Aldeburgh Living - Winter 2018

aldeburghliving

ISSUE 008 Winter 2018

FREE

On Shanks’ Pony Wild on North Warren | Jenkins & Will Lamps Spirit of the Sea Fishers Gin | Plum Interiors Emma Chichester Clark Preservation Order Friston’s Burch & Suffolk | Art: Catherine Richardson

Thinking of letting your holiday home?

Thinking of letting your holiday home?

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We offer the perfect combination; local knowledge and people, backed by national marketing and support.

With both marketed or fully-managed services available, you can be as involved as you like, knowing that you and your guests are well looked after.

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Let us find you guests who will enjoy your home as much you do. Email newowners@suffolkhideaways.co.uk, call 01728 666 300, visit suffolkhideaways.co.uk or pop into the office at 161a High Street, Aldeburgh to find out more.

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Welcome to aldeburghliving magazine THE WINTER ISSUE Aldeburgh is a land repurposed. The name of our town translates as ‘old fort’ but this structure together with much of the original Tudor town was lost to the sea many years ago. The town has evolved from port, to fishing town, to our modern day holiday destination. As the River Alde silted, large ships could no longer berth; so we now play on the waters in our sailing boats. The South Lookout was built in the mid-19th century to serve as a lookout tower from which to spot ships in trouble; this is now an artist’s residency space. The Martello Tower, a fort in the Napoleonic war, has become a holiday home; Snape Maltings a Concert Hall.

This issue celebrates the spirit of repurposing, reusing, saving! The use of Dartmoor ponies on the Suffolk heathlands of North Warren; the use of Crespigny House’s boiler room as Emma ChichesterClark’s home; Friston Village Hall as a jam making factory; a London Taxi as a Suffolk carriage; and the woodworking and porcelain making skills of two men to create exquisite handmade Suffolk lamps from their base in the old agricultural buildings of Sudbourne Park.

As we enter the season of excess, let’s take a moment to see our belongings with a new purpose. Much joy can be found in the making, giving or receiving of something that was once loved by someone else, or as something else.

Stacey Paine

COVER IMAGE Eliza Stephens Pony on North Warren Photograph

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aldeburghliving Living Publishing Ltd. 31 Fawcett Road, Aldeburgh, Suffolk IP15 5HQ Registered in England no. 10383720

Stacey Paine EDITORIAL AND DESIGN stacey@aldeburghliving.com 01728 453323 07800 566174

Nick Paine ADVERTISING AND BRAND nick@aldeburghliving.com 01728 453323 07967 508006

Tessa Allingham CONTRIBUTING EDITOR @tessaallingham

@feastpublishing

This magazine is free and contains no sponsored content

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Subscribe Aldeburgh Living is a quarterly magazine published in March, June, September and December. Also available online at livingpublishing.co.uk, or by email (visit the website to subscribe).

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Disclaimer: Whilst every care has been taken to ensure that the data in this publication is accurate, neither the publisher nor the editor, nor its editorial contributors can accept, and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for omissions resulting from negligence, accident or any other cause. All artwork is accepted on the strict condition that permission has been given for use in this publication. Aldeburgh Living does not officially endorse any advertising material included within this publication. All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of Living Publishing Ltd.

T h e Au t h e n t ic C oa s t al Sp irit

Handcrafted in Suffolk, between the sea and the salt marshes, Fishers infuses local herbs and coastal botanicals that captures some of the wild and forgotten flavours of the English coastline.

Available at Adnams Stores, selected East Anglia M&S stores, Snape Maltings, Russell and Newnes, 31Dover.com, Master of Malt and other wine and spirits sellers.

\FishersGin \FishersGin \Fishers_Gin

www.FishersGin.com Please enjoy Fishers responsibly.

We market your property on the four main property portals: *

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*Marketed on these portals by our London agency

Waiting Catherine Richardson (Detail)

contents

06 On Shanks’ Pony

38 Plum Interiors

The wild ponies of North Warren

Inside Emma Chichester Clark’s Aldeburgh bolt-hole

14 This Season’s Diary Your guide to winter in Aldeburgh

46 Hope is Patience with the Lamp Lit

16 Catherine Richardson

Jenkins & Will handcrafted lamps

Inside the studio of the artist

52 Preservation Order 24 Winter Style Edit

Friston’s jam-making twins talk

This season’s party wear

Burch & Suffolk

28 Spirit of the Sea Introducing Aldeburgh’s Fishers Gin

33 Competition

60 Rain without Clouds Frederic Whyte - the ancient concepts of Indian garden design

Joli offers you the chance to win a selection of Urbania candle houses

34 Happenings This winter’s most important news

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Lady Florence

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Lady Florence

ON SHANKS’ PONY Nature’s way: meet the rare breed wild ponies of North Warren.

By Tessa Allingham aldeburghliving WINTER

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Wild ponies graze the moorland landscape of RSPB North Warren, ensuring the natural conservation of a habitat that is vital for indigenous flora and fauna. Tessa Allingham falls for the four-legged workforce.

They say don’t work with animals. Animals can be uncouth, unpredictable, less than cooperative; they can walk off mid-conversation to do something more interesting; and even if they hang around, they can appear disdainful of questions however politely these are put.

But, small wild ponies of North Warren, you 10 WINTER 2018

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are forgiven, because you are beautiful in a rugged, ‘wash and go’ way, with your long, free manes, switching tails, dense, rough-tough coats and liquid-gaze eyes; and because this rugged stretch of lumpy, tussocky, heather- and gorse-clad Suffolk is your space. I am the one who’s visiting.

Introductions done, I put away my notepad, pen, and head full of questions to absorb the environment and observe. Autumn is at its most colourful, the low afternoon light is tender, the lazy, whisper-warm air yet to carry winter’s slicing edge or atmospheric coastal mistiness. Berries dot shrubs with red, prickly gorse bushes cling on to a diminishing shock of yellow flowers, and pops of summer purple still colour the more sheltered clumps

of heather. In the woodland undergrowth Bracken is giving up its summer green to dress in brown, while from above, curling leaves shake, rattle and float their way from oak and silver birch trees to settle on the ground.

