It may have seemed a strange candidate for the BBC's 2004 Restoration programme. A concrete bunker on the shores of the Deben Estuary overlooking a quiet shingle beach on the East coast of Suffolk; perhaps not exactly everyone’s idea of architectural interest. But what Bawdsey Radar Station lacks in design finesse is more than made up for by its historical importance and indeed impact on the eventual outcome of World War II.

Christmas 2007 is now over and yes, despite all my fears, it was a good Christmas. We spent time with family and friends, no one argued, the turkey was delicious and the cat wasn't sick! What more could I ask for?

Well........, it sounds terribly indulgent I know, but actually I could do with a quiet and peaceful holiday away from everyone. Long walks, bracing sea air, not too much to eat and somewhere cosy where I can curl up and read all those wonderful books I was given for Christmas.

The ancient market town of Woodbridge was once a major ship building town providing ships for the English fleet fighting the Spanish Armada in 1588 and today there are still many boats in the river, some working but the majority leisure craft.

Just a few miles from the sea at Bawdsey smuggling boats would have travelled up the Deben Estuary to land their bounty in Woodbridge or beyond. Below is an extract from Smuggling in the British Isles: a History by Richard Platt For more detail visit his website www.smuggling.co.uk

Woodbridge (probably from the Norse or Saxon meaning "Wooden's Town") is an ancient market town with plenty to see - attractive medieval, Dutch and Tudor buildings and several fascinating museums in the centre of the town and down by the river, always busy with sailing boats and yachts, with fantastic views over the river to Sutton Hoo and the Tide Mill.

There were nine mills in Woodbridge at the time that Buttrum’s brick tower mill was built in the 1830s. Now only two working mills remaining, Buttrum’s Mill and The Tide Mill, a visit to either is a fascinating experience. Both are in excellent order and can even see the flour being ground at Buttrums and purchase the result.

Buttrums Mill

Lower Ufford

A village on the Deben, gave its name to the family of Robert de Ufford, who fought at Poitiers in 1356 and was made Earl of Suffolk.

Some while ago I was talking to Woodbridge friends who had just returned from a holiday in France. They had had a great time but were feeling tired and rather flat after their long journey home; that is until they reached Market Hill where they stopped the car and looked around them. Before them stood the Shire Hall, and piazza style square, the pump and an array of hanging baskets and planters full of summer flowers with the tower of St Mary's Church in the background.

Perhaps the most famous Woodbridge inhabitant, Thomas Seckford (1515 -1587), was a prominent lawyer, politician and member of Queen Elizabeth's inner circle. Influential in the sixteenth century, his bequests to the town of Woodbridge continue to have a significant impact to this day. Born into a well established and wealthy family whose estates stretched over a large part of the east of Suffolk, Thomas Seckford is believed to have studied at Trinity College, Cambridge before entering Gray's Inn in 1540.

A true artist of Woodbridge, Thomas Churchyard was born in Melton in 1798 just before the start of the Napoleonic wars. A bright child, he was sent to Dedham Grammer School, where John Constable had been a pupil some 20 years earlier. Although painting and illustration was always his first love, he trained as a solicitor, spending much of his spare time studying artists from the Norwich School, as well as illustrating a book of botanical subjects. Having finished his Articles he moved to London where he visited exhibitions at the Academy, seeing and being influenced by works by Constable.