity to purchase those at the upper echelon is comparatively rare. Foxhall Lodge is such an opportunity A comprehensively renovated and significantly extended unusual Georgian country house, Foxhall Lodge stands in the middle of its own land, with wonderful elevated views over its own river valley.

The property is based around an imposing redbrick Georgian tower with wonderful arched windows under a hipped slate roof believed to date from 1832. Adjoining this is an attractive white brick façade with large sash windows under a slate roof, which forms the southern section of the house.

A superb extension mirrors the existing house.

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The current owners have carried out a thorough renovation and refurbishment and the extension reflects the attractive and original period details throughout the with reeded architraves, sash windows, decorative cornicing, wide landings and the clever use of a cupola with borrowed light coming through the top and second floors.

The extensive accommodation includes a reception hall, drawing room, dining room, inner hall, staircase hall, kitchen/breakfast room/sitting area, study, boot room, utility room, two cloakrooms and games room. On the first floor there is a superb wide landing,

master bedroom suite adjoining a dressing room and bathroom, four further bedrooms and family bathroom.

On the second floor there are four more bedrooms and two family bathrooms.

The space has been thoughtfully laid out, providing a substantial and extremely comfortable family home, mixing all the advantages of modern day living such as up to date insulation in the new extension, under floor heating, double glazed doors and windows, whilst maintaining the character of a period house.

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Property

To see more photographs of this property visit essentialsuffolk.com/property

If the kitchen is at the heart of your perfect home Foxhall Lodge will not disappoint. It has a substantial kitchen/ breakfast room/sitting area with fouroven oil fired Aga in recess and original bread oven. Hand-built wall and floor units, together with a central island, double hob and Miele electric oven.

There are also built-in shelf units and a separate larder. For the warmer months – there will be some we promise – double French doors from the kitchen lead to the adjoining terrace with space for a large table and sofas.

Upstairs the master bedroom suite has magnificent views overlooking the lake, river valley and south-facing garden

with adjoining bathroom and dressing room, all with extensive cupboard space.

The property which stands in approximately 25.5 acres, is approached down a long, private drive. The grounds have been beautifully landscaped around the house to form a lower terrace to the front of the property, which in turn leads down to the parkland setting, to the mill river and spring fed lake with a central island at the bottom. The land incorporates approximately nine acres of mature woodland, predominantly oak, chestnut and sycamore. There is also a hard tennis court and productive kitchen garden.

INFORMATION Jackson-Stops & Staff 01473 218218

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View to the front

Grundisburgh Guide Price £695,000

Wilby Guide Price £675,000

A brand new four/five bedroom, handcrafted house of nearly 3,000 square feet, built in a period style yet benefitting from a superior modern specification, in this popular village, just outside Woodbridge. EPC = B

A moated farmhouse with substantial buildings & grounds of 2½ acres, located on the edge of the village of Wilby, near Stradbroke. Dining room, sitting room, study, kitchen/ breakfast room, garden room & shower room. 3 first floor double bedrooms & bathroom.

2 attic rooms. Moated gardens with substantial agricultural/store buildings.

Ref: P5000

Ref: P4940

Fressingfield

Guide Price £295,000

A well presented three bedroom period cottage in the centre of the pretty and sought after village of Fressingfield.

EPC = D Ref: P4910

Denham

Guide Price £279,500

A three bedroom semi-detached period property with converted outbuilding providing guest accommodation, and gardens of approx. ¼ of an acre in a charming rural location. EPC = D Ref: P4932

Laxfield

Kettleburgh

Guide Price £275,000

A Grade II Listed attached cottage with superb conservatory and secluded garden, tucked away in the heart of the sought-after village of Laxfield.

Ref: P5035

Clarke and Simpson, Well Close Square, Framlingham, Suffolk, IP13 9DU

T: 01728 724200

Guide Price £218,000

A well maintained end of terrace three bedroom house located in the heart of the village of Kettleburgh. EPC = C Ref: P5037

www.clarkeandsimpson.co.uk

The Monday Sale Over 800 lots of Victoriana, cottage antiques, rural bygones, household appliances, garden machinery, poultry, game, rabbits & garden produce.