‘It’s an interpretation of ‘rewilding,’ of creating a more natural structure to the land’ Over in a sandy rabbit warren on a southfacing slope, one of the ponies stops, snorts and lies down to roll. Itch satisfactorily scratched, she heaves herself up and shakes from nose to tail, sending a cloud of dust puffing into the breeze. Elsewhere, a grey appears on a rise as if from nowhere, mane billowing and looking for all the world like a

creature from a fantastical storybook. Other ponies step with steady deliberation along hoof-wide tracks they have made through the moorland landscape, nibbling as they go.

They seem completely at home, untroubled by a group of hikers following the path towards Thorpeness, or the couple walking with two dogs bouncing at their feet.

Wild Exmoor and Dartmoor ponies are a vital part of the ecosystem at RSPB North Warren.

The open access reserve that stretches off the Leiston Road between Aldeburgh, Thorpeness and the North Sea has been managed by the society since 1939, making it one of the oldest, and it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) meaning that the range of wildlife is deemed exceptional. Indeed, insects skitter, crows

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argue, a skylark launches itself just feet away from me, releasing its extraordinary song as it soars in a streak of grey-brown flight. The site is at its busiest, bird-wise, between December and February when migrating ducks, swans and geese settle in for winter on the marshes closer to the sea; come spring, breeding bitterns and marsh harriers make their home here, as do nightingales, reed bunting and yellowhammer in the heath. In summer, the visiting nightjar, rare natterjack toads, and all manner of dragonflies and butterflies – the rare silver-studded blue butterfly particularly loves the heather – join the party.

‘Without the ponies, the heath and grass would gradually turn to scrub, then trees, then eventually dense woodland which would not be able to sustain the variety of wildlife we have today’ The variety of natural life at North Warren is down in large part to the appetite of the wild ponies that live here year-round. At any one time, either a quartet of Dartmoors or a breeding herd of Exmoors keep the landscape in natural check, controlling the regrowth of woody vegetation through constant grazing and browsing. ‘Conservation grazing helps maintain the open habitat that’s so important for the insects, birds, flowers and butterflies that we want to encourage,’ says Ian Barthorpe, visitor experience officer at RSPB Minsmere. ‘Without the ponies, the heath and grass would gradually turn to scrub, then trees, then eventually dense woodland which would not be able to sustain the variety of wildlife we have today.’

The extensive grazing is patchy, he adds – the ponies will graze grass very short, creating an

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ideal environment for ground-nesting birds, but will leave less palatable grasses or plants as clumps that become perfect habitats for insects. It all helps create a natural ‘balanced mosaic’ to the environment. ‘It’s an interpretation of ‘rewilding’ of creating a more natural structure to the land. Go back 400-500 years and the coast and wetlands would have been grazed this way by deer and cattle, but then we started farming and the landscape started to look very different, it became very influenced by us.’ There’s a return benefit of course: giving the animals a ‘job’ helps ensure the future survival of these rare breeds that have been part of Britain’s landscape for millennia.

‘Old breeds tend to be hardy, can cope with all weathers, and will eat whatever is available’ The ponies are either on loan to the RSPB from the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST), or have been donated by private owners. They are ideally suited to the conditions. ‘Old breeds tend to be hardy, can cope with all weathers, and will eat whatever is available,’ Ian says.

‘They can fend for themselves and thrive on land that modern-day breeds would find too poor. And by not feeding them there is none of that clustering around a feed trough that can be unhealthy for the ground.’ It’s the same on the Minsmere wetlands where equally resilient Polish Konik ponies (these are related to the tarpan, the ancient wild horse that once roamed Europe but became extinct in the 19th century) happily graze the marshier conditions, ensuring the perfect habitat for waders and wintering wildfowl.

Wardens make a daily visual check on all the animals, fill water troughs, and ensure that gates are closed and fences intact, because

the ponies will take quick advantage of any gap to go exploring. They have a bi-annual check from the vet and farrier because, although wild, they are officially classed as livestock, so need a health ‘passport’. Check a wild pony? Don’t they just scarper? Ian laughs at my question – but at least he answers it.

‘Easy. Rattle a bucket of pony nuts! These

ponies have minds of their own, but they are not completely mad.’

Watch – but don’t approach – the wild ponies as they graze North Warren. For more information go to rspb.org.uk.

Photography by Eliza Stephens aldeburghliving WINTER

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Diary Meet Father Christmas 1st–2nd December Glemham Hall glemhamhall.co.uk

A Christmas Recital with Soprano Nazan Fikret 14th December 5pm The Red House

Father Christmas Sails into Snape Maltings 21st December 12.15pm Snape Maltings

brittenpears.org

snapemaltings.co.uk

Christmas Showcase of Lettering Art Through to 23rd December Lettering Arts Centre

A Christmas Cracker 15th December Jubilee Hall

Handel’s Messiah 21st December 7.30pm Snape Maltings

letteringartstrust.org

aldeburghjubileehall.co.uk

snapemaltings.co.uk

Co-op Juniors Christmas Spectacular: The Nutcracker 7th–16th December Snape Maltings Concert Hall

Christmas Wreath Making Workshop 15th December Moat Farm, Dennington

Christmas Farmers’ Market 22nd December Snape Maltings

Christmas Supper Tour 15th December Glemham Hall

Cara Dillon: Upon a Winter’s Night 22nd December 7.30pm Snape Maltings

glemhamhall.co.uk

snapemaltings.co.uk

snapemaltings.co.uk

Christmas Carols 14th December 2pm The Red House brittenpears.org

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snapemaltings.co.uk

moatfarmflowers.com

Photograph: Adrian Smith

The Snowman with Live Orchestra 23rd December 1.30pm & 4pm Snape Maltings

Christmas on Cragg Path 27th–30th December 7.30pm Jubilee Hall

Old Glory Molly Men 19th January 7.30pm Sweffling White Horse

aldeburghjubileehall.co.uk

swefflingwhitehorse.co.uk

New Years Eve 31st December 11.59pm Unofficial fireworks on Aldeburgh Beach

Performance Poets: Luke Wright & Molly Naylor 1st February Snape Maltings

snapemaltings.co.uk

Old Glory Molly Men 24th December 9.30pm Walberswick Bell old-glory.org.uk

Aldeburgh Boxing Day Swim 26th December 11am Meet outside Moot Hall 10.45am aldeburghchristmasswim.org.uk

Old Glory: The Cutty Wren 26th December 8.50pm Middleton Village Hall – The Bell

snapemaltings.co.uk

The Scarlett Pipistrelle 1st–4th January 4pm & 7.30pm Jubilee Hall aldeburghjubileehall.co.uk

Tickets on Sale for Aldeburgh Literary Festival January Aldeburgh Bookshop

The Lost Words - Spell Songs 8th February 7.30pm Snape Maltings snapemaltings.co.uk

aldeburghbookshop.co.uk

old-glory.org.uk

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Catherine Richardson Deep Shallows 131 x 91cm Acrylic and Oil on Canvas Board

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CATHERINE RICHARDSON Art of Suffolk: a glance at Catherine Richardson’s captivating work.

