The Crinkle Crankle Wall

What readers are saying about this books: "I could not put this book down and despite a mountain of jobs to do I kept convincing myself ''just one more chapter''." "How brave, or was it foolhardy? Sabina and Robert set off to a country they didn''t know and a language that they didn''t speak - could this be a recipe for disaster or an amazing adventure? I gasped and laughed and almost cried at various points in their story. Do read it you won''t be disappointed and the good news is that there is more, as this is only the first year!!!" "I was transported to another place that was idyllic and yet took perseverance and determination to survive." "Sabina describes the local area and people with great passion, bringing everything to life for the reader. Adapting to a new way of life in rural Andalusia, throwing themselves into learning the ways of the village, embarking on harvesting their olive trees, delighting at the production of their own olive oil. Harvesting and learning how to preserve figs and tomatoes, there is never a dull moment. No matter the hardships encountered, they still manage to see the humorous side of life." "I loved this book and found the trials and tribulations of Sabina and Robert really interesting. It was so well written and had some really humorous parts. I felt quite sad when I finished the book and I''m looking forward to the next instalment." "What happens if you take two city dwellers, living in the UAE, and transplant them to a ruin in rural Andalucía? Answer: The Crinkle Crankle Wall. Although I live 1000km north of Sabina in a totally different part of Spain, her descriptions of rural life and the characters which populate their tiny rural town struck a strong chord. Language problems, fitting in with the neighbours and renovation nightmares all struck home and I enjoyed following a similar yet very different story of moving to Spain." from Lisa Rose Wright the author of Plum, Courgette & Green Bean Tart: A year to write home about - Seeking la vida dulce in Galicia After years of dreaming of living close to nature, free from a daily commute and noisy neighbours, Sabina and Robert decide to travel from Abu Dhabi to Spain in search of their dream home. As soon as they drive across Andalusia, they fall in love with its rugged beauty, whitewashed villages, red geraniums, giant aloes, and endless olive trees. After weeks of visiting ruins and dilapidated sheds advertised as homes, they find a little stone cottage in a mountain valley in the middle of nowhere. Equipped with everything that a romantic soul desires: a patio shaded by grape vines, an ancient bay leaf tree, and a formidable oak in front of a long driveway, they fall in love with this property and decide to reform it into a guest house. With little foresight or planning, they exchange cushy expats lives for a life in the sun. Quite quickly, however, they find themselves battling cowboy builders, no electricity, a dry well, torrential rain storms, and a freezing cold winter without a roof over their heads. Through all these adventures, they develop relations with their neighbours who had lived in the valley for many generations. Puzzled by the strangers'' behaviour, the neighbours teach them about olive picking, and the cultivation of local vegetables. But primarily, they offer their endless generosity and insight into life in rural Andalusia. As they begin to settle in, financial problems confront our somewhat naïve couple. Without steady pay checks and construction bills piling up, their idea of the good life starts to fall apart. Written with a wry sense of honest humour, this story is filled with twists and turns that take the reader on a journey from a life where every day was monotonously repetitive to a place where every day presents a new challenge.

There once was a crotchety old man who hid his money in the curve of a crinkle crankle wall, but what good is buried treasure? It only caused him more worry.Written by children's author Helen Holder and playfully illustrated by Kim Hanzo, The Crinkle Crankle Wall teaches that the best treasure is in kindness given and received.A crinkle crankle wall is a wavy brick wall that provides greater structural stability. Crinkle crankle walls have been used in many places around the world for thousands of years, but are most commonly found today in England.Suitable for ages 4 to 8 years.

Essex, one the largest counties of England, stretches from the suburban fringes of East London to the fishing and sailing ports of Harwich and Maldon and the famous seaside resorts of Clacton, Frinton, and Southend. Its buildings encompass rich Roman survivals, powerful Norman architecture, and the remains of major Tudor and Jacobean country houses. Essex is first and foremost a county famed for its timber buildings, from the eleventh-century church at Greensted to the early and mighty barns at Cressing Temple, and a wealth of timber-framed medieval houses. Later periods have also made their contribution, from Georgian town houses to Victorian and Edwardian industrial and civic buildings, and from important exemplars of early Modern Movement architecture to the major monument of High Tech at Stansted Airport.

The kitchen garden was once a key part of every large country home, and they are now popular destinations for visitors. This is the history of the British kitchen garden and those who tended it.

This book romps through the rolling countryside and along the shingled coastline of Suffolk, unearthing the curious along the way. Sandwiched between ecclesiastical penances handed down to adulterers and fornicators, and the odd porcelain incendiary bombs commemorating the Zeppelin raids, is an alphabetical cornucopia of strange, spooky and mysterious facts about the county. Is the supposedly ancient game of dwile flonking quite so old? What did writers like Pepys and Defoe say about Suffolk cheese? Which tower was probably just built to curry favour with the monarch? And who was the unknown, self-taught archaeologist who made one of the most significant finds of all time? The A-Z of Curious Suffolk is a book to dip into, unless of course you can't wait to turn the page and read more!

This new, expanded and thoroughly updated third edition of Suffolk (Slow Travel), part of Bradt’s award-winning series of Slow travel guides to UK regions, remains the only full-blown standalone guide to this gentle but beguiling county. Expert local author Laurence Mitchell helps visitors discover what makes Suffolk tick, combining personal insights, enjoyable anecdotes and up-to-date information on the best places to visit, stay and eat. Covering both popular sights and places beyond the usual tourist trail, he caters for walkers, cyclists, families, foodies, culture vultures and wildlife lovers alike. Helped by its proximity to London and Cambridge, Suffolk is a popular holiday destination. Events such as the Latitude festival and the Aldeburgh Music Festival at Britten’s Snape Maltings keep the county’s profile buoyant. Despite being comparatively low-lying, Suffolk boasts varied landscapes, from undulating farmland and sandy heaths to extensive forests, important nature reserves (including Minsmere, for three years the base of BBC Springwatch) and soft, dreamy coastal landscapes comprising river estuaries, remote marshes, reed-beds, shingle beaches (notably Shingle Street, with its myth of World War II invasions) and dunes. Suffolk’s coastal towns and villages – Southwold with its old-fashioned pier and colourful beach huts, but also Aldeburgh, Orford, Walberswick and Dunwich – are steeped in art heritage, with links to artists including Maggi Hambling, John Piper, Philip Wilson Steer and Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Venturing inland, you can make for Constable Country and the Stour valley, Bury St Edmunds, Framlingham, Bungay, Beccles or Halesworth. Alternatively, you can visit some of Suffolk’s wealth of medieval churches, learn of Rendlesham’s UFOs or revere Suffolk’s Anglo-Saxon heritage, notably the medieval ceremonial burial site at Sutton Hoo (whose discovery stars in the 2021 film The Dig) and the reconstructed Anglo-Saxon village at West Stow. This guide makes a virtue of being selective, pointing readers to the cream of the area. It is organised into locales to encourage ‘stay put’ tourism and thorough exploration. It suggests options for car-free travel: walking, cycling, river boats, buses and trains. Written in an entertaining yet authoritative style, Bradt’s Suffolk (Slow Travel) is the ideal companion with which to discover this county.

Edward Couzens-Lake takes a look at the history behind the ruins and follies of the beautiful East Anglia.