Felixstowe Ferry
As a child, I spent a lot of time at Felixstowe Ferry. Yesterday, I was going to the dentist in the town, so before, we went to have lunch and a stroll there. We also had an excellent lunch in the Ferry Boat Inn.
Ferry Boat Inn, Felixstowe Ferry
The pub looks very similar to how I remember it as a child, but then it was a Tolly Cobbold pub, and now it serves mainly Adnams. But the lettering on the wall is still the same.
Inside is rather different, as the barrels of beer are no longer stacked behind the bar and there is a restaurant. But I have a feeling that the clock on the wall is the same, as I can remember sitting there with my father and Pete, who was an usher at my weeding to C in 1968.
Today, we had a glass of Aspalls each, with sea bass for me and proper fish and chips for my companion. Note that the sea bass was wild, not farmed, and apparently landed at Colchester
Lunch at The Ferry Boat Inn, Felixstowe Ferry
They knew their gluten rules too!
It does seem that this part of East Suffolk is doing its best to fight its way out of the recession, by doing things well.
Felixstowe Docks and Landguard Fort
On Wednesday, I went to view the docks at Felixstowe and the restored Landguard Fort at the point opposite Harwich. Note that I say docks, as I can remember when it was just a small square dock with a flour mill and a ferry across the river. It is now the Port of Felixstowe and is the largest container port in the UK.
The fort is well worth a visit, although it has to be said despite living in Felixstowe in the 1960s, I didn’t visit it until the early years of this century. Perhaps, it shows how we treat history.
I did though cycle to the other Felixstowe fort at the Dooley in those far-off days, where with friends we wandered all over the ruin. Type “Dooley Fort Felixstowe” into Google and you’re find all sorts of memories of the place.
The Dooley Fort is now under the dock. As is the Little Ships Hotel, the old dock basin and the army barracks.
This post is on a forum about Felixstowe.
It is very disappointing that whenever I visit Felixstowe I see more country side destroyed.
The Orwell estury was an area of natural beauty with marshland, shingle, sand & mud. It abounded with wild life. The creeks were full of shrimps, crabs, and I even found a sea urchin. You could collect winkles and as a child shore crabs.
The marshes were a wonderful place for collecting mushrooms. They were everywhere. The ruined Dooley Fort was a magical place. We kids spent many happy hours playing there while the Old Man was at the Dooley Pub sinking a few and a few more pints.
I can remember those times and the writer sums it all up well. Especially, as the whole area behind the Port is now a sea of houses and supermarkets. In the 1960s it was all green fields, except for the pub and a few cottages.
Felixstowe Ferry
Although I wasn’t exactly in love with Felixstowe, where I spent some of my childhood, I did like Felixstowe Ferry. Not that I sailed or swam, but it was just such a lovely place for a walk.
I walked there yesterday in the rain, as I’d made a visit to the dentist.
Little has changed, except that there is now a prominent fish shop. But the cafe, the shacks, the boat-yard, the sailing club, the two pubs and the Martello towers were all here when I walked and cycled there in the 1960s.
Felixstowe
I spent my later teenage years in Felixstowe. Now I only go to the dentist.
These pictures show that it really is rather sleepy and perhaps not the best place to live. I certainly found it so in the 1960s.
The large houzse with the turrets is Kersey Towers, a guest house where I spent a couple of weeks as a child on holiday. All I can remember is the rain and the milkman’s horse.
The Anonymous Widower 