Jessica's trip to Ludham, and other things.

I am in England, at present. I came to help look after Jessica while Clare was away doing scientific research on a ship in the English Channel. Before Clare left, we went to see the Northern Ballet's production of Wuthering Heights at the Norwich Theatre Royal. It was a wonderful performance, one we thoroughly enjoyed.

This is the village sign. They designed a new one for the millenium,
but it was stolen - can you believe that?

I have had a very busy week, here. One of the highlights was going on Jessica's school trip to the village of Ludham. It is believed that the village was established by the Saxons in, what is now, the Norfolk Broadlands. In 1066, King Canute founded St Benet's Abbey and included Ludham as one of its manors. It also has an entry in the Doomsday Book in 1086. The village even had a dragon at one time (so the legend goes). There is an active group that have established a village archive where information can be found (see http://www.ludhamarchive.org.uk)

Members of the archive society made this patchwork map of the village.

We visited the Church of St Catherine (yes, she of the Catherine Wheel - Jessica drew a picture of the wheel that is in the church) and the children explored the church and heard about its history. The present church dates from the fourteenth century, but there was a previous church on this site that had been taken over by St. Benet's Abbey in 1220. We then went on to explore the churchyard and the village itself. The children were interested in everything and were busy drawing and making notes for their report-back at school.

Jessica and her friend, Laura, explored the pulpit.

Their teacher told them about the history of the church.

The children learned about bell-ringing.

Everyone had a lovely day. The children were a delight and, for once, the sun shone most of the time.

Thatched cottages in the village of Ludham.

Elizabeth Coughlan