Weekend away in a small town: Rediscovering Flatford Mill

Storytime: This summer I had an amazing oppurtunity to escape the crazy hustle and bustle of London for a weekend, to spend some time with my wonderful second year housemate and her family. It was a great time surrounded by Spanish to help practice before I left for Barcelona also good food, conversation and music!

On the Saturday we went to a differnt town to go boat rowing, have a picnic and go on a walk. If you know me you know how much I love long walks especially in rich nature settings. It isn't real if there isn't a bunch of animal droppings everywhere, mountains or rivers! I was asked if I had ever rowed a boat before and I said the only time I did was on a geography trip years back.

2016

2013

We saw many animals. Geese, swans, cows. The swans reminded me of the same geography trip when a small phobia of swans arose because one was chasing me and my friend, trying to attack us. On the walk I pointed at a swan and said "that might have been the swan that attacked me!"

We approached a bridge and I stopped walking and was really confused. I knew I had been here before as it was the strongest sense of déjà vu I had ever felt. So I let my friend and her parents know I really felt as if I had been there before on the geography trip that I kept mentioning. I couldn't remember the exact location we went for the trip but I knew that I had stayed at Flatford Mill and it was either in or really near to Ipswich. So I asked how near we were to Ipswitch but they said it was still a few miles away. I tried to open Google Maps to see how near Flatford Mill was but the internet fails me in vital moments of life like this! So we walked a bit further, me still shaken by the real familiar views. I came across this sign that gave me my hallalujah.

"Flatford Mill 200 miles"

Flatford Mill was real close so we went to go visit it. We weren't able to go inside the building but we walked around the outside and took pictures. I was so delighted as it was one of my favourite geography trips and such a beautiful place. It was also such a lovely 'coincidence' as I was thinking about the trip a lot that day because of the swan and the boats. The only other time I rowed a boat was there; the swan that I saw and the swan that attacked me literally could have been the same swan!! Life is funny.

 (A mixture of pictures I took at Flatford Mill in 2013 & 2o16)

It was so good to be surrounded by some english countryside and I FINALLY got a better phone with a better camera so you are able to see the evident difference in quality between the pictures.

The swan that attacked me