By Polly Allingham

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Catherine Richardson’s paintings capture people and spaces at unexpected moments. They are intimate, timeless and fluid as Polly Allingham discovers when she visits the Middleton-based artist.

Tucked away along the B-road that winds its way north from Aldeburgh to Middleton sits an artistic haven, and artist Catherine Richardson’s home. Her office is set away from the searing screech of welding. The extraordinary metal sculptures made by her husband, Paul Richardson, will be familiar to those who know this road because of the Tin Man who gleams on the verge by the couple’s home.

Catherine is standing in front of her paintings in paint-splattered dungarees. Her office, at the bottom of the sloping garden, appears to be a refined version of her adjacent studio; a large desk sits in the centre, looking through French windows to the array of sun-dappled sculptures on the lawn, and her paintings line three walls neatly. They are commanding, for their scale and confident brush strokes in muted colours (she works mainly in acrylics, plus the occasional bucket of emulsion and sometimes adding oil paints in a final layer), as well as the subject matter that varies from children in swimming pools, and figures hunched in private thought, to empty rooms.

‘It’s easy to watch the kids in the pool, and people are more themselves in water’ Her work is observant, it explores the way people’s bodies work when they are in repose – indeed, Repose is the title of one of her works – and how people move when they are not being observed, or are in water. A thread running through her work, she says, is a concern with ‘how it feels to see.’ She insists that it’s not especially highbrow, though 20 WINTER 2018

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it is informed by academic History of Art studies at Edinburgh University (and she has also lectured on the notion of vision in John Constable’s work).

Piano Under the Stairs is a painting of ‘the things that go on in funny spaces in your house, in a specific moment in time when the space is empty’ Piano Under the Stairs, one of Catherine’s A Sense of Place series that depicts empty spaces and how it feels to be in them, is a personal favourite: she doesn’t want to part with it, though it is popular with potential buyers. It draws your eyes through her own hallway into the blank space of the back garden; it’s a painting of ‘the things that go on in funny spaces in your house, in a specific moment in time when the space is empty.’

It was one of the hardest to make, she says. Despite being certain traditional painters would frown upon using blue in the foreground and red in the background, she was adamant about including the blue strip down the centre, toiling to perfect it, and in doing so creating a circular effect. ‘The blue made me think of thought,’ she explains, and indeed there is a sense of enclosure, the idea of past footfalls that a familiar eye would remember. In a frustrated attempt to fix the piece’s depth, she describes throwing down white emulsion on the left. The effect is surprisingly not hectic, but instead one of calm familiarity, suggesting the noisy afternoons of children’s piano lessons that are looked back

Catherine Richardson Repose 107 x 92cm Oil on Canvas

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on with a fond, nostalgic eye.

The frustration of artistic creation is present elsewhere too. While working on Gasp, one of her Water series that explores the strange comfort of people underwater, Catherine covered the painting in white emulsion, before finding herself scrubbing it off in the bathtub twenty minutes before school pick-up.

Chain-marks from the bathplug accidentally imprinted the surface, but she realised this was exactly what she needed to complete the piece, the bathplug becoming the tool to create the mellifluent surface of the water.

She is herself a keen swimmer. ‘It’s easy to watch the kids in the pool, and people are more themselves in water.’ Subjects are often faceless, their figures distorted by the water, and by only capturing flashes of swimwear and bodies, Catherine ensures the pieces are timeless. The series becomes a capsule of unrepeatable moments, she explains: ‘I like the idea of ‘where will the girl in the red costume go now?’.’

Catherine finds a shared beauty between people in the water and people absorbed in their mobile phones; in both cases, people cease to be self-conscious, she says, leaving their bodies to move and repose naturally. ‘I like the way we create this bubble by looking at them, with your face lit up only from one angle.’ She makes these people beautiful, and, as in the Water series, timeless. Waiting, she jokes, could have been painted in 18th century Holland, but in reality it is a mother in her car waiting to collect children from school one dark evening.

Living in Suffolk informs Catherine’s vision.

She was drawn to the ‘bigness of it all, the grand sea and open skies’ when moving from Birmingham. Though she claims she was never good at landscapes, the countryside 22 WINTER 2018

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around her Middleton home does inform her work, the gaps in Suffolk’s endlessly reaching fields suggested in the undulating surface of limitless water, or the folds of flowing clothing.

‘This is how we sell some of our work, from people passing by. They walk down the footpath and happen to see my art’ As we speak, a group of ramblers appears on the lawn in front of the open office. They wave, are intrigued by Paul’s statues, and look at the walls hung with Catherine’s paintings.

Catherine laughs. She supports Art for Cure, the charity that raises money for Breast Cancer Now, and you may find her paintings in some local galleries, but her instinct is commercially reluctant. ‘This is how we sell some of our work, from people passing by.

They walk down the footpath and happen to see my art, or come in having driven past the Tin Man.’ See Catherine’s work at Thompson’s Gallery, Aldeburgh, and Mandell’s Gallery, Norwich, or online at richpaint.co.uk.

Catherine Richardson Piano Under the Stairs 137 x 92cm Acrylic on Board

Jelly Green Beyond the Tribouchina Plant 57 x 75cm 2015 Watercolour on paper

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Rural views that will be there for centuries more Indoor pool available to residents every morning and evening Estate fitness suite opening winter 2018

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The Chillesford Lodge Estate is a private escape only six miles from a daily train service to London and two miles from the Suffolk Coast.