Viewing every Saturday between 9am & 11am A list of selected lots and some images will be available online, on the weekly sale section of our website www.clarkeandsimpson.co.uk

Clarke & Simpson Auction Centre, Campsea Ashe, Nr Wickham Market, Suffolk IP13 0PS t: 01728 746323 www.clarkeandsimpson.co.uk

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Property experts since

Buttermarket | Ipswich

01473 232 700 RUSHMERE ST ANDREW

BAYLHAM

EARLS COLNE

An attractive Curtilage Listed barn conversion offering wellproportioned accommodation set in a semi-rural location which backs onto farmland

Charming and characterful Grade II Listed village home, with superb original features, set within delightful gardens backing onto open fields

Sitting room with 18 ft. high vaulted ceiling | study | kitchen/breakfast | 4 bedrooms | 4 bath/shower rooms | cart lodge & garage | Energy Rating D

4 bedrooms | 3 bathrooms | 3 reception rooms | kitchen/breakfast room | utility | secluded garden | small barn | easily commutable from Kelvedon train station

RAYDON

An individual detached family home offering spacious and versatile accommodation situated in grounds of approx.

0.65 acres Reception hall | 5 receptions | kitchen/breakfast room | utility | cloakroom | 5 bedrooms | 3 en-suites | family bathroom | triple garage with studio/office above | Energy Rating D

A Grade II Listed Period cottage full of charm & character set in its own attractive gardens of approximately 1/2 an acre Recently refurbished | entrance porch | sitting room | dining room | family room | kitchen/breakfast room | utility room | 3 bedrooms | 2 shower rooms | family bathroom | garage | off-road parking | approximately half an acre

fennwright.co.uk/signature

Specialists in the sale of town, village and country houses | Experts in equestrian property

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MARCH 2014

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

7 CENTRAL MALTINGS FACTS LOCATION: WOODBRIDGE GUIDE PRICE: £585,000 AGENT: NEALS

Set in the heart of Woodbridge, within easy walking distance of the town centre, the rail station and the beautiful River Deben, 7 Central Maltings forms part of an imaginative development which was undertaken by Vaughan & Blyth to convert the former Victorian Maltings into properties of individual character grouped around a central landscaped courtyard. This sympathetic scheme of modernisation has resulted in a home which retains many of the original architectural features enhanced by the practicalities of present day living.

Set off a private road the house, which is semidetached, has accommodation arranged over three floors with a hall, sitting room, bedroom and bathroom on the middle floor and on the lower ground floor there is a wellproportioned kitchen-dining room,

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a cloakroom, utility room and a study which can act as a fourth bedroom. On the top floor there are two bedrooms, one of which is en-suite and also has glazed doors opening on to the balcony.

Good attention to detail was paid when the conversion was undertaken, the Kitchen is attractively fitted with ample storage beneath the granite worktops and with a stainless steel canopy above the matching range cooker. The sitting room is a fine large room enjoying a southerly outlook over the central courtyard and the two staircases each have plate glass balustrades with low level lighting. The windows have sealed double glazed panes and flooring includes narrow board pamments as well as limestone effect tiles. Outside there is a patio garden which is largely paved and ideal for container gardening and the area is enclosed by black painted

railings set on a low brick plinth. The garden area has a southerly orientation looking over the landscaped central courtyard, beyond which is the garage with its electrically operated up and over door and an additional parking space on the brick paved forecourt.

INFORMATION Neals 01394 382263 To see more photographs of this property visit essentialsuffolk.com/property

Are you looking for property in Woodbridge?

Visit essentialsuffolk.com for details of all of our ‘Properties of the Month’ including 5 Quayside, a historic Woodbridge property marketed by Gobbitt & Kirby

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MORE PROPERTIES REQUIRED

WOODBRIDGE

If you looking to sell your home and would like to benefit from our extensive marketing package then give us a call today for a free market valuation, with no obligation.

WOODBRIDGE

£315,000

AGAGSASAL RERELE E EDED

£600,000

AG SA RE LE ED

WOODBRIDGE

We have a large number of affluent buyers looking to purchase interesting, individual and period properties in Woodbridge and the surrounding villages.

