This morning I had a session on the phone to family in NZ as Kathy has a deal where she gets free calling to NZ if it is under an hour a call. It was great to catch up with them all and the Local Body Election news from around the country. The morning was spent reading the Sunday papers and generally sitting around which was very enjoyable. There was also a fair bit of internet surfing done of NZ Sunday papers as well.
After lunch we set out for a walk on the Heath with Mike and Kathy. The whole of Martlesham Heath was originally a RAF base. In the early 1980s the subdivision of Martlesham Heath was developed and the houses were built. Mike and Kathy’s house is very near where the runway used to be. A lot of the land has been kept and allowed to grow as natural Heath and we walked around this. The old perimeter road is still there in parts. Mike took us to some of revetments. In these revetments the planes were serviced, refuelled and reamed and they provided some protection for their ground crews. There has been a considerable opening up signposting of historic places on the old airfield since we were living here. There is also markings and evidence of the four large fuel tanks.
The original control tower has been preserved as a museum and now houses all sorts of RAF memorabilia. An enthusiastic group of volunteers open it between 2 and 5 every Sunday afternoon from March till October. We had been before when we had been here in 2001 but it was worth another look. It is a great collection and they are very proud of it. The temperature was well above 20° and it felt like a summer day. The toning of the leaves and all the fungi in the woods made you aware that it was actually autumn.
Being Sunday Kathy had cooked a suberb traditional Sunday roast for the evening meal and the rest of the evening was spent watching TV.
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