Sudbury, Suffolk

Suffolk is another new county for us, so we arrived without any preconceived ideas. It is very rural with pretty villages and towns dotted about. We sat just outside of a town called Sudbury which is a lovely market town. Although the area is very rural the towns were built with money made from the weaving and silk industry so the buildings are very affluent.

We looked after two very sweet dogs, a border terrier who, when sat on her back legs, looked more like a meerkat, and a boxer dog. We enjoyed some lovely walks with the girls along leafy lanes that led us to small hamlets of thatched cottages looking out over fields stretching for miles. The hens we looked after kept us in a great supply of eggs for our stay.

Melford Hall

We visited Melford Hall which is owned by the National Trust. It is lived in by the Hyde Parker family and it felt lived in like a home not a museum piece. The home was visited a great deal by Beatrix Potter.

Lavenham was another of our favorite visits. It is a medieval
village, very pretty. We did a circular walk around the village
to see the surrounding countryside, before having lunch in one of the pubs on the high street.





Bury St Edmunds was a real surprise as we didn't expect a town with so much history and architecture set in such a rural location.







Vegetarian Restaurants in this area

Veggie Red Lion
Another great find, a superb vegetarian restaurant, well worth a visit, at Great Bricett. We met up with some friends who were holidaying in the area and we had a lovely meal.

The Black Boy
This is a pub in the centre of Sudbury market place, and although not exclusively vegetarian, the owner of the pub and hotel is vegan and had a lovely selection of dishes on the menu. It was a really old building, apparently with its own ghost, and had a great atmosphere. We were spoilt for choice on the menu.

2011 the year so far....

The first half of 2011 has passed in a blinking of an eye or, more appropriately, a wagging of a tail.We started off the year in France living in a Maison de Maitre in the Dordogne region. We managed 3 gites for the owners, providing change over services, pool maintenance and general gardening. We met lots of people holidaying at the property, each week having a new dynamic, depending on who was staying.

We got to know our immediate french neighbours, one of whom was a veteran of the Foreign legion. We were given loads of tomatoes and produce from their very productive potager, (vegetable garden). We tried to pay them back with bringing them English tea, which they loved, and making cakes. They didn't want anything in return though, they were just grateful that their produce was being appreciated and utilized.

We had the opportunity to practice our french a bit more in this area, as we had more people around us, and became very fluent in swimming pool jargon, as we oversaw some major works on the pool over the season.

In March we left the Dordogne and went further South to Carcassonne where we said hello again to a regular client and their pets, and made some new acquaintances. Carcassonne is a lovely fortified town with a very impressive medieval castle fully intact. The old town is contained within the huge walls of the city. Both our house sits were just outside of the main city, in the surrounding countryside, which is rugged and beautiful.
New friends made.

Old friends re-visited.

We were pleased that we would have the chance to look after a family of African grey parrots again, as well as two dogs and a Camargue pony. They all remembered us from a sit the previous year and it was great to catch up with them again.