£415,000

WOODBRIDGE

£475,000

Hamilton Smith Woodbridge woodbridge@hamilton-smith.com 01394 386688

www.rightmove.co.uk

GOBBITT & KIRBY

Woodbridge t: 013 0330

Country Homes t: 01728 622330

www.gkl.co.uk

GUIDE £650,000 :

WOODBRIDGE WOODBRIDGE

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essentialsuffolk.com

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essential march 2014 100pp_layout 1 13/02/2014 15:10 page 86

MARCH 2014

109 FRONT STREET FACTS LOCATION: ORFORD GUIDE PRICE: £795,000 AGENT: CASTLE ESTATES

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE Casual observation of 109 Front Street whilst strolling past, it would be easy to assume that the property is simply another small pretty period fisherman’s cottage similar to those lining Quay Street en-route to the river.

There is now a surprisingly large 26’6 x 14’8 sitting room with an Inglenook fireplace housing a log burner, with an arch through to the inner hall giving a view through French windows to the terrace and rear garden.

Looks however can be deceptive, following extensive renovation and extension by a well-respected local architect, the property is a spacious home with a gross internal floor area in excess of 1,600 square feet.

The large inner hall also has glazing to the study and kitchen allowing space and light to flow through the ground floor. For dining and entertaining the fully-fitted kitchen is open-plan with a conservatory dining room. There is also a study and a ground floor cloakroom.

Historic acquisition of the adjoining Elm Cottage enabled the addition of an existing room, formerly part of Elm Cottage, creating a wider span across the property at the rear and almost doubling the size of the rear garden – maximum dimensions of some 108’ x 62’ prior to reselling the smaller cottage.

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On the first floor there is a master bedroom with en-suite bathroom, two further double bedrooms and a family bathroom together with an attic room and choice of two staircases back to the ground floor.

The garden has recently been relandscaped and in addition to ample parking there is a large double garage and workshop with a boarded first floor and potential for conversion to a summerhouse, self-contained annexe or studio and offices subject to the usual consents.

In summary, visitors to the property are pleasantly intrigued by the unexpected spaciousness of the accommodation and garden hiding behind the understated front elevation.

INFORMATION Castle Estates 01394 450100 To see more photographs of this property visit essentialsuffolk.com/property

essential march 2014 100pp_layout 1 13/02/2014 15:10 page 87

jackson-stops.co.uk

Stratford St Andrew

Foxhall

A classic & substantial Victorian former Rectory in a mature 5 acre parkland setting. 3 reception rooms, kitchen, service rooms & cellar. 6 principal bedrooms & 2 attic beds, 3 bathrooms. Coach house garaging.

A fully renovated & extended unusual Georgian country house in the middle of it’s own land, with wonderful elevated views over it’s own river valley.

3 reception rooms, spectacular kitchen/living room. 9 bedrooms. Gardens, grounds & woodland, tennis court & barns, about 25 acres.

Guide Price £950,000

Guide Price £1,950,000

Framlingham

Holbrook

A Grade II Listed barn conversion occupying a secluded position on the edge of the market town of Framlingham. 2 reception rooms. 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms.

Outbuilding & garage.Gardens, about 0.5 of an acre.

A pretty village house set back from the road. 4 reception rooms. 6 bedrooms, 3 bath/shower rooms. Coach house. Gardens, about 0.5 of an acre.

Guide Price £695,000

Guide Price £625,000

Contact Jonathan Penn or Tim Dansie 01473 218218 ipswich@jackson-stops.co.uk Local & National reach through a network of London & Regional offices

People Property Places

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MARCH 2014

CHURCH FARM FACTS LOCATION: WILBY GUIDE PRICE: £675,000 AGENT: CLARKE & SIMPSON

WILBY MOATED FARMHOUSE They say an Englishman’s home is his castle and as we know every selfrespecting castle should have a moat so the next owners of Church Farm on the edge of the village Wilby, near Stradbroke, will proudly be able to tick that box.

Set in grounds of 2.5 acres – with the option to purchase a further 1.6 acres – Church Farm is a substantial three double bedroomed property retaining a wealth of character with exposed beams and two inglenook fireplaces.

