Holme-next-to-the-Sea

The changing landscapes photo is of the sea marshes round Holme-next-to-the Sea, the place is of course where the famous wooden circle Seahenge was found, the wooden posts of course are at Lynn Museum.  But it is the landscape I want to touch on for the time being.

The sea always encroaches our coastlines, creeping gently in sometimes, other times raging against the cliffs till they crumble and fall, occasionally drowning villages like Dunwich in medieval times which is perhaps the most famous incident as its ghostly church bells ring below the waves.

Norfolk is flat and rather monotonous when you drive through it, it has of course many fens that have been drained by the  Dutchman - Vermuydhen  Even today as you drive into the countryside you will see the long straight dykes through the fields taking the water away, and travel on that 'corduroy' road that bounces from ridge to ridge, probably heavy tractors have made these marks on the underlying boggy ground.

So where to start about the landscape where the wooden circle is to be found, firstly Seahenge in its day was not next to the sea, but probably in woodland, now the sands have washed over the land, and one of the things you will see alongside the board walk along the beach are the planting of bushes to hold the sand dunes in place.

Harebells

The beach is something else, it stretches into infinity, wind turbines turn their sails slowly on the horizon way out to sea, old land still holds tenuously to the sand as it ripples beneath your feet echoing the waves of the sea.

The gradual encroachment of sand








So why does Norfolk spark today's thought, well it is probably that someone called Dominic is coming to collect in his van the work bench and a drying board  and he is travelling down from King's Lynn in Norfolk, and it brings back memories of this sunny walk by the sea.  Today the weather is dark and grey and the wind rustles through the maple tree shaking the leaves on to the lawn. It brings back memories of our second visit to the museum with American friends, standing in the icy wind at Sutton Hoo looking at the barrow of the warrior buried in his boat, remembering Bucky at the museum where the Seahenge  wooden posts are kept causing a kerfuffle..  He had spotted that the timbers had recent cuts in them, presumably to take samples, so he had the staff phoning around the archaeologists to enquire about this.