25. Thorpeness – do I have holiday cottage for you?!

Although there are plenty of run-of-the-mill cottages for you to rent in Thorpeness the House in the Clouds is quite eye-catching and novel from my point of view. I couldn’t stop photographing it. Strangely enough, because of its position, it’s a devil of a thing to photograph well; you have to risk life and limb to get a decent shot of it at least if you want to photograph it with the wonderful green of the fairway in the foreground.

I parked in the grounds of the local sports club – and you can see how gorgeous the weather was, not to mention their clubhouse in the distance……….

……..said clubhouse sporting an eye-catching thatched roof – then narrowly avoided being skittled a few times as I scuttled along the ‘footpath’ which measured all of 30 cm (1 ft) in width. No doubt to deter pedestrians, the perilously narrow ‘footpath’ was thoughtfully planted with spiky bushes which served their purpose admirably by inflicting wounds of varying degrees of severity upon my person especially when I had to crouch down and push the camera through the fence and associated undergrowth.

My actions prompted much bad language from myself and the road users as we struggled to avoid a collision as I frequently shied away from a particularly thorny section of shrub. As usual my trouble was that I wanted a shot from every possible angle and I took a few risks to get them……..but at least I have numerous photos to prove it was worth it.

The two ‘flies’ in the next photo are actually parts of the plant – the long graceful filaments which connected them to the plant were too fine to show up in the shot.

I believe this is a wonderful ‘cottage’ for you to stay in as it overlooks the lake and the coastline – not to mention the menacing Sizewell Power Station in the distance. I must give it a try next time I visit the UK. The House has a unique history and I was fascinated by the details of the original water tower and you can find more information here if you’re interested.

Trying to photograph The House from all possible angles ensured that I paid a visit to this delightful spot – Thorpeness Meare – a manmade boating lake. And, yes, I had to take lots of photos!

“The Meare is a boating lake like no other. The lake with its islands and surrounds covers some sixty acres and has over forty acres of water. However, nowhere is the lake more than three feet deep and so it provides a very safe boating environment. Dinghies, kayaks, large family rowing boats, canoes, punts and sailing boats are all available for hire” . A quote from the Visit Suffolk website.

Remember to visit in spring or summer – I was there for the end of April and beginning of May and had wonderful weather ( as the photos demonstrate) – and there are lots of delightful cottages for you to rent along the coast.

Below is a gorgeous photo taken by Geoff Doggett of The House in the Clouds, the windmill and cottages near the Meare at Thorpeness and he has kindly released it to the public domain. To use it go to Public Domain Pictures.net

Click here to view a great panorama of the Meare and then you can view the other panoramic shots along the beachfront to Aldeburgh by clicking on the left or right arrow. Remember to use the left-to-right scroll bar at the bottom of your screen to see the full width of each photo. Using the left arrow will bring you to a beach shot which includes the Scallop – the memorial to Benjamin Britten – with some interesting details about it below the photo.

Click here to read the about how the small village of Thorpe was developed into today’s Thorpeness by Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie.

Happy clicking!