Wingfield Arts will be fully re-opening on 3 April 2009!

Now owned by Mid-Suffolk Council and called Wingfield Barns, there is a new and growing website – http://www.onesuffolk.co.uk/WingfieldArts – with all information, including details of a varied programme of events.

We are very fortunate to have this delightful venue so close to Brockdish. I urge you to explore the website.

This small (but perfectly formed) gem of a museum is approximately half an hour’s drive from Brockdish.  South on the A140 from the Scole roundabout, it is located close to the Mendlesham mast and the Chilli Farm, on the edge of the lovely village of Wetheringsett; a brown tourist sign directs you from the A140.

The museum recreates typical scenes of the former Brockford Station and displays the history of the Mid-Suffolk line that ran from Haughley to Laxfield via Mendlesham, Brockford, Aspall and Thorndon, Kenton, Worlingworth, Horham, Stradbroke, Wilby and Laxfield.  

There is plenty to see and do, a good cafe, a pretty picnic site, a pond, a trackside walk and clean loos.  Lovingly restored rolling stock and station buildings are evidence of hours of hard work by volunteers and works in progress are of further interest.  A museum building houses historical information and artefacts while the shop has models and souvenirs for sale.  Admission costs are extremely reasonable.  If you have children, visiting on a steam day is a must (see programme for dates) and unlimited steam train rides are included in the entrance fee. 

The museum is open on Sundays and Bank Holidays from Easter until the last Sunday in September.  It also opens on Wednesdays during August.  It’s seasonal programme lists many special events including – in December – Santa Specials!  

All the atmosphere of an old-fashioned country railway station is guaranteed!  Highly recommended.

For more information visit the museum’s excellent website:  www.mslr.org.uk

View a short movie of a steam day at the museum:  http://blip.tv/file/1029495/

From Brockdish you may wish to spend the day exploring the historic city of Norwich which is just over half an hours drive.  I’ll write more about Norwich and other places to visit soon but I wanted to mention the Waffle House.  We went to Norwich today and as we hadn’t been to the Waffle House for ages so thought we would pay them a visit.  They are still brilliant!

The Waffle House were ahead of their time offering free range and other carefully sourced ingredients and they are still passionate about what they serve you.  They are child friendly with lots of high chairs and a brilliant children’s menu which can be coloured in with the supplied coloured pencils!

Well worth a visit when you go to Norwich – click here to visit their website for more information (website is flash only).

Residents or people staying in Brockdish may be interested to visit St Peter’s Brewery which is one of the local treasures.  

The beers – The range and quality of St Peter’s beers is impressive.  From gluten free to honey beer they have something for everyone.  It is well worth paying a visit to the onsite beer shop where you can buy a “PYO” case from their full selection.  We also found that we could buy some cases of our favourites at knock off prices because they had label damage!  From talking to the lady in the shop it seems some of the national retailers won’t tolerate any imperfections in the labels – the beer inside the bottle was, I found on my extensive research, unaffected!

The hall – St Peter’s hall is seeped in history and although we only popped in for a drink to have a look around we did notice an impressive dining room (opulent with oak panelling).  Do stick a comment on this article if you’ve been to eat and let us know what the food is like.

Tours – The lady in the shop told us they had had to stop the tours of the brewery because of “health and safety” which is a real shame as several people we’ve spoken to remarked on how much fun they were.  They do however still do guided tastings which we’ve not tried but plan to soon.

More information from http://www.stpetersbrewery.co.uk.

If you’ve made any good day trips from Brockdish do please let us know.