The formal gardens and grounds that surround the house extend to nearly half an acre, and these, in turn, are surrounded on three sides by the medieval moat. In addition, to the south-east of the property is a substantial range of agricultural/storage buildings, and yard space. To the rear of the property, beyond the moat to the north, is an additional area of ground, which

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could be utilised as paddocks or additional garden land, subject to the necessary consents.

studwork and beams containing bath, close couple WC, separate shower cubicle and basin.

Inside the accommodation offers plenty of living space with a dining room, study with the first inglenook fireplace, sitting room - with inglenook two and wood burning stove on a tiled hearth – the spacious kitchen/breakfast room is fitted with a range of high and low level units with space for arrange cooker and freezer. In addition there is a utility room, shower room, rear hallway and garden room.

If you are looking for more bedrooms the attic rooms 50’ x 12’ have been renovated an offer scope to be used as two bedrooms or any other use you have in mind.

On the first floor there are three double bedrooms. Bedrooms one and two have bespoke fitted wardrobes, with exposed timbers and floorboards. Bedroom three would be considered a small double or large single again with exposed timbers.

The first floor is also home to the spacious bathroom which is predominantly tiled but with exposed

Outside Church Farm is approached from the road via a concrete track.

Gates provide access to the garden which is fully enclosed, predominantly laid to lawn with mature shrubs and attractive mature trees.

INFORMATION Clarke & Simpson 01728 724200 To see more photographs of this property visit essentialsuffolk.com/property

01394 382263 enquiries@nsf.co.uk www.nsf.co.uk 26 CHURCH STREET WOODBRIDGE SUFFOLK IP12 1DP

St John’s Street Woodbridge Suffolk - Offers around £775,000

An imposing 19th century house of great character in the heart of the town. The courtyard garden separates the house from the self-ccontained Annexe, Garages and Workshop.

The accommodation in the main property comprises Hall, Drawing Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, Sun Room, Cloakroom, Utility Room, Store Room, ground floor Shower Room and Bedroom, 3 first floor Bedrooms, 2 En-Suite.

The self-contained Annexe provides a Living Room, Kitchen-Breakfast Room, 2 Bedrooms, a Bathroom and a Magnificent Studio Room. EPC Bands D & G

A stunning home in a magnificent riverside location in Woodbridge with far reaching views of the Quay and the River Deben

Fine open plan Living Area with Bespoke Kitchen, 2 Bedrooms, Bathroom, Mezzanine Area, Extensive Ground Floor Accommodation, Utility Room L a r g e B a l c o n y w i t h p a n o r a m i c v i e w s o f t h e r i v e r . P a r k i n g . JSA Jackson-Stops & Staff EPC Band C. Offers around £495,000

EssentialSUFFOLK

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The efficiency you need, and the performance you want.

Find both in a Honda.

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JOHN BANKS HONDA

JOHN BANKS HONDA

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&UEL CONSUMPTION l GURES FOR THE (ONDA RANGE IN MPG L KM 5RBAN #YCLE n n %XTRA 5RBAN n n #OMBINED n n #/ emissions n G KM &UEL CONSUMPTION l GURES SOURCED FROM OFl CIAL %5 REGULATED LABORATORY TEST RESULTS ARE PROVIDED FOR COMPARISON PURPOSES AND MAY NOT REm ECT REAL LIFE DRIVING EXPERIENCE Models Shown: #IVIC I $4%# 32 -ANUAL IN -ILANO 2ED .ON -ETALLIC AT a /N 4HE 2OAD #2 6 I $4%# 3% -ANUAL IN OPTIONAL 0ASSION 2ED 0EARL AT a /N 4HE 2OAD #IVIC 4OURER I $4%# 3% 0LUS -ANUAL IN -ILANO 2ED .ON -ETALLIC AT a /N 4HE 2OAD Terms and Conditions: .EW RETAIL #IVIC I $4%# 32 -ANUAL #2 6 I $4%# 3% -ANUAL AND #IVIC 4OURER I $4%# 3% 0LUS -ANUAL REGISTERED FROM *ANUARY TO -ARCH 3UBJECT TO MODEL AND COLOUR AVAILABILITY /FFERS APPLICABLE AT PARTICIPATING DEALERS AND ARE AT THE PROMOTER S ABSOLUTE DISCRETION The 5 Year Care Package includes: Servicing: !LL SCHEDULED SERVICING AS DETAILED IN THE VEHICLES SERVICE BOOK WILL BE COVERED FOR YEARS OR MILES

