Tunstall - Blaxhall, UK (A Walk with Teddy) yet again!

I was planning on a different walk route today but then felt like actually going out for lunch so I took Teddy for a walk starting at 1pm and about 1:45pm we were at the Ship Inn Pub in Blaxhall and fortunately they allowed doggies, only in the bar area, but hey, it had a nice fireplace and I got to listen to some locals having their afternoon pint and discussing farming.  We met a very nice couple who had their dog, a small, adorable, little brown scruffy thing but very sweet and so well behaved where as Teddy was jumping all over people to say hi. He's very enthusiastic you might say. Anyway, we sat and he calmed down after just a few minutes and slept beneath my bench as I enjoyed a yummy tuna salad sandwich on a rather tasty multi-grain baguette with potato chips and a salad and all for the unbelievable price of 4.25 pounds. There is something to be said for country living and local pubs. Especially when I was treated to the whole conversation these three older men where having about their farms and who has how many chickens and egg counts and my particular favorite, the discussion on magpies and how one man's been trying to get them to eat certain eggs that he sets out for them on one side of the farm but they insist apparently on eating the ones he doesn't want them to on the other side. I really enjoyed listening to them, I know you probably think that's crazy but sitting in this over 300 year old pub I couldn't help but feel like I was transported back in time and completely immersed in the culture but very thankful it was in fact 2012 since, as I mentioned in my blog a few days ago, this place was once a haven for smugglers and crime.

The building looks like a large cottage from the outside and since I forgot to take pictures I copied one from the internet. Inside are low ceilings, I imagine because when it was built people were shorter and also the ceiling height made a difference in how warm you could keep the place. It was certainly warm and cozy and the black beams, spaced somewhat evenly along the now bowing white ceiling and the small windows looking out over the grain fields lent to the feeling of being transported in time and my mind did wander a bit now and again when I couldn't quite follow what the men were saying. Their accents were pretty tough but I still got the gist of the chickens, eggs and magpies!

I found this below, on the internet from a 2011 article in the “News Suffolk” about singalongs from the past that still take place at The Ship Inn pub even today. The article mentions lunch time singalongs on Mondays so I’ll have to take Teddy one Monday while I’m here. They also have a board with all the upcoming concerts at night but unfortunately because I don’t drive or have access to a car and you really can’t walk these country roads at night.

Traditional singing still in vogue at The Ship Inn, Blaxhall – News Suffolk 23 September 2011

The Ship Inn in Blaxhall appears in archive footage from 1955, showing a man leading the clientele through a version of The Barley Mow. (BBC video from the fifties of the man and lots of locals singing in a the crowded pub as is mentioned in the article and the song they refer to at the end. It’s really worth watching: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-15024590 )

Clive Woolnough is one of a group of musicians and singers who still meet at the pub on Mondays. "There's a couple of us who have kept the tradition going," he said. "I'm Blaxhall boy, born and bred and I still hit the old Ship regular." Dave Drain, barman and musician at The Ship Inn, said "the old boys" arrive at the pub at lunchtime. "After they've had their sandwiches, the melodeon, the banjos, the guitars - all sorts come out," he said.  "It's usually a very, very good afternoon. "We usually haul the last one into a taxi around half past five time." Although currently healthy, Mr Drain fears the tradition is in danger of dying out. "These are the sons of the old pioneers and once it's gone, it will be gone forever," he said. Mr Woolnough said: "It's part of the history, a big part of the history, of the Ship.  "It's well renowned for over 100 or more years. "My father was born in Blaxhall in 1902 and that was going on when they were young men - old boys singing songs." And does he follow in the footsteps of the man from 1955 and sing The Barley Mow? "I'm not really a Barley Mow man. I don't do The Barley Mow."

And here's a link for a few other more current video's on youtube:
http://www.virtualtenby.co.uk/video.asp?About=Ship%20Inn&HD=-zDWXmb3Ozo


After lunch we took a very leisurely walk back home as it became even more dark and over cast, although, as you can see from one picture, the sun was doing it's best to break through in the distance. Teddy and I played in a field for a bit where Teddy excitedly jumped and frolicked and then plopped in a muddy puddle. I'm sure he rued the moment he decided to do that because he had to get washed down with the hose when we got back and he really doesn't like that at all, but who would, right! You can see him in the right had bottom corner of these two pictures, him in the field running toward me and him clopping around in the puddle.

I also took a picture of the plants with the white flowers that are growing all over this and several other nearby fields. I can't figure out what it is. I'm sure it's something edible because what farmer would waste all this acreage to grow something they couldn't eat or sell to someone else to eat. Maybe you all know what it is, I'm clueless.

And Teddy and I watched a huge black military style helicopter circled the area and hoovered over a few houses nearby. It was a strange almost eerie sight but then it went off and circled some other areas I imagine or went back to it's base. It may have just been a train exercise but so strange to see this massive aircraft in a normally peaceful and pastoral setting. If you look at this picture closely you'll see the helicopter in the distance.

The rest of the day pasted pretty much as it usually does, reading, computer, feeding animals, etc.