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01394 450555

01728 454505

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Brown is the new black, all that glitters is not gold, and patterns are still running wild! Have fun with your Aldeburgh party wardrobe this season.

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The Aldeburgh

Winter

Style Edit

A Part Two Nira Sequin Skirt - Fleur - £89.95 B Inwear Tia Pullover - Fleur - £104.95 C Oui Floral Print Jumper - O&C Butcher - £119 Model wears Seventy Leopard Print Blouse - Collen & Clare - £330 Seventy Velvet Smoking Jacket - £455

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E D Beatrice B Velevt Ombre Dress Collen & Clare - £409 E Inwear Merret Mesh Skirt - Fleur £124.95 F Cara Dala Stud Ankle Boots -Fleur - £135 G Markberg Kath Suede Glove - Fleur - £75 H Cara Blair Leopard Boots - Fleur - £175 Model wears Part Two Nikita Dress -Fleur - £109.95

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Becoming the best we can be…

ORWELL PARK SCHOOL

Leading Independent Prep School Co-educational Boarding and Day 2½ to 13 t: 01473 659225 admissions@orwellpark.org www.orwellpark.co.uk Orwell Park, Nacton, Ipswich, Suffolk IP10 0ER

Spirit of the Sea Fisher’s man: Andrew Heald pours a love of the Suffolk coast into a unique gin

By Tessa Allingham

The essence of the North Sea coast around Aldeburgh is captured in Fishers Gin. Tessa Allingham shares a sip with business owner Andrew Heald as plans to open a distillery in the town take shape.

It’s mid-October and the North Sea is in a restlessly grey-brown mood. It foams and spatters, challenging the walkers who crunch along Aldeburgh beach with its hair-whipping, conversation-cancelling, saltslapping, oxygenating, autumnal energy.

Andrew Heald’s gaze turns sea-ward frequently during our conversation. ‘I swim in the sea whenever I’m in Aldeburgh,’ he says.

‘Year round. February-March is the coldest.’

I wonder if he’s feeling the pull of the whitetopped waves that smack into the shingle yards from our table in the Brudenell hotel’s dining room. Maybe he’d rather be powering through the water than talking sedately, even if we are talking Fishers Gin – his gin – and 32 WINTER 2018

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even if it is over a lunch of deliciously butterrich, flaky, spankingly fresh North Sea skate.

‘My dream has always been to produce my own thing,’ Andrew says. You get the feeling that the natural world in all its incarnations is what makes Andrew tick, that university studies (Bristol for theology, then London for business and finance) and an early career in London importing wine were but stepping stones to where he finds himself now in his early 30s.

‘I’ve always been interested in food and farming,’ he continues, his eyes pulled seaward again. ‘I’ve always wanted to make something from here, something from right here. That’s always been my dream…’

Aldeburgh and this stretch of coast is clearly essential to Andrew. He was brought up in London but with deep Suffolk roots from his father’s side (the family owns the TA Hotel Collection) he has always to-and-fro’d between capital and coast.

Some two and a half years ago, Andrew’s

creative dreams morphed into the living, breathing business that is Fishers Gin. Enter botany whizz James Firth who dug deep and researched rigorously to discover some of the coastal plants used by medieval herbalists that he would combine with the mandatory juniper element to create a flavour unmistakably rooted in the coast. ‘James chose the four botanicals – rock samphire, bog myrtle, wood avens and spignel root – and we’ve never changed them. The flavours are the saline, herbal, savoury tastes that you associate with coastal food. It’s quite extreme, not a conventional gin, but people are looking for a less sweet taste these days, and we want people to be transported to the sea when they drink it.’ Rock samphire – the flower and seed head rather than the leaf – gives the saltiness, there’s a hint of smokiness from the wood avens root, and aromatic notes from bog myrtle, a plant the Vikings used to flavour beer before hops. Spignel, with its fennel-like fronds and hint of celery, is cultivated on land in Suffolk owned by the Healds, and the plan is to grow all the botanicals that way soon rather than picking

from the shore. ‘Foraging is a lovely story but you have to be realistic,’ says Andrew.

Plants are dried before being combined with the base alcohol during distillation at Adnams’ distillery in Southwold. Being a London Dry gin, Fishers uses only natural botanicals, and the flavour is achieved during the distillation, never by adding flavour afterwards.

Getting the taste right is for now down to the vast expertise of Adnams’ head distiller, John McCarthy, although the New Year will see the process move to Fishers’ own distillery next door to the Brudenell where the Beach Lodge holiday cottage, owned by the Healds, will be transformed into the beating heart of Fishers Gin. ‘Unlike Southwold, Aldeburgh doesn’t have its own beer or spirit. The distillery will be a first for Aldeburgh, and it’ll be the closest one to the sea in the UK.’ Look out for Fishers gin at food and drink events around Suffolk, or buy from select retailers.

For more info visit fishersgin.co.uk. aldeburghliving WINTER

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If Andrew is not filling his glass with ice, a measure of Fishers gin, a few slugs of Fevertree Mediterranean tonic and an orange slice, he might be drinking one of these cocktails...

Negroni

High Tide

‘You can really taste the herbal, salty edge to Fishers Gin through the other alcohol – it works brilliantly.’

‘We made this cocktail for the HighTide theatre festival and now it’s a regular serve. I like the sweet-salty taste and with the coastal plant garnish it brings to mind a Suffolk high tide.’

INGREDIENTS 50ml Fishers Gin 25ml Contratto (or Campari) 25ml white vermouth Orange twist to garnish METHOD Combine the first three ingredients and pour into a short tumbler over a very large circular ice cube. Garnish with an orange twist.

INGREDIENTS 25ml elderflower cordial generous pinch of Suffolk sea salt sprinkling of spirulina powder 50ml Fishers Gin Tonic water Samphire to garnish METHOD Combine the first three ingredients in a glass and stir vigorously. Top with the gin and tonic.

Garnish with samphire from the river Alde.

To celebrate Joli’s first Christmas on Aldeburgh High Street, Michael is offering our readers the chance to win a Kahler Urbania Light House.

These beautiful candle holders are inspired by traditional Christmas decorations. Each window is cut out by hand , giving each light house its unique look.

Win!

To be entered into our draw simply email info@aldeburghliving.com with ‘win’ as the subject.

