Thorpeness Things to Do

I am not sure what this building was supposed to be, or even quite what it is actually used for. The best I can tell, it is living accommodation. I suppose it goes well with the now converted church, in that it looks like a cross between a Cathedral and a house, although I suspect it was just designed to look like this, and it has probably never had any religious significance.

This building fits in quite well to the rather bizarre town of Thorpeness which really is an architects plaything, albeit one that has quite a bit of charm. Nice to look at, but it must be a strange building to actually live in.

This may look like an old church. Indeed it WAS an old church. But what seems to be happening more and more is that instead of having an old church here there and everywhere, and not enough priests/minsters to go round, some old churches are being sold off and converted into elaborate appartments, or sometimes just a huge house.

This is exactly what has happened here. When I went past, there was a sign up saying that this was now a converted church, and that the appartments were now up for sale. I guess some people may look at this as being a bit sad, but it preserves the building and also offers accommodation.

There are various coastal walks in the area. The most obvious one being the one that goes through Thorpeness and down to Aldeburgh - another interesting town a few miles down the coast.

There is also Slaughden a little further past Aldeburgh. That used to be a town, but it no longer exists. The Suffolk coastline gets a pounding from the waves, and Slaughden essentially washed away, although you can still see where it was. Apparently whilst people stilled lived there, it was not uncommon that the townspeople would open their front and back doors to let the sea wash though their houses (I guess this was less damaging then letting it just pound them).

Anyhow, I think strolling along the coastline is the best way to see the area, and their are signs to point out more interesting things as you go.

Apart from Golf, of which there is an 18 hole links course next to the House in the Clouds, the other sport that is well catered for in Thorpeness is boating (of the rowing variety). This boating lake (man made) has numerous boats that are available to rent and row. Unfortunately it was closed when i was there, so I was unable to ascertain the prices, but the House in the Clouds is visible from the lake, and indeed the lake is pretty much central in the town. Most of the boats seem to be named agter Girls names.

Dovecotts are reasonably common in England. I'm not sure how common they are overseas, although I have seen the odd one in Spain. They are probably pretty self explanatory, but are basically an ornamental house for doves (and probably pigeons, which incidentally are classed as a pest in Britain and are essentially described as flying rats! - it has been forbidden to feed them in Trafalgar Square in London due to the disease they carry). Anyhow whilst this is not the most interesting thing in Thorpeness, it may still be of interst to a non-British visitor who hasn't seen one before.

These almshouses were built in the 1920s by W.G. Wilson. They look to be some of the more authentically historical buildings in the village - most of the rest of them have a slightly quirky feel to them.

I suspect these days they are probably used as normal homes or holiday homes (almshouses were originally built to house the old and needy as a kind of charity housing type thing). Visiting in early May meant the ornamental cherry tree on the front lawn was in full pink flower adding a nice touch to the view.

This unusual house, which is now known as "The House in the Clouds" used to be a water tower. The architect (Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie) who bought and designed a large part of Thorpeness around the 1920's needed a water tower, but did not want an ugly structure. he therefore though he would disguise it as a house. The Windmill (which is from the 19th Century) was originally elsewhere, but Ogilvie had it transported to Thorpeness to pump the water from the watertower. However once the town was connected to the water mains, this watertower was no longer needed, and the house was converted into a holiday home. As both of these interesting structures were needed to pump water to the village, it accounts for the close location of them both to eachother. This picture shows just how close together they actually are. They both back onto the golf course which is an 18 hole course and was laid out by James Braid in 1922.

The Windmill is probably one of the oldest building in Thorpeness. Mostly because it was not built in Thorpeness, but moved their later to help pump water. Originally it was in Aldringham (which is a few miles away), but the whole building, including its millstones was moved up to Thorpeness by Ogilvie when he realised he needed a way of pumping water from his water tower.

The Windmill itself ceased active service in 1940. It has now been restored and is a museum/visitor centre with free entry. The mill goes quite well with the quirky nature of Thorpeness. As you wander round, you kind of wonder what weird thing will pop up next!