Figaro Suffolk Day Trip – Sunday 19th June 2022

Words, Pictures and Video by Adam Woods

With Aldeburgh being such a well-loved destination, and the warm welcome we had from their mayor last year, we were still determined to do something a little different, so we switched our starting point from Woodbridge to Beccles so we could experience a different route through the Suffolk countryside! We had a good look at what route we could take, and discovered the beautifully remodelled grounds of Heveningham Hall – based on the original design planned by Capability Brown – so that was a must… with the route finalised, we took the event live!

We were so delighted with the response, and at one stage had 20 cars attending! Inevitably things can get in the way, so in the end we had 16 which is a fantastic number for a day out like this! We had been out and signposted the route, as usual, the night before, and had also dropped an email out to everyone following news reports of road surfaces suffering in the summer heat! And it didn’t help that I had a stinky cold, but we weren’t going to let that get in the way!!

Even before the day trip itself, there were three particularly wonderful highlights we were looking forward to! Firstly, two of the cars attending are owned by new Figgy owners who happened to see us all in Aldeburgh last year, and off the back of that decided to buy Figaros! How amazing is that – so very special thanks are due to Eddie and Alison Young, as well as Caroline Wolton! Secondly, we were also lucky enough to meet Tricia and Dave Rix who had just purchased a Figaro, but weren’t quite ready to take it out on the road just yet! They joined people for breakfast and were so excited to meet other Figgy fans, getting tips and tricks and enjoy a good chat! And last but never by any means least the final delight would be meeting again all those lovely Figgy folk we have been lucky enough to get to know over the last year – you are such a wonderful bunch of people!

And so the day came, and after a bit of a jiggling around in the hotel car park we managed to get all the cars together to take the obligatory “BEEP BEEP” that it’s now tradition to herald the start of our day out! We set off through the centre of Beccles at 11am (possibly still a little early for some locals) and then across country through some villages, woods and rolling countryside, and on through the market town of Halesworth where we took another little tour with some Beeps and Waves through the town centre. Then it was back across country heading over towards Heveningham, and that promise of beautiful grounds. It really wasn’t a disappointment with steady rolling countryside proving to be a marvellous backdrop to our Figgy cavalcade!

We swung on down to Yoxford and then after a few miles of A road we arrived at Friday Street with its newly expanded farm shop, and the treasure trove of antiques at The Barn! As usual the Figgys were very popular, with one lady seemingly keen to tour round them in her 10 years younger Nissan Micra!

With a chorus of beeps we swung out from Friday Street, heading down towards the coast. This stretch of road is always quite busy so sadly our entourage did get split up by other cars… but we continued on to the picturesque whimsical holiday village of Thorpeness with it’s quirky House in the Clouds and artificial boating lake known as The Meare. With more Beeps and Waves we headed along the coast towards our final destination of the front at Aldeburgh by the Moot House and the warm welcome from the new Mayor! As ever once the cars were parked up the locals and visitors to Aldeburgh swarmed around the Figgys with lots of smiles and even more questions!

And so our day trip was complete, sharing another great day with Figgy friends, old and new, experiencing the shared warmth of happiness and fun that our Figgys bring with them everywhere we go! Here’s to the next one – Hertfordshire in July!

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Published on 24th June 2022

Figaro Suffolk Day Trip – Sunday 19th June 2022

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