Sandling Holiday

I've just been taking some holiday in Suffolk, and have enjoyed getting to know more about the county's distinctive coastline. The whole area that stretches along the coast from the river Orwell in the south to the river Blyth in the north is known as the Sandlings, because of its distinctive light sandy soils.  One of my holiday reads was 'Sandlands' by Tom Williamson, which explains how the landscape came to look like it does today. Very little, it turns out, is at all 'natural' - most is the result of many centuries of human activity.

The most distinctive feature of the countryside nearest to where we were staying, in Blythburgh, were the saltmarshes and estuarine mudflats alongside the river Blyth. Between Blythburgh and Walberswick stretches land that is now mostly nature reserve, combining woodland, heathy commons, marshes and reed beds. As Tom explains, the saltmarshes that characterise the area are probably its most 'natural' feature, comprising areas of salt-tolerant grasses on silt deposits built up in estuaries or behind sandbanks. 

Much else that we see in the Sandlings today is entirely human in construction, from the grazing marshes created by artificially enclosing salt marshes and excluding the sea, to the vast expanses of heather-covered heaths that resulted from earlier periods of tree clearance and agriculture.

Blythburgh is characterised by its huge parish church, the ceiling of which is lined with twelve wooden angels, wings unfurled. Such a large church was indicative less of the wealth of the area, than of its piety. 

In a region so close to the sea, perhaps the people of the Sandlings had more reason than most to seek divine protection from forces beyond their control.  Certainly the sea has had an overwhelming influence on the landscape. Southward and Aldeburgh are now best known as tourist retreats, but were originally important ports, receiving coals from Newcastle and other goods from the continent and exporting down the coast to London. Smaller places, including Blythburgh, Walberswick and Dunwich were also trading ports. Such was the influence of the estuarine economy that Defoe described the area like this:

   "S'woul and Dunwich and Walberswick

    All go in at one lousy creek"

The creek behind our cottage at Blythburgh, once lively with trading vessels, is now a charming place to while away time, observing the changing water levels, the wildlife, and catching crabs in the shallow waters. We got there by walking down a very pleasant green lane, which turned out to be a disused railway line closed in the 1920s. 

So this delightfully green and tranquil corner of the Sandlands turns out to be a former transport interchange and port - evidence again of the impact of humans on the landscape.

We very much enjoyed spending time at Dunwich Heath. A novel way to explore the Heath is by having a go at Geocaching - a new hobby for us, but one that turns out to be great fun. We managed about seven geocache spots in the end, as well as catching sight of some red deer and the caterpillar of an elephant hawk moth. We also enjoyed a very refreshing cup of tea afterwards, and some delicious National Trust biscuits. 

Consulting the road atlas, it turned out that we had largely managed to confine ourselves to the same square on the map for the whole week - taking in Southwold, Walberswick, Dunwich and Blythburgh (with an excursion to Aldeburgh for the excellent carnival there). Amazing how much there is to see and do, just by exploring the landscape.