day out to Baconsthorpe

we found out that Baconsthorpe Castle has a moat and is in the same county as us so we had to go there. take me to see a ruin and i'll probably have a good time.

front gatehouse which also had a tower on the left until the 1920's.

outside and inside

ruin pigeons <3

the moat is around this inner section and still has water. the Heydon family story is basically in the 1400's a guy was a lawyer and made a lot of enemies so he fortified his house, a later generation had fewer enemies and got into the wool trade and then a later generation lost money and took bits of the building down to sell for parts.

a chimney is always exciting. it's fun to stand somewhere you normally wouldn't (a hearth), it's fun to look up to the sky through the chimney and it's fun to notice how that section of wall is black from the fires that were in there from humans living hundreds of years ago.

this frothy wet green corner is where they did the fulling of the wool which as far as i understand is stomping on it in urine. Brother Cadbearl is standing on a different section of wall, i wouldn't risk him falling in the froth.

swan protecting her mere that the moat joins to at the front and back. my boys.

and then we went to the village church because there was more Heydon history there and you should go in an old church whenever you get the chance because they're always interesting.

the memorial on the right is a pair of the Heydons and they have some coats of arms in the stained glass too.

this cockerel was painted in the 1300's, incredible. 

i love memorial brasses. the lady here is Lady Ann Heydon who died in 1561 and the square was also part of her memorial and the centre is a "human breast distilling four drops of milk". (getting my facts from the little guidebook i bought at the church)

obsessed with this handmade church that uses photos of the building. cemeteries being perfect little nature strongholds is always delightful. there were also crows nesting in the trees just yelling the whole time.

and then we went to Sheringham to find lunch. too hungry to search for vegan food that might not exist we just went to Tesco where we knew we could get some but then afterwards found a bakery and shared a couple of vegan cakes. a chocolate oat tray bake and a chocolate ginger fridge cake that had glace cherries and honeycomb and it hurt my teeth is was so tasty. no photos because a pigeon blessed us with it's crumb eating and i was too busy talking to them to take a photo.

digital hoard dump

basically this post is brought to you by the fact that i'm trying to not hoard so many of the images i save/screenshots i take while i'm browsing online and if i post it on my blog or put it in a zine i feel like i can delete it from my laptop. 

when i set up my new laptop with Linux i had to clear an external hard-drive and all that was on it was a folder from probably 15 years ago full of images i'd saved while i was browsing the internet. actors i liked, girls in nice outfits, quotes i enjoyed, drawings that inspired me. i just deleted the whole folder. 

it was (and still is) important for me to collect those things and i do like to keep a lot of stuff but for the most part i was looking through them thinking "why the fuck did i save that?" and i knew the folder had served it's purpose and i just deleted the whole thing without even looking at all of it.

and it felt really good and gave me a hard-drive to use for something i wanted to do now. and now is all we really have, right?

i've thought a lot lately about how doing the collecting, making the list, organising the pile, is an activity in it's own right for me. i find these types of activities satisfying and there doesn't need to be a next part, it is what it is and that's good.

(i'm sorry future me that's wishing i'd kept everything, it's actually for your own good)

bandcamp friday ~ mar '26

this bandcamp friday was four dungeon synth albums i've already listened to a lot so thought it was time to buy them, one which i haven't known for as long but was an instant love after i heard the first 20 secs of it and i don't actually know how to describe ICHI but i already know this album really well too.

Yearntale by Gladekeeper

 

Bubblegum Dungeon by Goblet Grotto 

 

More True Than Time Thought by Hedge Wizard

 

Neighborwoods by Hedge Wizard 

 

Dungeons and Dinos II by Primal Beast  (seriously the intro to this is so fun)

 

Maru by ICHI 

 this had a cd option available so i had to get that.  seeing ICHI perform in Yarmouth purely by chance a few years ago is still something i think about a lot, getting to own a physical copy of this album feels very special.

Yarco ~ feb '26

when we went to see Miffy we also obviously saw some of Yarmouth. i also went on a train for the first time in years and had a great time. 

whether you like Yarmouth or not is how i judge whether i like you or not. (joking) (maybe)

a couple of photos from our quick rush round the museum pre-Miffy. definitely need to go back for a proper look at everything.

i saw so much good stuff this day, not all of it photographed, it was very needed during a tough week towards the end of winter. yarmouth heals.

Miffy

we went to the Miffy exhibit at Time and Tide museum in Great Yarmouth and had a great time. here's a lot of photos :)

she's 70. she's perfect.

it was very much a Miffy exhibit but they did also have some of Dick Bruna's other work which was nice to see. he was so clever with so few lines. i love these bear bookends and that is a perfect drawing of a jacket.

original Miffy pencils! getting to see original drawings irl is always so special and i loved getting to see Miffy pencils and framed examples of the layered pieces with the transparent linework sheets over the colour. obviously Miffy's whole deal is being so clean and simple and getting to see the textures and layers of how she comes together was so interesting.

there's just something about being able to see actual pieces, not just prints. the texture of the pencil, the tiny fraction of a mm of space between the layered pieces. the realness of it. a print in a book is a great thing but getting to see originals does a different kind of special to the brain.

Brother Cadbearl was impressed too.

the hands at the bottom this sketch!

this tent set is one with the layers. a transparent sheet with the line-work and cut out pieces of craft paper underneath for the colour. you could just about see the space between the layers, magic.

these were actual models from the stop motion series. incredible.

a perfect owl and some (probably) bootleg Miffy's down on the seafront.