WHICHEVER COMES l RST Warranty: )N ADDITION TO THE STANDARD YEAR WARRANTY THE CUSTOMER WILL RECEIVE A COMPLIMENTARY YEAR EXTENDED GUARANTEE TAKING THE WARRANTY TO YEARS OR MILES WHICHEVER COMES l RST Roadside Assist: )N ADDITION TO THE STANDARD YEARS ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE PACKAGE THE CUSTOMER WILL RECEIVE COMPLIMENTARY (ONDACARE !SSISTANCE FOR A FURTHER YEARS TAKING IT TO YEARS OR MILES WHICHEVER COMES l RST The 5 Year Care Package: 4HE 9EAR #ARE 0ACKAGE IS OPTIONAL It is being offered for £500 including VAT USUAL VALUE a INCLUDING 6!4 AND IS AVAILABLE TO l NANCE OR NON l NANCE CUSTOMERS 0LEASE NOTE SHOULD YOU SELL THE VEHICLE DURING THE PERIOD OF COVER THE PACKAGE REMAINS WITH THE VEHICLE

essential march 2014 100pp_layout 1 13/02/2014 15:11 page 91

Motoring

THE ‘PLANET SAVING’ CAR?

ESSENTIAL FACTS l l l l l l l

Max speed:135 mph 0-62 mph: 6.9 secs Combined mpg: 44.1 Max. power (bhp): 335 at 4,000 rpm Max. torque (lb/ft): 516 at 1500 – 3000 rpm CO2: 169 g/km Price: £98,000 All information correct at time of going to press

Land Rover has launched its first-ever fusion model – the Range Rover Hybrid. Motoring Journalist Tim Barnes-Clay finds out more It is the world’s first premium diesel Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) hybrid and there’s no question that it delivers outstanding fuel economy, lower CO2 emissions as well as Land Rover’s renowned capability and performance.

So, what’s so special about this ‘planetsaving’ car? Well, the all-aluminium vehicle is based on the UK-based company’s premium lightweight architecture with a super green engine that features three driver-selectable modes. It also combines Land Rover’s popular 3-litre SDV6 diesel engine with a 35kW electric motor integrated with the brand’s renowned eight-speed ZF automatic transmission.

Incredibly, the hybrid gadgetry, which includes lithium ion battery pack, inverter and electric motor, weighs less than 120 kg. The system produces wads of low down torque to boost acceleration and drives the Range Rover in electric vehicle (EV) mode. It also acts as a generator, harvesting kinetic energy

through regenerative braking, charging the battery when you’re slowing down.

It’s all very clever stuff, and I found that, whilst in driver-selectable EV mode, the Range Rover Hybrid can travel at speeds of up to 30 mph for a range of up to one mile before the diesel engine seamlessly restarts.

Together, output of the oil-burner and electric motor is a potent 335 bhp at 4,000 rpm and a class-leading 516 lb/ft torque between 1,500-3,000 rpm, resulting in stunning SDV8-style pulling power. The model accelerates to 62 mph in under seven seconds, delivering strong transient and mid-range performance with a top speed of 135 mph, combined with a 26 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions to 169 g/km, equivalent to an average of 44.1 mpg.

However, it’s no surprise that this ecofriendly luxury SUV ticks the right boxes because all of the standard latest generation Range Rovers have been designed with the integration of a hybrid

system in mind. Consequently, the liquid cooled battery pack is mounted beneath the floor of the vehicle in a protective steel cradle without impacting on you and your passengers in the cabin – or on your luggage space either.

The Range Rover Hybrid has the same five-seat capacity and load area as the standard vehicle and retains the full-size spare wheel. Indeed, this no-compromise philosophy is echoed in the higher-spec Range Rover Sport Hybrid whose interior is unchanged from the standard model, right down to the 5+2 seating.

The ecologically aware Range Rover delivers it all really: class-leading capability and versatility, including Land Rover’s peerless four-wheel drive system with uncompromised wading and ground clearance. You’ll just need to have the best part of £100,000 available if you want one.