Entries close at 11pm on 28th February 2019. The winner will make their choice of lighthouse from the selection available.

Terms and conditions: Living Publishing will automatically add your email addresses to its own database for marketing purposes. Your email addresses will not be shared with any companies other than Joli. Please indicate in your email if you do not wish to be contacted by us in the future or Joli.

Stanley’s War Stanley’s War dramatises stories of love and sacrifice, following the lives of Suffolk people during WW1. Directed by local film director Tim Curtis, the film was commisioned to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Armistice Day. The film includes the story Stanley Banyard a farm hand from Ramsholt who saved the lives of his comrades in no-man’s land. Not to be missed!

Showing at Aldeburgh Cinema, date yet to be confirmed.

Visit stanleyswar.com for details

Happenings OILSKINS BY DAVID GILLINGWATER Proudly holding their respective portraits, the crew of the Aldeburgh Lifeboat display oil paintings by fellow crew member David Gillingwater. The paintings are part of a year long project to capture the different characters and roles of all the crew, including Station dog George! This honourable project has culminated in a full colour book Oilskins A Portrait of the Aldeburgh Lifeboat Crew.

Buy the book (£10.00 with a contribution to the Station funds) from the Lifeboat Station. Visit portraitsinoilpaint.co.uk for more info.

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The Snowman This charming Christmas classic is showing on the big screen at Snape Maltings Concert Hall and will be followed by illustrations and narration of Poulenc’s Babar the Elephant. All accompanied by a live orchestra, this promises to be a magical family experience.

30th Aldeburgh Boxing Day Swim Take part in one of Aldeburgh’s greatest Christmas traditions with a dip in the chilly 8°c North Sea this Boxing Day at 11am (swimmers meet by the Moot Hall at 10.45am). Last year saw over 100 swimmers take part, with over 400 supporters on the shore. You can sponsor the event on their JustGiving page, all proceeds will go to East Anglian Children’s Hospice and Médecins Sans Frontières.

New on the High Street The Suffolk Coastal Cab We are delighted to welcome a wave of new additions to our High Street.

Coming to view one of Suffolk Coastal’s properties to buy? Hail the Coastal Cab! suffolkcoastal.com

Harris & James have brought us their exquisite homemade gelato, and bean-to-bar chocolate. And SIR & Co. barbers,is a long awaited blessing for the gentleman of Aldeburgh.

Photograoh: Sas Astro sasastro.co.uk

The arrival of the award-winning artisan Two Magpies bakery (of Southwold fame) is much feted! Divine Allpress coffee, some of the best sourdough bread we have ever tasted, and handmade patisserie to die for! @harrisandjamesaldeburgh sirbarbers.com twomagpiesbakery.co.uk

Aldeburgh Literary Festival Aldeburgh Bookshop is once again delighted to present an exciting mix of talks at the 17th Aldeburgh Literary Festival 28th February – 3rd March 2019.

Tickets on sale from the Aldeburgh Bookshop in January.

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Design | Build | Renovate

Chapel Properties of Woodbridge is a local construction company specialising in high quality new builds, residential refurbishments and extensions, experienced in work on listed buildings Our experienced team of builders, tradesmen and designers delivers exceptional service, overseen with excellent project management to ensure each project is delivered to the satisfaction of our clients Director Mark Crisp is a fully qualified Chartered Construction Manager and MCIOB

01394 610 526 chapelproperties.co.uk 3 Quaypoint, Station Road, Woodbridge IP12 4AL

PLUM INTERIORS Artist in residence: Emma Chichester Clark opens the doors to her Aldeburgh bolt-hole

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An apartment tucked away off Aldeburgh High Street is a comfortable, creative retreat for author and illustrator Emma Chichester Clark, her husband Rupert – and of course Plum.

Tessa Allingham has a look around.

The weatherboard shed at the end of the carefully tended lawn is painted an appealing dusky blue-grey. It has a pitched roof, whiteframed windows, and a collection of pots – fragrant lavender, feathery cosmos, tall verbena – on a veranda; it’s the sort of lightfilled, peaceful studio that a creative type would dash to in the morning and probably be reluctant to leave at the end of the day.

If you are Emma Chichester Clark, the person who owns the shed at the end of this carefully tended lawn, you would no doubt be accompanied every morning and evening by Plum. The boundlessly characterful whoosell (she’s a mash-up of whippet, poodle and jack russell) with her red collar, wayward black curls and mischief-packed eyes are at the heart of Emma’s much-loved Plumdog books.

‘She’s always with me!’ Emma says. ‘She lies quietly all day – well, until she spots a squirrel – and at 4 o’clock she’ll get up because it’s time for her second walk.’

The paraphernalia of a hard-working artist fills the studio. There are pots of paints, endless brushes, rainbow pencils, and Anglepoise lamps that drench the work surface with the light required for Emma’s exquisite watercolours. She has created several books here. ‘It’s the perfect spot; light, hidden away – and just mine.’

There’s more to this home than an enviable workplace, however. The pretty south-facing garden – the green fingers belong to Emma’s husband, Rupert Wace – is made private by woven willow fencing, an effective backdrop for espaliered apple trees, laden this October day with red fruit, and beds packed with Michaelmas daisies, lofty miscanthus, shapely fennel, a big-leaved fig, striking tree fern and slender, papery-trunked silver birch. A recessed seat, part of the fencing, is a tempting curling-up-with-a-book spot, while down by the studio, a passionflower scrambles over the domed roof of a hobbithole sauna.

The pretty, two-bedroom apartment that is 5 Crespigny House was created from the former boiler room of the white stucco mansion of the same name that sits above Aldeburgh High Street. Built in 1775 for Sir Claud de Crespigny, the mansion was converted into separate properties in the early 1990s. A stately horse chestnut shades the shared gravelled drive from which brick steps lead past terraced beds, packed densely with rosemary, ferns and euphorbia, to the front door, painted the same blue-grey as the studio. The apartment has been a second home for Emma and Rupert for the past four years. ‘We first visited Aldeburgh when Plum was a puppy. I remember walking along the river wall and how she went mad, zig-zagging everywhere, having a wonderful time. It clicked – the water, the marshes, the dog – and so I rented for a while, and then we bought our own place.’

