I come from Broome, which is in Norfolk, as the Norfolk/Suffolk border is the River Waveney, which runs about 2km south of my house. Bungay, however, is in Suffolk, and since Broome is tiny, the address claims I come from Suffolk. I always talk about Norfolk - I come from, lived in, grew up in and went to school in Norfolk. But technically, I didn't.
Ellingham, the village where my primary school is, has the Waveney go through it, so I literally grew up on the border. I went to High School in Norwich, but my days weren't spent there: I learned to drink and laugh in Bungay and Beccles, both Suffolk towns sat on the Waveney. Beccles even has a restaurant called The Waveney. Shocker.
So this blog is my ode to Suffolk. The finer places to visit are in Suffolk, as the Norfolk coast is so freaking far away and hard to get to, we prefer the Suffolk Coast. It's beautiful. All the way from Southwold down to Ipswich, you see country side, village and town settings which are so unique and pretty and somehow function perfectly without needing massive Tesco's or Greggs every five feet. I love it, the rustic country feel that surprisingly, I've never felt in any populated Norfolk area. Suffolk has some massive charm and appeal: because it's spitting distance from London, you get a lot of older, rich commuting people having lovely country homes in Suffolk, and in the heart of Suffolk you do have a lot of big towns (Ipswich not being a city, so there are no cities in Suffolk), with markets and New Looks and everything Londoners hope for from the countryside.
Of course, Suffolk boarders Essex, which is a massive downside, and makes the south border very unappealing. The funny thing is, Suffolk is like a mysterious county which not many people know much about. The Suffolk coast is beautiful yes, but the North Norfolk Coast is much more famous, and I don't know why. It's very sandy, yes, but it means that the cliffs are falling down and the coastline is depleting - not great. And when you look at Suffolk, there isn't much to it - it's half the size of Norfolk, and pure fields stretching for miles, with towns on the coast, and on the river. In the middle there is very little, and the train journey from London to Norwich defines this by stopping at every stop in Essex, then Ipswich, sometimes Stowmarket, Diss and Norwich. Diss and Ipswich are south and north of the county - there is nothing in between.
Suffolk is stunning, but a little-known gem. Charlie Simpson and Ed Sheeran both hail from South Suffolk, from Woodbridge and Framlingham respectively, and these are very nice places to come from, and beautiful towns, and I am so proud to have grown up in a lovely part of England that I forget to tell people that I live in Suffolk. Norfolk falls out of my mouth and suddenly I regret it. As much as I love Stephen Fry, Suffolk is the place to be proud of, and I hope that my heart will always be pulled towards the countryside. I drove out of Brighton towards Saltdean, and I saw a hill, and a field, and the sea in the distance, and I realised how much I ache not having that peacefulness, that tranquility and loneliness of the countryside.
One day I'll have the money to live out there, in the depths of it all... That's the dream.