Shingle Street and Orford

Today has been another unseasonably warm February day so Richard and I headed up to the coast.

We saw a house advertised for sale in Shingle Street and it looked very nice so we thought we’d pay the area a visit (not the house as it was on the market for £1,000,000!).

Shingle Street is quite literally a shifting expanse of shingle which is washed down from the Shingle Spit that forms around Orford and the surrounding area. There are only a handful of houses there which makes it very peaceful and quite a unique place to live.

The conditions were great today, it didn’t feel at all cold by the coast and we managed a walk along the shingle before heading back to the car (the shingle is very steep and very deep making it hard work on the ol’ legs!)

Following Shingle Street we took the short drive over to Orford, which is one of our favourite places and somewhere we have not been for years.

En route we happened across the church of St John the Baptist in Butley. We stopped for a closer inspection because neither of us had ever seen a thatched church before.

Once we arrived at Orford we made the most of the local hospitality and had a nice sunday roast at The Jolly Sailor before heading up the castle tower to take in the stunning views of the countryside, the coast and the now abandoned secret military facility on the shingle spit.

We later enjoyed coffee and a lovely piece of home made cake at a local cafe whilst being begged for attention from a local tabby called Mylo.

Another lovely day, a great escape to the coast to fill our lungs full of air and another fantastic reminder of why we are so pleased to have moved to this part of the country.

View a 360 degree panorama from the top of Orford Castle.