Bury Abbey

So 900 years ago the Benedictine monks established an abbey in Bury (Borough?) St. Edmund's. It became the government and - like all powerful secular people - rich and corrupt, starving the poor to enrich the nobles.  Like France, the English rose up 700 years ago, beheaded the abbot who ruled, and sacked the abbey. Later, when the rich and all-powerful Henry the 8th decided he wanted a different wife and the pope said no, Henry executed the monks, banished Catholicism, and made himself head of the Church of England.  So went the cycles - so obvious in the history books, so obscure as we live it in America - of rich and powerful eventually becoming so corrupt that the over-burdened poor rise up and destroy the rich. Here's the entry to the abbey, with Donna in the doorway.

We went to the twice-weekly market and bought lots of food. See photo. The basic British veggies are the least expensive I have seen anywhere: the beets, carrots, and onions were £1 ($1.70) each. Dinner tonight is salad of grapes, avocado and fresh tomatoes. Soup: borsht Longino: beets, onions, carrots and spices.  Main course: grilled Mackerel filets with lemon. Dessert: carrot cake bought yesterday. 

Then off to Lavenham where Donna and I had "a spot of tea at three p" in the Guildhall Tea Room which was built 500+ years ago. And walked through the town where many of the homes are 700 years old!  And where part of Harry Potter was filmed.     

So we took the back road home -through Preston St Mary, Brettenham, Drink stone and to Woolpit on winding narrow English roads at 25 mph - took 30 minutes!