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The garden merges – seamlessly on sunny days when the French windows are pegged open – into the sitting room. It’s comfortable, a room where you sense conversations happen, books are read, friends linger, food is shared. A Persian rug covers the wood floor, the sofa is deep and squashy with cushions and throws, the art and objects on display – pieces of coral, a metal chicken sculpture – you feel all have a story. ‘Everything in the house is something we’ve found or chosen,’ Emma says. ‘It’s very personal, things we love.’

‘It’s the marshes that I love, the huge skies, the light. Maybe there’s something about having that space above your head that gives the brain and imagination freedom…’

The muted tones continue in the kitchen where grey-blue geometric Fired Earth tiles cover the floor, and in the intimate dining room with its curious curved wall. There, Cole & Son wallpaper depicting soft green foliage winding round scallop shells, snails and fritillaries is a quirky backdrop for a dark polished oak table and chairs that include a traditional Suffolk ball-back – a £5 junk-shop find – and a Windsor carver. ‘We bought the table at auction,’ Emma explains. ‘It folds up to six inches wide; we’ve been told it’s a travelling table which would probably explain all the scratches.’

The two bedrooms are cosy, with patchwork quilts and an eclectic array of pictures, ranging from cartoons by Quentin Blake – he tutored Emma at the Royal College of Art during the early 1980s and has been a friend ever since – to depictions of Egyptian art, 44 WINTER 2018

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and paintings of Plum. Plum is on a cushion on the bed too. ‘My mother stitched that,’ says Emma. ‘We’ve got Plum on mugs, and she’s on a teapot made by the potter Nicola Easton. She’s everywhere!’

In the bathroom, random objects hint at a love of collecting. There are pieces of seaworn glass, tiny starfish, shells, fragments of patterned pottery and attractive stones, all as captivating as a child’s box of treasures.

There are more serious treasures too. Rupert is a renowned authority on Egyptian and ancient art, and some items not displayed in his Mayfair gallery live here. A framed textile depicting Egyptian gods was made in the 1920s for tourists; tall spears, from the Higgins Armory in Boston, USA, are propped in corners, and staffs – one with a bull’s head, the other a grinning devil-like figure – are from Persia.

And while the sitting room bookshelves echo that theme – catalogues from Sotheby’s, tomes that tell of the art of ancient Egypt – they also include Emma’s oeuvre, copies of her Blue Kangaroo books and Plumdog. These sit alongside Enid Blyton’s Magical Treasury, and several Michael Morpurgo picture books illustrated by Emma; they will soon no doubt be joined by her current project, illustrating Blake’s Three Little Monkeys on Holiday. ‘It’s great fun, a mix of watercolours and collage.

I’ve spent the last three hours cutting out daisies!’ Three hours? It must be time for Plum’s second walk.

5 Crespigny House is on the market with Bedfords Estate Agents. Call 01728 454505 or go to bedfords.co.uk to arrange a viewing.

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nine different flavours of candles and diffusers Mon - Fri 10am-5pm Sat 10am-6pm Sun 11am-3pm 158 High Street Aldeburgh IP15 5AQ

www.joilsuffolk.com

One Five Seven Antiques & Interiors

Interesting Antiques Bought & Sold

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01728 454575 157 High Street, Aldeburgh IP15 5AN aldeburghliving

Friday 21 – Sunday 23 December

Christmas Weekend at Snape Maltings Friday 21 December

Father Christmas Arrives by Thames Barge

Join us for this Suffolk tradition and meet Father Christmas in our shops after he disembarks.

The Quay, Snape 12pm

Handel’s Messiah

Aldeburgh Voices and The Suffolk Ensemble perform Handel’s rousing oratorio.

Snape Maltings Concert Hall 7.30pm

Saturday 22 December

Christmas Farmers’ Market

A special festive market with delicious local food and drink.

9.30am – 1.30pm

Sing Christmas

Sing along to much-loved Christmas hits.

Britten Studio, Snape 4pm

Cara Dillon: Upon a Winter’s Night

One of Ireland’s most celebrated folk voices captures the mystery of Christmas.

Snape Maltings Concert Hall 7.30pm

Sunday 23 December

The Snowman and Babar the Little Elephant with Live Orchestra Charming, timeless music and film for the whole family Snape Maltings Concert Hall 1.30pm & 4pm

Find out more and book snapemaltings.co.uk 01728687110

Photo Credits: Matt Austin & Snowman Enterprises Ltd. 2018

Join events at the heart of local communities 4 Dec 2018 & 7 May 2019

Tea Dance

A twice yearly event to bring together all parts of the community in a fun filled afternoon of music, food and dancing.

Britten Studio, Snape 2pm (ends approx. 4pm)

19 Dec 2018 23 Jan & 13 Feb 2019

Feb - Apr 2019

Friendly and fun musicmaking sessions for the local community. Suitable for all ages and abilities, particularly carers and cared-for.

Sessions are held monthly on Wednesdays at Snape Maltings.

Britten-Pears Building, Snape 1-3pm

Join a weekly Aldeburgh ritual – our lunchtime concerts are as much opportunities to join a close-knit community as chances to hear brilliant young international chamber ensembles.

Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh 12pm

Participate

Friday Lunchtime Concerts

Christmas Market

HOPE IS PATIENCE WITH THE LAMP LIT Leading lights: the hand-crafted lamps bringing a stylish glow to Aldeburgh homes this winter

By Zoe Hardy

Beautiful porcelain-shaded lamps, hand-crafted in small batches by James Jenkins and Steven Will, are an elegant modern-rustic addition to any home, as Zoe Hardy discovers.

Deep in the Sudbourne countryside, James Jenkin and Steven Will’s conjoined workshops glow in the quiet relief of the afternoon sun. It’s that infinite golden hour, and the beauty that the natural light gives the seven Sudbourne Park studios is breathtaking.

It’s appropriate, given that James’ and Steven’s business is all about light, and in particular the stunningly simple, organically shaped lamps that they create from hand-turned ash and handmade porcelain shades.

Jenkins and Will came about as the result of a happy accident, a perfect example of being in the right place at the right time. Back in 2016, James set about the yearly process of making a Christmas present for his wife, Katie. He sketched ideas for a lamp, realising that he had the skills to ‘probably make everything apart from a really nice shade.’

