An
extensive and neat car park facing the Town Centre was waiting for
us. That time, lots of cars had parked already but its vast size gave
us no problem to find an empty space. Unlike most of the town
centres, this one had no nearby free car parks which would give lots
of time to park.
Hooray
for we made it through Bury St. Edmunds despite the wiggly waggly and
challenging route on the way!
Ash paid
the ticket, we left the car and then, traversed to an alley which led
into the Town Centre...
The Town
Centre was adjacent to the car park but the shops etc. were not along
one road like in most large towns. It was divided into a series of
spacious streets which were occupied by famous high street shops like
Wallis, HMV, Debenhams etc. as well as coffee shops such as Costa.
That's where we sat and had our hot drinks before exploring the
depths of the Town Centre.
I would
never thought that the town had unique features built in. But when I
found out about the award-winning venue for live Music called The
Apex, which on that day, had an Italian stall erected just opposite
selling their own delicacies to shoppers. I had no doubt any more!
It was a
sunny yet chilly day when Ash and I were exploring Bury St. Edmunds'
Town Centre. I have to admit, that the designed of the centre
reminded me of Oxford and Regent Streets in the west End on London.
When we
were in the midst of our exploration, I thought all the streets were
more or less flat. However, a street which led us towards the beauty
of Abbey Gardens was on a downhill road. Was it surprising? Yes, it
was!
The
downhill road guided us to the handsome gate tower with a spike
wooden barrier at the entrance which led into the Abbey Gardens.
Alongside was the ancient stony fence stretching like robust hands.
It had stood the test of time and nature's ravages while protecting
the Gardens.
We
penetrated the Abbey Gardens...
The gate
tower resembled a mansion hallway with a high ceiling in which flocks
of birds lived. Soon after admiring the entrance gate, three
separated nature trails with different destinations welcomed us. Such
as, a bird sanctuary on the left side; a plain playground as well as
a cathedral on the right side and a walkway going to the central
garden in the middle.
We
navigated those paths on the day of our visit and explored first, the
Aviary...
There
were
colourful birds from the family members of parrots (mainly) and
even extraordinary doves who were well-fed and looked after in a 7-8
foot tall, elongated bird cage. And after being captivated by
variegated birds, we were also surprised by a building which looked
like a castle with a turret on one end and is now utilised as an
office. Moreover, it also had remnants of C11th Benedictine Abbey,
what architectural designs remained had been dug and left behind for
public scrutiny. Actually, I had an awkward picture of myself in
which the background was one of the castle stone foundations and also
us, behind two handsome old trees towering each other. On the
other hand, there were 2 sets of modern playgrounds for toddlers to
teens with recreational equipment made from pieces of wood; a tennis
court for people who want to become famous in the sport's world and a
miniature reconstruction model (manufactured from acrylic) showing
the original layout of C11th Benedictine Abbey. Apart from those
man-made structures, there was a clean and passive river flanked by
healthy trees and enjoyably inhabited by hefty mallard ducks.
We
continued our walk which led to the central part of the Abbey
Gardens. An extensive rounded shaped garden divided into 4 segments
and enhanced by bedding plants which provided a decorative display
for beds, borders and containers. Unfortunately, this so-called
decorative seasonal display didn’t come upon as the bedding plants
were still growing and hadn’t bloomed colourful flowers yet.
Genuinely
speaking, spending more than an hour in the Abbey Gardens was worth
the effort and to be acquainted as well with its enthralling beauty
was an incomparable experience of my life.
Thank you so much Ash for all the time and effort that you put into our trip!
*CLICK to enlarge photos
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