Day Trip!! Orford Castle and Aldeburgh Beach

What a day we had yesterday!  It was fun, and picnicky, and sun-kissed, and exhausting.  But we'll put the emphasis on fun for this post.

The kids and I decided to take a day trip down to the village of Orford to check out the castle, then we scooted up and around to the village of Aldeburgh to visit the beach.  We had a good time, but came home pretty tired and sunsoaked.

After a nerve-wracking drive with our large vehicle on tiny roads, we arrived in Orford, the home of Orford Castle. 

Once we discovered that what Josh and Abby were sitting on was the altar of the castle's chapel, we sheepishly hopped down.  ooopsies. 

There were some amazing views from the roof; we learned that today's village was built on the same footprint as the medieval village, which had been built on the same footprint as an earlier settlement (probably Viking or Anglo-Saxon). 

 

This lighthouse was the first functioning fully electronic lighthouse in the country.

Dallin spent his time on the roof conversing with this sweet pigeon, who I assume was jealously guarding her nest.  She wouldn't move, regardless of how much he talked to her.  She just blinked at him.

He listened and listened for her to answer him, and finally turned around and said, "Tweet, tweet, tweet", on her behalf.

Then it was time to work our way back down all the stone spiral steps and outside to run up and down the hills that were just too tempting to resist.

Now it's off to the beach!

It was our first experience with a "shingle" beach--ouch!  I think we'll be on the lookout for sand next time.

We still managed to spread out our blanket, have a picnic lunch, and throw about 1,000 rocks into the water.

Adam discovered a jellyfish, and Abby and Josh kept a close eye on it.  Those heartless kids kept trying to rock it to death, but I think it managed to escape.  What meanies.

After a couple of hours of rock-throwing, we packed up and headed for home.

On the way, we made sure to stop and get a quick photo of this village:

For all you Harry Potter fans out there, "Greetings from Snape!"