INFORMATION Hammonds 01986 834700

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Essential Faces

Grier & Partners Estate agents Grier & Partners launched their new brand identity ‘the agent with the terrier spirit’ with a celebration at their East Bergholt office. Invited guests enjoyed Champagne and canapés and a chance to meet the inspiration for the new branding – terriers Fred & George.

Alex Scott, Patricia Grier, Graham Scott, David Grier, Chris Scott

Sarah Chittock, Jonathan Benson, Andrea Lewison

John Radford, Mike Theeman

Clive Duddridge, Jenifer Lambert, Lesley Grier

Sharon Jenkins, Paul Kelly, Birte Kellly

John & Jean Jeffreys

Ian Bain, Andrew Waters

Roger Balmer, Alistair Davidson

Meet our knowledgeable and friendly team at the Fornham St Martin showroom

01284 760 222 www.burgess-group.com

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To view more, or purchase, photographs from this event visit essentialsuffolk.com

Denis & Dawn Dungate

Toby & Susie Kramers

Tim Yeo, David Grier

Aidan Grier, Diane Mumford, David & Lesley Grier, Jenifer Lambert, John Radford, Wendy Parkinson

Paul Ireland, Simon Isaac, Kate Everett

Jo & Alex Broom

01284 760 222 www.burgess-group.com

Kevin Wilsher, Sioban Marrison

Rob Steele, Wendy Parkinson, Andrew Nightingale

Pat Smith, Sally Pryke

New showroom at Notcutts Garden Centre, Woodbridge â&#x20AC;&#x201C; opening Spring 2014!

Kem Masinbo-Amobi, Lesley Grier

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Essential Faces

Friends of St Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Church, Woodbridge Created by author and journalist John McCarthy and film maker Tim Curtis, an entrancing new film about Woodbridge and the stunning medieval church at its centre has just been released with a special preview at the Riverside Theatre & Cinema. See our article about the film at essentialsuffolk.com/ john-mccarthy-woodbridge

Jane Sprake, Helen Curtis

Mike & Val Bettell, Alan House

Nick Cottam, Tony Sprake

John Lamont, Lindsey Battye, Rory Edwards

Anne & John Wright

Fiona Greig, Patti Cottam

Lady Caroline Blois, Juliet Gordon

Sonja & Mike Moon

Kay Yuill, Alex Williams

Lyn Blewett, Mark Prangle

Come along and see the stunning ranges at our Fornham St Martin showroom

01284 760 222 www.burgess-group.com

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To view more, or purchase, photographs from this event visit essentialsuffolk.com

Sonia & Chris Lambert

Rosemary Scott, Jane Sprake

Chris & Sarah Mapey

Lisa Cherryman, Steve Andrews

Tim & Helen Curtis

Rev. Canon Kevan McCormack, Ugur Vata

Geoff & Sue Sinton, Martin Clark

Simon & Jan Ballard

01284 760 222 www.burgess-group.com

Sybil Craik, Suzannah Chenevix-Trench, Lyn Sears

Debbie & Richard Verrill

From contemporary oak doors to traditional box sash windows

Yvonne & Martin Sylvester

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Essential Faces

To view more, or purchase, photographs from this event visit essentialsuffolk.com

Crowfield Village Sign Unveiling To commemorate the Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Diamond Jubilee the villagers of Crowfield raised over ÂŁ3,500 to erect a new village sign.

They turned out in force to see local resident and much loved actor and comedian Roy Hudd unveil the sign.

Jack Voller, Alison Shoote, Richard Voller, Frances Dodd, Alan Shoote, Hilary & John Doviak

