BUTLERS HALL DAIRY, SUFFOLK ... A BEAUTIFUL COTTAGE IN THE COUNTRY
  • Home
  • Enquiries & Booking
  • Availability & Prices
  • Gallery
  • Map
  • What to do locally
  • Blog
  • Guests' Comments
  • Provisions
  • Walks around here
  • Links

Mersea Island

9/8/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
The Packing Shed, Mersea
Last Sunday we went across to Mersea Island, not an unusual thing as the children sail there most weeks in the summer, but on this occasion it was to go to an Open Day at the Packing Shed - one of Mersea's  best known landmarks.  It was built in the 1890's on Packing Marsh Island by the Tollesbury & Mersea Oyster Fishery Company and although oysters are no longer packed there, it has been restored and is now run by a trust for a variety of outdoor activities.  It is a fascinating place to go to - you catch a launch from the causeway and for £3 can have a cream tea and enjoy the spectacular views.  Whilst we were there storm clouds gathered making it look rather dramatic at high tide, when the foreshore disappears. It is next open on Sunday 19 August www.packing-shed.org.uk

Mersea is famous for its oysters and seafood - there are several local fish restaurants, but perhaps most famous is the Company Shed where a delicious range of sea food is served - oysters, salmon, crab, prawns, cockles etc.  It is best to get there early and get your name put on the board as they don't take bookings, it is on a first come first served basis www.the-company-shed.co.uk

The highlights of the sailing year at Mersea are Cadet Week, at the end of July where the youngsters take to the water and Mersea Week, which this year is from 19-25 August where an amazing number of boats take part in the racing each day, including dinghies, cruisers, classic yachts and gaffers, smacks and Mersea Fishermen's Open Boats.  There is also a Round the Island Race where the smaller boats sail round the island and are carried across the Strood - the bridge that connects Mersea to the mainland, but which floods when there is a very high tide. www.merseaweek.org   The final Saturday of Mersea Week is the Town Regatta - as well as sailing, there is also rowing, punting, sculling, swimming and walking the greasy pole, with a prizegiving and grand firework display in the evening. www.mersearegatta.org.uk

The jetty or hammerhead is a great place for crabbing and on the quieter side of East Mersea there are lovely beaches and interesting walks as well as the Mersea Vinyard to visit.
1 Comment

Happy Easter

8/4/2012

1 Comment

 
Easter is always a time of excursions.  Yesterday we went over to Orford to visit the Ness.  From now until September the National Trust run boats (every 20 minutes) over to the island every Saturday, and on other days in the height of summer.  The boat trip is short but to see the Ness fully you need a good 2-3 hours and when the weather is good it would be a great place to take a picnic.  A system of arrows shows the routes and there are quite a few interesting buildings to encounter whilst you are there.  The landscape is an interesting mixture of grazing land, low lying ditches and lagoons and the wilder expanses of shingle which are completely open to the North Sea and the north-easterly wind which was blowing yesterday!  Now an SSI with interesting habitats and a vast array of bird and plant life, its previous military uses are very much in evidence, both in the buildings including the AWRE site, where weapons such as Britain's first atomic bomb 'Blue Danube'  could be tested in the labs, known locally as 'pagodas' and in the debris and signs warning of the possibility of unexploded ordnance.

After a bracing walk we called in at Pinney's to buy some smoked prawns and the delicious taramasalata that they make and then went to the Butley Orford Oysterage for a mouth-watering lunch of sea food - wonderful!  Later on to Aldeburgh, where the town was bustling, with several interesting shops and galleries, not forgetting to call at Ives ice cream shop too!
1 Comment

    Archives

    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011

    Categories

    All
    Aconite
    Agricultural Show
    Aldeburgh
    Alde Valley Spring Festival
    Apple Day
    Apple Juice
    Apples
    Autumn
    Beach
    Bedroom
    Benton End
    Birds
    Blossom
    Bluebells
    Boating
    Boats
    Bread
    Buoy
    Bury St Edmunds
    Cambridge
    Cedric Morris
    Cherries
    Cherry Blossom
    Chestnuts
    Christmas
    Christmas Market
    Christmas Tree
    Christmas Wreath
    Cinema
    Conservatory
    Constable
    Constable Country
    Country Show
    Countryside
    Crabbing
    Crockery Cupboard
    Cuckoo
    Dairy
    December
    Dedham Vale
    Earth
    Elderflowers
    Electric Palace
    Fields
    Figs
    Fish
    Fishing
    Fishing Boat
    Flatford
    Frinton
    Frost
    Fruit
    Fruits
    Garden
    Globe Artichokes
    Happy Christmas
    Harbour
    Harvest
    Harwich
    Hellebore
    Holly
    Horses
    House Martins
    Igloo
    Iris
    Kites
    Knot Garden
    Landscape
    Lighthouse
    Long Melford
    Maggie Hambling
    Market
    Marmalade
    Medlars
    National Trust
    Nightingale
    November
    October
    Oil Seed Rape
    Orchard
    Orchids
    Orford
    Orford Ness
    Oysters
    Paintings
    Pinney's
    Poppies
    Pruning
    Pumpkin
    Pumpkins
    Quinces
    Rainbow
    Rhubarb
    River
    River Stour
    Ronald Blythe
    Rug
    Sailing
    Sarah Cook
    Scallop
    Sea
    Sea Food
    Seaside
    September
    Seville Oranges
    Sheep
    Sheep Shearing
    Shepherds
    Snow
    Soft Fruit
    Sourdough. Metfield Bakery
    Spring
    Staircase
    Sudbury
    Suffolk Trinity
    Summer
    Swimming
    The Big Night Out
    Trees
    Walks
    Water Meadows
    West Mersea
    Wild Flowers
    Wild Garlic
    Willow
    Willy Lott's Cottage
    Winter
    Winter Solstice
    Woodburner
    Woods
    Woottens
    Woottens Of Wenhaston
    Wyken Hall

    Follow @butlershall
  • Home
  • Enquiries & Booking
  • Availability & Prices
  • Gallery
  • Map
  • What to do locally
  • Blog
  • Guests' Comments
  • Provisions
  • Walks around here
  • Links