My Suffolk Christmas - by Laura Scamponi

One of my earliest memories of Christmas in Suffolk was the time my family rented a big old house somewhere on the Suffolk/Norfolk border. I remember collecting our turkey from a nearby farm on Christmas Eve and celebrating Midnight Mass in the village church.

Now living in Suffolk, I can uphold these traditions every year. We have - for many years - ordered our turkey from a farm out Crowfield way and queued patiently at Debenham’s F. E. Neave & Son on Christmas Eve in order to adorn our Christmas table with their delectable hams and pork pies.

Each year we add one or two new traditions to our ever-growing list - like a couple of Christmases ago, when we made our first visit to the renowned Blackthorpe Barns Christmas Craft Markets near Bury St Edmunds.

It’s well worth making the trip out west for this event, which brings together the finest crafts people in a stunning building with lots of beautiful decorations, Christmas food, mulled wine and festive music. The main draw though is the wide variety of Christmas trees on sale.

For those unfamiliar with the name, Rougham Estate Christmas trees have an unrivalled reputation in these parts as the Estate provided the 16 foot Norway Spruce which stood outside 10 Downing Street in 2002 (and again in 2004) and they are as fresh as you could wish to find, going on sale as soon as they are lifted from the ground.

After Rougham, our next port of call is Bury St Edmunds - home of course to the magnificent St Edmundsbury Cathedral, a site of worship and pilgrimage for over 1,000 years. In December the Cathedral diary is packed with carol services and Christmas events, including the First Eucharist of Christmas at 11.30pm on Christmas Eve. Visit www.stedscathedral.co.uk for further details.

Back in the Ipswich area, The Essex Pig Company in Wherstead (as seen on BBC series Jimmy’s Farm) is another foodie place which we now include in our pre-Christmas itinerary. Every Christmas turkey should be accompanied by some Essex Pig Company chipolatas and - in addition to the excellent butchery - there’s a farm shop full of local produce and vibrant farmers’ market held on the first Saturday of each month.

Ok, so enough talk of food, although I remember reading somewhere that taking a long walk before your Christmas dinner could help to reduce the damage done by the inevitable festive over-indulgence - reason enough to plan in some lovely long hikes over the festive season.

The forests, beaches and gentle undulations of the east Suffolk countryside are perfect for such a pastime, which is best done in thick, crunchy snow at this time of year. That reminds me of being in Woodbridge for the annual carols on Market Hill a few years back.

Warm as toast in our scarves and quilted coats, we made our way up Angel Lane for this annual festive sing-song and visit from Father Christmas.

Standing there full of merriment, singing my heart out to Hark the Herald Angels Sing, I looked up at the night sky and observed the first pretty snow flakes fall from above. About as perfect a Suffolk Christmas as you could ever wish to experience…