Steve Eggleton (Sculptor) Denise Wilcox, Roy Hudd

Ann, Harry, Roger & Cecil Williamson

Susan Clarke, Jon Stokes

Max & Carol Raffe

Debbie & Roy Hudd

Roger & Jenny Podd, Pat Page, Doug Brander, Sally Calrke, Julie John

Pippa & Charles Williamson

Philip & Denise Wilcox

Perfectly crafted timber windows and doors made to your individual requirements

01284 760 222 www.burgess-group.com

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Directory

Essential

DIRECTORY HOMES AND GARDENS

Beautifully hand crafted, bespoke kitchens, cabinets and furniture

KITCHEN | DINING | LIVING B E D R O O M | B AT H R O O M

3

Visit our beautiful showroom Barton Road, Bury St Edmunds 01284 731025

www.orwellsfurniture.co.uk

www.neptuneburystedmunds.com

Smithfield Melton Woodbridge IP12 1NH Telephone 01394 382067

www.angliafactors.co.uk

justtileswoodbridge.co.uk

ROGER GLADWELL LANDSCAPE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION LTD

www.foxwoodceramics.co.uk

Specialising in garden designs for the distinctive landscaping and architecture of East Anglia Telephone: 01728 638 372 www.rogergladwell.co.uk

DECK WORLD RE L A X W I T H N AT U RE HOT TUBS FROM YOUR LOCAL IPSWICH SUPPLIER Start of season deals – visit our showroom Entry level inflatable spa from £599.00. Fantastic range in stock for quick delivery. Garden buildings, composite decking, artificial grass, landscape and design specialists.

Splasher pools • Hot tub chemicals in stock

Creating beautiful spaces for home and garden Whatever your project, call us for a free estimate T: 01394 766837 E: sdconstruction@ btinternet.com M: 07889 129746 samueldavidconstruction.co.uk

&

Felixstowe Road, Ipswich, IP10 ODE (Opposite the Shepherd and Dog) Tel: (01473) 655777 www.deckworld.co.uk

Designing rooms to relax and enjoy at the heart of your home Woodbridge interiors smithfield.melton.suffolk.ip12 1nG 01394 386390 www.woodbridgeinteriors.co.uk

MOTORING

Rendall Wright

Award winning interior design, creating beautiful, elegant and timeless interiors in the heart of Suffolk 01787 375076 info@rendallandwright.com www.rendallandwright.com

INTRODUCTIONS

BORED? LONELY? Do you still feel 45?

CALL FOR INFORMATION

Kitchen & Bathroom specialists

Join us for a wide variety of social events in East Suffolk

IN GOOD COMPANY 01394 459459 www.in-good-company.co.uk jean@in-good-company.co.uk

Sales, Service & Repair The Woodlands, Badley, Needham Market, Suffolk, IP6 8RS Tel: 01449 774222 service@derrickwells.com

PRINTING

Do you have a book to self-publish?

We can help you turn your idea into a reality

Gipping G ipping td Press Press LLtd www.gippingpress.co.uk Tel: 01449 721599 enquiries@gippingpress.co.uk

To advertise call 01473 809932, we’ll be happy to help and advise you EssentialSUFFOLK

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My Suffolk

MARCH 2014

Geraldine Milsom is the mastermind behind the inspired interiors at Milsom Hotels & Restaurants and the subject of this month’s ‘My Suffolk’

Have you always lived in Suffolk?

No I haven’t, I was born in London and at a year old we moved out to Boreham, a small village north of Chelmsford and I went to New Hall School and then drifted happily up the A12, with my parents, first to Kelvedon, then Coggeshall and finally Dedham.

What makes the county special?

Suffolk is a great county, beautiful countryside, quirky villages, lovely walks. We of course live (just) in Essex but always say we live in Suffolk.

Do you enjoy walking/exercise?

Walking and exercise, well yes and no.

I suppose yes, I love to walk with friends – so I can chat – and no to exercise which I only do out of necessity, so I make sure I do it with likeminded chatterers. It’s much more fun that way!

When you walk which are your favourite routes?

It’s hard to have favourite route, when walking in and around Dedham there are so many and of course lots more in the surrounding villages.

Apart from your own restaurants do you like to eat out?

We love eating out and do try to get out as much as we can, but with two boys still at school it’s not that easy. When we do, we head for a new hotel or restaurant in London.

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Where do you like to shop? and are there any local independent stores that you’d recommend?

Well, I shop for a living, buying and decorating the hotels and restaurants and it’s fair to say ‘I love my job’. Many places have hidden treasures, personally I love Woodbridge with all its independent retailers and then there’s Partridges in Hadleigh, I think it’s fair to say who doesn’t?

Is there one picture that perfectly illustrates Suffolk?

