Blaxhall Heath

The first day of our holiday - and a somewhat stressful start!! Having packed the car and filled it with people and dogs, I went to start it, but the battery was dead. This was despite charging it the previous day and testing it out with a decent run around just to make sure nothing like this would happen!

Luckily Lizzy's Dad was not far away and popped round with a set of jump leads, and we used the small car to start it. Then we had to unload everyone and nip off to Kwikfit to get a new battery, as I didn't fancy getting stranded in rural Suffolk. Luckily they had a battery in stock, and dealt with us quickly so we were only about an hour late setting off.

We had originally planned to stop for a walk on the way, but following the delay we headed straight to the cottage to unpack and have a relaxing cup of tea and a slice of cake, before setting off for a walk on Blaxhall Heath, which was only about ten minutes away by foot.

This is one of the few fragments of the once extensive ?Sandlings? heath of coastal Suffolk and has many classic heathland species, particularly heather, sand sedge, gorse, bracken and Cladonia lichens, as well as sandy banks full of characteristic insects.

Some parts of the site have oak woodland, and because the trees have grown up in open conditions, they have many spreading branches. All the youngsters took advantage of this and spent some time climbing around in them and chatting.

Then it was back to the cottage for dinner, followed by locally picked blackberries stewed with apples from the old tree in the garden. And what better way to end the evening than with a prolonged game of twenty questions?