Author Archives: East of Elveden

About East of Elveden

Hidden places, secret histories and unsung geography from the east of England and beyond

Fiesta

Posted on June 9, 2013

 Small town Spain at the end of Whitsun. In Alhama de Granada, a hill town midway between Malaga and Granada in Andalucía, the celebration of Corpus Christi on the first Sunday in June takes the form of a religious procession … Continue reading →

Posted in Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Bunhill Fields

Posted on May 6, 2013

Three weeks ago I happened to be in London. As things turned out, on that very same day  the city was somewhat preoccupied with a very high-profile event at London’s most iconic church. Given the circumstances, I felt the need to escape … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Literature | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Crossing the Yare

Posted on April 15, 2013

It is the second Sunday in April, the warmest day of the year so far. Shirtsleeves weather at last despite much of the landscape still looking bleached and lifeless thanks to a long winter that has only just finished. Look … Continue reading →

Posted in Norfolk, Walking, wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Berney Arms

Posted on March 31, 2013

Good Friday, Breydon Water, Norfolk. A feature in last Saturday’s Guardian reminded me of a Norfolk long-distance walk I had been contemplating for some time - the Wherryman’s Way that roughly follows the course of the River Yare between Great Yarmouth … Continue reading →

Posted in Norfolk, Walking, wildlife | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

Galata Bridge, Istanbul

Posted on March 20, 2013

I’ve been thinking about Istanbul lately – it is one place that has been a constant in decades of travel. I first went there over 35 years ago and must have revisited the city at least eight, maybe ten, times … Continue reading →

Posted in Balkans, Travel | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Yugoslav Hotels

Posted on February 11, 2013

They are a dying breed, Yugoslav hotels. And I use the word ‘Yugoslav’ advisedly as, although the buildings shown here are in what is now Serbia, all were erected during the period when that country was still part of Yugoslavia. … Continue reading →

Posted in Balkans, Eastern Europe, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Scratching the Earth

Posted on January 5, 2013

To begin the New Year, here is a piece on something close to home and close to heart - allotments. I touched on this subject briefly last year in my post on Dacha. The feature below originally appeared in Issue 3 of the … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Norfolk, wildlife | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Orthodox Walsingham

Posted on December 21, 2012

A few months ago whilst travelling in central Serbia I met a nun at Manasija monastery near Despotovac. I was talking with my Serbian friends in the monastery shop when the nun behind the counter, hearing our conversation in English, started to … Continue reading →

Posted in Balkans, Norfolk, Walking | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Winterton-on-Sea, Norfolk

Posted on November 25, 2012

I did a circular walk at Winterton-on-Sea a couple of weeks ago, striking out from the beach car park that looked a little forlorn out of season - largely devoid of vehicles, its wooden hut cafe bolted shut for the winter. Winterton Dunes immediately … Continue reading →

Posted in Norfolk, Walking, wildlife | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

Botanising the asphalt

Posted on November 1, 2012

The German philosopher and literary critic Walter Benjamin referred to the unwitting psychogeographical practices of the urban flâneur as that of ‘botanising the asphalt’: a way of experiencing the city as a repository of collective memory by means of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Geography, wildlife | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments