Looking back through the photos of last weekend has been a real pleasure.

It was just one of those weekends where everything feels golden and you know you'll be keeping those memories for a very long time.

Having spent the whole of Saturday walking through the woodlands and marshes of Sufolk, followed by a pub lunch and a coastal stroll, Sunday was set aside for more leisurely pursuits.


We woke up to a breakfast of tea, toast and homemade marmalade whilst the sun shone coolly on the expanse of blue horizon outside.



The rest of the morning was spent snuggled in the living room, reading by the fire whilst the sun poured in through the windows.

Finally, we decided that it was probably time to start moving, having eaten an ungodly quantity of buttered toast for breakfast. We set out into the chilly morning and made our way along the coast into the town centre.





Lizzie showed us the old sailors' reading rooms just at the entrance to the town.

The rooms were constructed 150 years ago to keep sailors out of the pubs when they weren't out at sea! You can still go in and spend a morning sitting and reading the papers whilst the sea crashes just outside.



(Oops, didn't see the no photos sign at the time - I was too busy looking up at all the pictures and clocks!)

From there, we went for a stroll through Southwold. Apparently the town has started to become populated by chain shops in place of independent businesses which is a shame. It is very apparent that the place is a holiday hotspot, with most houses near the town centre and seafront sporting a sticker in the window for some holiday company or another.

However, it is still an absolutely charming little town. We went for a wander through the independent shops and boutiques and made a point of stocking up on books from the charity shops (many many books in my case...)







One of the places I'd been particularly looking forward to stopping by was the Two Magpies Bakery.



Let's get one thing straight - this place is an absolute dream.

If one of these were to open up in Exeter, I would surrender myself to the sugar and carbs and the inevitable fate of obesity.

We got all of our bread from here throughout the weekend and it was such a treat. Everyone was commenting on the gorgeous crust of the bread, no matter which type we bought. And they have a fair few types - just check out their bread menu here!



Being your standard glutton, I tried the Sacher torte, brownie with Earl Grey infused dates (!!!) and the vanilla custard filled donut.

Holy crap.

The torte wasn't much to write home about (I had one in Bergamo at Osteria della Birra that hands down won any Sacher wars) - it was still a nice cake but nothing special and didn't really carry much of the fruity jam that really makes a Sacher.

However, the brownie and the donut were out of this world. The brownie was rich and dense and indulgent with the tea-soaked dates adding a really interesting flavour and texture.

The donut was perfection, with the vanilla-studded custard tasting like every childhood memory of ice cream.

They also do pizzas on Saturday night which we unfortunately didn't get to try - there's always a next time.

Our next stop was the Adnam's brewery shop where free tasters abounded.




We got to taste these two gins - the Copper House in particular was so delicious. I don't actually know anything about gin (or any other kind of alcohol for that matter, as much as I pretend to) but it tasted bloody good even on its own so that's all you can really ask for, right?




You can also buy mini 8-pint kegs from the shop. We had a couple of these throughout the weekend which kept our evenings thoroughly, um, buoyed.

Leaving the high-street, we headed for a wander around the church of St. Edmund.

The church was built in the 15th century and is a beautiful example of local flint work.



The inside was fairly intricate for a Protestant church, with an ornate turquoise and gold ceiling above the altar.

The stained glass windows were installed in the 1950s after the church narrowly missed being bombed. The bomb fell nearby, destroying houses in the square and blowing out the earlier windows.




And from that majestic building, we headed over to another majestic place...


...the pub!

I mean, where else on a Sunday lunchtime?



It was absolutely crammed with people, packing in for their Sunday fish and chips.

We huddled down one end of the bar where most of the dog action was - excellent!

After five minutes of restraint, I dropped down and just started hugging them all. It was quite literally heaven and I think I was probably a little drunk after all the gin tastings and the beer.




So many dogs!!!


The walk home included a bit of rosemary poaching from unsuspecting gardens for our lunch...


And once we were tucked back up inside, we admired our morning's work.


Nine books for £11. God, I love charity shops.

I absolutely adore reading and can't walk past a Waterstones without loading my bag up/unloading my purse. Recently, I've finally come around to realise that charity shops are the best places in the world and have pretty decent books for massively cheap prices!

I've since added another four books to that pile (so that's 13 in one week...) and am going to pop out to my local Oxfam bookshop later this afternoon.. eek!



Lunch mainly consisted of leftovers with soup and local apple juice with winter spices. Michele and Cat had a focaccia bake-off (for which the rosemary was stolen, a worthy cause I'm sure you'll agree) which left us thoroughly stuffed and unable to move for a good while!




And poor Lizzie's post-carb nap was disturbed by Michele and Haico who took it upon themselves to pile up on top of her!

Honestly, you can't take Michele anywhere without him causing some kind of trouble (yes I'm still bitter about the jellyfish incident).

Another chapter in a perfect weekend.