We were relatively new to the U3A, having been members for only about eight months.
The U3A trip visiting historic and cultural locations in Suffolk was particularly attractive, as the itinerary included interesting places such as Constable Country, Sutton Hoo, Aldeburgh, Beth Chatto’s garden and one or two stately homes that were new to us.

From the very beginning, we were struck by the friendliness of the other people on the tour. People came up and introduced themselves (“Hello, I’m xxxxx, but I don’t remember seeing you before.”). We learned that it had been suggested that at dinner each evening everyone should sit with a different group to help everyone get to know each other. For us, this immediately helped us relax and feel comfortable with all the other group members, and we very much enjoyed our various evening conversations.

The tour was very well organised. A comfortable modern coach, a superb local blue badge tour guide, as much time as we needed at each destination, and something new and interesting pretty well everywhere. It was difficult to choose the most outstanding place we visited, because they were all outstanding.

Perhaps for me, it was Benjamin Britten’s house at Aldeburgh, not just because of his life and his music, but because of the delight at seeing so many wonderful works of art, so perfectly displayed in every room. A room full of John Piper paintings (Piper was a lifelong friend of Britten’s) and a breathtakingly sensitive portrait by Constable of one of his sons.

The hotel where we stayed was large, set in beautiful countryside, 4 star rated and generally very comfortable, but there were some shortcomings, possibly due to staff shortages, which we and others in the group experienced. Sadly, this is a fact of life in the hospitality industry. Fortunately, these did not seriously detract from a really excellent week. The positives outnumbered the negatives very substantially.
Thanks in particular to our Chairman for organising everything so well.