Empty Fields
The fields are empty now.
Silent in the sunlight,
The wheat and barley
Grow without the oversight of man.
Or so it seems to travellers
In this quiet Suffolk land.
The season's start
Brings out the plough.
Or at the harvest
Then the combine
Works the fields.
One man alone
Within his windowed perch.
I saw them once,
The horses,
Breasting a rise
At the headland next to the road.
In the fifties, it was,
The last time I saw the team,
The ploughman stopping them,
Talking to my friend.
He had this notion that all was ending.
Everything that he and I had known
Not so long ago,
When we were boys.
Milk dipped from the churn,
Weary horses ambling home,
Saturdays in the garden,
The wheelbarrow full
From the black earth,
Fecund beyond today's imagining.
And he was right.
Almost everything has gone
Except the fields themselves.
The ploughs, the drills,
The gatherings of the crop
Still go on.
But now what sights and sounds
Living in our memories
Are lost forever.
From "A Kind Of Heaven" by Richard Maslen
Some Favourite Websites For March 2025:
Waveney Wholesale – Suppliers of toys, novelties, giftware, china, housewares, pet items, beach goods and so much more
Established Halesworth-based suppliers with over 3000 lines stocked. On-line ordering or call and collect.
Stoneware Birds – Life-sized handmade and unique British birds, now available to buy online.
A charming unique gift or a treat for oneself. See the website to know how each one is made. Now available to buy online. Each bird is an individual creation, varying in choice from the perky wren to the plump bullfinch together with other well-loved British birds. Which will you choose?
Walberswick Ferry – Offering river trips as well as special occassion bookings
Climb aboard the launch Daybreeze and follow the River Blyth towards Blythburgh through Walberswick Nature Reserve - an Area of Outstanding National Beauty.
George Borrow Trust – Explore about the well travelled 1800s poet George Borrow
The George Borrow Trust aims to advance the education of the public in the life and works of George Borrow in particular, by means which preserve, exhibit and study his writings and works and other material objects connected with or tending to perpetuate his memory or to throw light on his life and work.
Andy Seedhouse Boats – Andy Seedhouse Boats, Woodbridge - Boat Sales
A friendly and professional family-run business with an old-fashioned approach to customer service, located on the picturesque waterfront at Woodbridge on the River Deben. From dinghies and day boats to fishing boats and yachts, and even including liveaboard boats too, Andy brings his many years of experience in helping his customers buy and sell. Also chandlery, trailers, etc.