Yes – well a series really. Richard Hayward a local photographer has taken some incredible pictures ‘Tales from the Riverbank’ which are a series of photographs taken along the River Stour – and they are the most amazing pictures of the Suffolk countryside that I have seen.

Have you any hobbies?

Well it used to be art exhibitions and galleries but I suppose my hobbies have been swept along with the boys and I now enjoy surfing – the problem is I can’t keep up with the three of them, but I still have fun trying.

Adnams, Aspall or Greene King?

Aspall’s – without a doubt – in fact Aspall Peronelle Blush – it’s delicious.

Do you support a particular charity?

Through the Essex Foundation we have our own Milsom Hotels charity fund (the Gerald Milsom Fund) and we try to support small local organisations needing funding. This year we supported an organisation in Harwich with help towards the equipment costs of an ‘edible’ gardening project.

Do you have an interest in the Arts?

Suffice to say I am interested in almost anything connected to the Arts – I love seeing new and interesting work, recently I saw some really interesting work by Alison Stockmarr, it’s a creative take on Facebook, her work is made out of reclaimed and overlooked objects and it’s so clever.

If you had to take newcomers on a tour of Suffolk where would you go?

For newcomers to Suffolk I would lunch at Le Talbooth on a lovely summers’ day then I’d take a rowing boat along the Stour, pop into the Munnings Museum, take a drive to Woodbridge and then have supper at Kesgrave Hall.

Why is Suffolk a great place to bring up children?

Suffolk has something to offer families, it has lots of great schools, lots of open spaces, great sports facilities and fabulous beaches – everything is so easy to get to.

ALL-NEW RANGE ROVER SPORT NOW FROM £599* A MONTH† Hibernate? No chance. #Hibernot With the new Sports Command Driving Position, the driver enjoys an assured view of the road and a supreme sense of confidence and control. From its strong body lines, to its floating roof and fast raked windscreen angle, everything about the all-new Range Rover Sport has been designed to another level.

Its all-aluminium body structure reduces weight, increases agility and helps improve safety performance. This vehicle is ready for whatever the winter brings. #Hibernot.

Call us today to book a test drive.

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Plus deposit and final payment – please see details below.

Representative example All-new Range Rover Sport SDV6 HSE On the Road Price

£59,995.00

Customer Deposit

£14,475.00

Total Amount of Credit

£45,520.00

Purchase Fee (included in final payment) Credit Facility Fee (included in final payment) 36 Monthly Payments

£10.00 £285.00 £599.00

Final Payment

£33,299.00

Total Amount Payable

£69,338.00

Duration of Agreement

37 months

Representative APR% Interest Rate (Fixed) %

7.9% APR 7.45%

/PSXJDI 3PBE )BMFTXPSUI 4VGGPML *1 )9

01 IBNNPOEHSPVQ.co.uk MBOESPWFS Official Fuel Consumption Figures for the all-new Range Rover Sport range in mpg (l/100km): Urban 15.4 (18.3) – 32.5 (8.7) Extra Urban 29.1 (9.7) – 41.5 (6.8) Combined 22.1 (12.8) – 37.7 (7.5) CO2 Emissions 298 – 199 g/km.

The figures provided are as a result of official manufacturer’s tests in accordance with EU legislation. A vehicle’s actual fuel consumption may differ from that achieved in such tests and these figures are for comparative purposes only. †Finance is subject to status and only available to applicants aged 18 and over resident in Mainland UK and N.Ireland. Indemnities may be required. This finance offer is available from Black Horse Limited trading as Land Rover Financial Services, St William House, Tresillian Terrace, Cardiff, CF10 5BH. This offer is available on new all-new Range Rover Sport models only, registered between 1st January and 31st March 2014 at participating dealers only. Picture shown is all-new Range Rover Sport SDV6 Autobiography Dynamic. On the Road Price from £74,995 . Promotions are not available on used cars.

FOR HOMES OF DISTINCTION hopkinshomes.co.uk

DESIRABLE LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT SUFFOLK, NORFOLK, CAMBRIDGESHIRE & ESSEX

Visit all of our developments at:

hopkinshomes.co.uk 01394 446860 sales@hopkinshomes.co.uk Images of Hopkins Homes developments. Help to Buy is subject to terms and conditions.