Arrived at the Sutton Hoo site half an hour before the museum opened, so walked across to the burial ground – and around. Skies gloriously blue. Looking all the while for the perspective that Ramsay Gibb used when doing a painting of the area that hangs in our home. And found it.
Delightful place, despite the history of gibbets and executions nearby. Had seen the Sutton Hoo Hoard in the British Museum a number of times, so had long wanted to visit the site.
Also read The Dig, by John Preston, some years ago. Interesting to see that Cate Blanchett, one of my favourite actresses, has been interested in playing Edith Pretty in a possible film. I live in hope …
Loved the evidence of the Landgirls who stayed in the house during WWII, including carved declarations of love on one of the fireplaces and woodworm-like holes in the wooden panelling, apparently from games of darts.
The Sutton Hoo museum itself is brilliantly done, centred around a reproduction of part of the main ship burial. While the exhibits on sword-making and the world-famous helmet were a joy, the piece that really connected with me was the reconstruction of a maple lyre, with its case lined in beaver fur.
Would love to have heard – and understood – the songs of the time, at the time. On the strength of that, I bought the book A Departed Music: Old English Poetry, by Walter Nash. Something to read as winter draws in.
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