Today we left London and traveled to Aldeburgh, a coastal town known for Benjamin Britten and the Aldeburgh Festival… which is no longer held in Aldeburgh but rather in the nearby town of Snape. (J. K. Rowling’s character was named after this town.)

We walked around for a bit and saw Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears’ first home in Aldeburgh, Crag House (pictured below). Their later residence, the Red House, is better known, as the Britten-Pears Foundation resides there.

We also saw the Moot House, or meeting house, a building almost five hundred years old. It’s now home to the Aldeburgh Museum although council meetings still take place there.

Where there’s water, there’s beach (sometimes), and on the beach lay this very interesting sculpture:

It reads: “I hear those voices that will not be drowned,” from Britten’s opera Peter Grimes. Sculptor Maggi Hambling completed the work for free and then gave it to Aldeburgh. Some regard the Scallop as an eyesore. I rather think it’s poignant, indicative of determination and persistent survival. At one point, Aldeburgh lost over half of its population from storms and other problems (such as illness). Thus the water was formidable to Aldeburgh citizens. Apparently the scallop is a symbol for the St. James pilgrimage, and Hambling wanted that context in the Britten tribute.

Aldeburgh is gorgeous, and the air is pristine (certainly a nice break from the Indiana coal-dust air). In the 19th century physicians loved this place, and it became a popular vacation spot. There’s so much space and so much coastline, indicative of what lies beyond, so much to fill with words and notes and paintstrokes, and I feel very at home here.