The Aardvark Blog

Back from Aldeburgh to lots more books !
6/07/2026

Ethel and I had a brilliant break in Aldeburgh last week, the highlights of which were a visit to the Britten  Pears Archive and our annual trip to Mary James brilliant 'Aldeburgh Books'. 

Before we got there we had a superb visit to the National Trust property at Packwood that was restored before the war by the son of a midlands industrialist Graham Baron Ash. The highlights of the somewhat underwhelming house are undoubtedly the tapestries which Ethel and I both loved ( we are secret tapestry enthusiasts), but the garden is another matter entirely. It is absolutely stupendous and the Yew garden in particular is of national or international importance. I cannot urge you enough to visit as soon as you are able.

To any-one who has the opportunity to go I would also very much recommend a trip to the Red House and its attached archive.The story of Benjamin Britten is very much  the story of arts in Britain before and after the second world war, and included in the archive are numerous artworks and documents highlighting the friendship of Britten and Herefordshire's own Sidney Nolan ( yes I know). We were shown an extraordinary large picture of Ayers Rock ( Uluru)  which I have not seen before, but which may have been the picture that encouraged Michael Andrews to paint his extraordinary portraits of the sacred mountain. Strangely in our absence we have a run on all our copies of the wonderful recent catalogue/exhibition by Emily Kam Kngwarray, so there is another Australian element in our week.

Meanwhile we spent the next day visiting Aldeburgh's many brilliant independent shops including Mary James wonderful Aldeburgh Bookshop. To me what Mary and her team have achieved is almost unique outside of London. It is a reminder of how bookshops used to be, before a certain tech company's rise meant that bookshops needed to find a panoply of side hussles to make the economics of running a bookshop work. The history section alone is a work of art in itself, but in truth every section is a mini-masterpiece. I bought  Sue Roe's book on Hitler's wives and women, a new book on John of Gaunt for my sister, as well as another of the shops brilliant linen shopping bags.

The walk to Thorpeness later is as pleasant as ever ( I love the Maggie Hambling shell ), and the coffee at the Meare Shop and Tearoom is as good as I remember. A Wonderful art gallery Middlemarch Fine Art had just finished their festival show and within a couple of days had hung a new show that contains amongst other wonders a superb print of a building in the  Charente Maritime, a great multi-media work by Michael Rothenstein and much more. Each work beautifully chosen and presented.

The croissants at the Two Magpies bakery are even larger and more expensive than I remember, and the products of the beach smokeries even more delicious. High point of the trip was a great family dinner upstairs in the Lighthouse restaurant, and then the long long journey back to the Marches down the pitiless and unforgiving A14.