Remembering a passing conversation with Steven, a ceramicist who had recently moved into the studios, the idea of using porcelain to blanket a naked lightbulb flickered onto James’ page. It was coincidence that, just as this idea began to take shape and his mug of tea began to cool, Steven walked past (followed closely by his dog Otto, who darts around like an excited bundle of energy) lifting his own beautifully hand-crafted porcelain mug in a nod of acknowledgement. ‘Would it be possible to make a lampshade from porcelain?’ James asked, to which Steven replied ‘Of course!.’

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And so began their joint artistic venture.

Sketches swiftly became prototypes, Steven experimenting with an acrobatic pairing of light and texture – a process of trial and error, he recalls – and James working with the pale beauty of ash felled at nearby Sutton Hoo for the lamp base. Steven throws the larger shades on a potter’s wheel and casts the smaller ones in plaster moulds, the semitranslucent porcelain becoming a rendition of a stippled cardboard coffee cup, ‘a lovely warm soft glow’ spun by the dimples and caught in the flecks of bonfire ash that are suspended in the porcelain glaze. That first year, Steven made a dozen shades which were fitted to James’ bases just in time for the Christmas Open Studios weekend. ‘They all sold,’ says James. ‘And Katie got her lamp that Christmas too, even if it wasn’t much of a surprise by then!’

James applauds nature and the resources readily available when it comes to design inspiration. ‘It’s all about the materials, which is completely cliché but true.’ The seasoned wood is from the estate, thanks to Dick Murphy who runs its authentic 1930s sawmill.

Wood offcuts are fuel for the log burner which keeps the workshop warm in winter – James’ studio is off-grid, so not only is the woodburner essential, but all his tools are hand-, foot- or solar-powered – before the ashes go next door for the glaze.

These understated lamps are a beacon of sustainable light, and two years and ‘an infinity of small batches’ on from James’ initial idea for his wife’s Christmas present, there’s no sign of production slowing.

Visit jenkinsandwill.com for more information and a list of stockists.

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A FAMILY RUN BUSINESS BASED NEAR ALDEBURGH We carry out services throughout Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex

Henry Paul Construction Ltd has a wealth of building and construction experience including project management, new builds, conversions, extensions, renovations, restorations, landscaping and more.

We all strive for perfection and enjoy taking a clients unique visions and building them into reality.

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For professional, knowledgable advice and a personalised marketing strategy call our Aldeburgh oďŹƒce on 01728 454 505.

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PRESERVATION ORDER

By Zoe Hardy Twins James and Jonathan Burch are shaking up traditional notions of jam-making, bringing a fresh style and artisanal approach to their range. Zoe Hardy tracked the brothers down at Jam HQ in Friston.

Jam? Perhaps a treat for an Enid Blyton character, or a war-time luxury made when enough coupons had been saved up to buy the sugar? Jam may have scant contemporary connotations, but in the Village Hall at Friston twin brothers James and Jonathan Burch are bringing the art of traditional jam-making bang up to date.

Finding Jonathan’s house – not to mention the Village Hall (otherwise known as ‘Jam HQ’) – in the quiet, turning lanes of Friston requires serious orienteering skills. Scenes worthy of Miss Marple come to mind as you take a step, or in my case many steps, into this humbly idyllic Suffolk village.

Thankfully, as I venture down yet another lane, James’ head pokes around a cottage door and he beckons me inside.

The kitchen appears to hold all the secrets of jam-making, and is the bubbling heart of Burch & Suffolk. Nine-litre pans are stacked high and somewhat precariously on a work surface that is framed by bookshelves heavy with the tricks of the trade. A light-pink book stands out from the forest of leafed pages; Jonathan sheepishly pulls out Best-Kept Secrets of the Women’s Institute Jams, Pickles & Chutneys, one of the books, he says, that

started everything. On the table are jars of Burch & Suffolk preserves – strawberry and raspberry jams, Seville orange marmalade, and a rhubarb, cardamom & rose jam. It’s a spectrum of pinks, reds and oranges, and a daunting panel for someone – like me – who’s not keen on jam. The jars have a sleek, cool look that, the brothers hope, sets them apart from ‘twee country jam-makers,’ although they insist they stay true to traditional production methods, as well as their Suffolk heritage.

‘There’s only so much jam you can give friends and family’ They make over 200 jars over two days’ work in the Village Hall. Why the smallbatch approach I wonder? It’s about consistency and texture, what Jonathan calls the ‘silk-factor’ – for the brothers, a good jam should sit like a cloud full of snow, firm but light before bursting with flavour at the first bite. He adds: ‘Time is of the essence when making a preserve, especially as our products use only naturally occurring pectin and lemon juice as setting agents. If you overcook

the jam, it burns and becomes a burnt nest of spoiled fruit and stringy sugar, but if you take the jam off too soon then you’re left with a runny concoction of seeds and fruit juice.’

James nods as Jonathan gets technical about pectin levels and boiling temperatures and takes it in good humour when Jonathan turns to me to say: ‘He just fills up the jars!.’

Time is of the essence when making a preserve, especially as our products use only naturally occurring pectin and lemon juice as setting agents. If you overcook the jam, it burns and becomes a burnt nest of spoiled fruit and stringy sugar, but if you take the jam off too soon then you’re left with a runny concoction of seeds and fruit juice’ Where did it all start, I wonder? ‘I’ve always made jam, for as long as I can remember,’ says Jonathan, who learnt recipes from his mother. It was a skill that came in handy at Christmas, for gifts, he recalls, but the business has since moved on from hobby status – ‘there’s only so much jam you can give friends and family’ – and in January 2017 the pair turned ‘this jam malarkey’ into Burch & Suffolk.

Perhaps unconventionally, they started by approaching Snape Maltings Food Hall and Pantry, promising that their new preserves would be something not to bypass, mindmapping ideas for jar design and innovative flavours before going back over numerous

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recipes. They were conscious that they wanted to keep ingredients seasonal and flavourful, appealing to the growing number of consumers who like to know where their food is from. Jonathan experimented – easy, given his background as a science teacher – with Seville marmalade, a favourite of his and many of his friends. In search of the perfect cut, set and spread, he tried different methods, proportions and timings, but found himself returning to the original (and safely guarded) recipe every time.

Meanwhile, James put his design skills to work on a label that would capture the brothers’ unique selling point: twins who make handmade, small-batch, artisanal jams that are bold and adventurous in flavour. Wanting the design to reflect a harmony between the preserve – whether an orange marmalade or vibrant pink raspberry jam – and their name, Burch, James came up with a wrap of silver birches in the forefront of a muted orange, pink or red canvas, topped with silver lids. It works: the range fills shelves at Snape Maltings, as well as the Slate delicatessen in Aldeburgh, and Woodbridge Deli.

I cannot leave without tasting, of course, even if jam is not my thing. I go for rhubarb, cardamom and rose. Sourdough toast, spread with real butter and then jam is how the experts recommend eating it, so that’s what I do. The warm cardamom cuts through the sharp rhubarb and the subtle hints of rose lilt gently across everything.

Suddenly, I realise that I like jam.

Find Burch & Suffolk preserves at Slate in Aldeburgh, Snape Maltings Food Hall and the Woodbridge Deli. Follow the brothers on Instagram @burchandsuffolk or contact them at burchandsuffolk@gmail.com.

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WHITE HART INN 01728 453205

Pub opening hours Mon-Sat 11.30 - 23:00 Sun 12:00 - 22:30

222 High Street Aldeburgh Suffolk IP15 5AJ

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41 Barrack Sq, Martlesham, Ipswich IP5 3RF Free parking

Christmas at The Red House, Aldeburgh 01728 451700 | brittenpears.org Golf Lane, Aldeburgh, IP15 5PZ

Mini Music Makers Christmas Party Fri 14 Dec, 10am

Beautiful seasonal handpicked flowers from our farm in Dennington arranged for your wedding, event and home Growing and floristry workshops A Christmas Recital Fri 14 Dec, 5pm

Frances Boscawen 01728 638 768 moatfarmflowers.com

Christmas Carols Tue 18 Dec, 2pm

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The Partner represents only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the Group’s wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the Group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/products.

The title ‘Partner’ is the marketing term used to describe St. James’s Place representatives.

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Currently working together on commissions in Aldeburgh, Snape, Walberswick and Framlingham RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

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62 WINTER 2018

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RAIN WITHOUT CLOUDS

By Frederic Whyte Garden designer Frederic Whyte reflects on his recent trip to India, and how the ancient concepts of garden design in this more arid clime can be transposed to our gardens on the Suffolk coast.

A recent trip to Rajasthan reminded me of how much the art of garden design owes to the dynasties of ancient Persia and, later, Mughal India. In places where water is scarce, and heat relentless, gardens were envisaged as earthly paradises; harmonious combinations of nature and artifice. Via Moorish Spain and Medieval monasticism, the Persian quadrilateral Char Bargh gardens were transposed into European form.

The Taj Mahal is undeniably one of the wonders of the world, but its garden has, and still suffers from neglect. The garden of the ‘Baby Taj,’ another mausoleum in Agra evokes the other-worldly magic of these retreats.

Each of its four parts, divided by walkways and rills, have been replanted with rows of cypress, small fruit trees and flowering shrubs, such as pomegranate and frangipani. From the raised sandstone walkway, one looks into an embroidery of colour and texture, the experience enlivened by the ever-present sound of a network of rills, dividing pathways and defining the perimeters of each part. A different effect was created by a quartet of rectangular pools with jets that, in the rather poetic words of my guide, created ‘rain without clouds.’

Hopefully, the enervating summer of 2018 will prove an exception to the climatic rule; nonetheless, it suggests that gardens here could benefit from this particular use of water.

Smaller urban gardens, many of which form part of Aldeburgh’s garden scape, are

particularly prone to being over-landscaped.

Paving absorbs the heat. Where space is limited, a deep basin with a discreet jet, or a wall-mounted blade, its curtain of water descending into a tank or ground-level pool, can – with a refreshing glass of wine – relieve the mind of midweek concerns, as well as drown out the neighbours’ noise. On a larger scale, rills can be used both visually, and acoustically, to create dynamic flows through a series of garden spaces, energising the stillness of a sultry summer afternoon.

Water is an integral, well-considered element of any overall design. Its design, and finish, need to make sense within the garden context. The great Char Bagh of Persia and India were conceived in this way. Buildings – whether summer kiosk or mausoleum – were conceived as a harmonious, aesthetic whole – paradise, in other words. At the risk of sounding dogmatic, a garden, and its elements, have to reflect the artificial nature of cultivated outdoor space. Water elements are contrived. An attempt at creating a ‘naturalistic’ water element often ends up drowning itself in pastiche.

There are two essential things to remember if you are considering introducing water in your garden. Firstly, you cannot scrimp. Although few of us have the resources of a Moghul emperor, one does have to accept that a good water element is an investment, and secondly, that off-the-shelf ‘water features’ from your local DIY store are best avoided!

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of Aldeburgh

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TEL 07932 221739

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stockists Collen & Clare 164 High Street, Aldeburgh IP15 5AQ 01728 454976 collenandclare.com

Fleur 166 High Street, Aldeburgh IP15 5AQ 01728 454822 fleuraldeburgh.co.uk

Joli 158 High Street, Aldeburgh IP15 5AQ 07771 623408 jolisuffolk.com

O&C Butcher 129–131 High Street, Aldeburgh IP15 5AS 01728 452229 ocbutcher.co.uk

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@aldeburghliving

facebook.com/aldeburghliving

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Window Shopping Our Window, Your Opportunity Our brand new office in the heart of Aldeburgh is perfectly positioned to get your holiday home into the hearts of many a holidaymaker.

Letting with Suffolk Secrets has never been better. Benefit from prime position offices, a dedicated homeowner service team, expert local and national marketing teams and customer sales support seven days a week, plus a full cleaning and maintenance management service.

To find out how we can work for you, please call us on 01728 452425 to make a homeowner appointment, or visit suffolk-secrets.co.uk/letting-your-property for more information.

152 High Street, Aldeburgh, Suffolk, IP15 5AQ suffolk-secrets.co.uk • 01728 452425 • recruitment@suffolk-secrets.co.uk 68 WINTER 2018

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