Exploring Norfolk!

It's mid term holiday time and my one week break started with a lovely weekend away up in Norwich with Jade and Rich (my favourite couple in the whole world - remember how they came to meet me my first weekend in London?). We'd organised the trip up a few months back so it coincided with the Norfolk festival which meant we had events booked for both Saturday and Sunday night and we packed so much into the glorious sunny days (yes, I did just say sunny!) I feel like I've been away for way longer than 2 days. I'm just on the train back to Reading now, it's a 3 1/2 hour trip so thought I'd use my time well and get started on writing the blog.

I arrived in Norwich at lunch time on Saturday with a rumbling tummy so it was a good thing our first stop was a Thai restaurant. I thought this was a very nice touch since Thailand was the first place I met these two. Oh and the food was delish! I had a garlic chicken dish. It really hit the spot. We did a lot of walking in the afternoon checking out the city centre and the old streets and saw some of the many churches (apparently in Norwich there is enough churches for every week of the year and a pub for every day of the year). It did seem that everywhere I looked there was an old church. It's a nice city centre because everything is very low because of an old law that means nothing can be taller than the cathedral spire. There were a lot of people out in costumes and I asked if this was normal but Rich assured me it was because of the festival but I'm not too sure about that ;) 

Old tudor streets with cobbled roads

Random polar bear in the street

Norwich Castle

 The cathedral was a real treat, set in beautiful gardens and was made out of such a light stone that the inside was nice a bright. The stained glass windows were also noteworthy because the images on them were on such a grand scale. We were also lucky because they had a choir performing as we were walking around so it was a real treat for the ears. When we left the cathedral we noticed an old array of telescopes set up outside pointed up towards the spire and as we were looking at them a nice d lay beckoned us over to look through them. Turns out that a hawk has laid it's eggs in a box up there and they've started to hatch. The telescopes are trained to spot the mother hawk and sure enough as I looked through I saw her up there looking down at her hawks. You'd never have noticed her there had you not looked through the telescope so that was a nice surprise to end our visit at the cathedral. 

 

Norwich Cathedral

Large stained glass windows

The choir singing

Hawk eye

Good ol' Wellington

 The day ran away from us and after a delicious dinner of trout and salad we were on way back into town to go to our show of the weekend; 'Beyond' by Circa. This was in an old circus tent in a city garden and walking into the tent I felt like I'd walked back in time. Everyone was in 50s attire, I liked it. It was quite an odd show of acrobatics with people wearing animal masks and performing to Frank Sinatra. I don't know how people get to be so flexible, there was one woman who was an absolute machine and was hanging on a trapeze and holding up one of the men my her teeth. Circus performers are on a whole other level. I thoroughly enjoyed it though. After the show we headed out to check out the nightlife in Norwich and on our way past about 20 different hen nights. It was a fun night but we couldn't be out too late because we had another action packed day planned for Sunday.

Jade and Zara

Waiting for the show to begin :)

We were on the road by 10am after a traditional English breakfast of bacon sandwiches. Jade and Rich were set on giving me a quintessential English experience and I don't think I could have gotten an more English than my Sunday outing of stately houses, fish'n'chips on the beach and the Philharmonic London Orchestra. 

Blickling Hall was our first stop of the morning and my first ever stately home. We didn't go inside this house because we had another, more grand, one to see later in the day but we did walk around the grounds, play croquet and check out the spring fair next door to the manor. I couldn't get over the gardens and how well manicured they were but also as we walked down the paths how many colours there were. 'How nice it would be for this to be my garden,' I thought to myself :) What a life! At the fair we saw a cider press in action and got to try some of his fresh apple juice. I could have drunken that all day!!!

My first stately home!

Up close and personal

The garden path

Lady Zara...

Practicing croquet

The cider press at the spring fair

We stopped off at a nice spot for lunch, a place called 'Beyond the Garden' which was made up of a farm shop and a restaurant. It had quite a Martinborough feel to it. We gauged on good food and dessert and were so full we decided to walk into the grounds of our next stately home instead of driving in to try move some of the meal. 

Holkham Hall was our next stately home and remember how I said I was impressed with the last one? Well this one was on a whole new level of grandness. This family had had royalty stay with them. Wow. It was about 3/4 mile from the gate to the house and you walked through huge fields to get there. There was lake in the grounds and on the grass next to the lake a cricket game was taking place (ha so English!). We walked around to get a view from the bank behind and the size of this place was phenomenal. We sat for a while on the grass just looking down at the house taking it all in. Now this stately home still has a family living it so is only open to the public 3 days a week and although it was grand it still had quite a lived in feeling. As you walked into the hall you saw a piano that had a note inviting you to play (I needed Simon with me) from Lady Polly. There were also quite a few family photos of them around the place, they have 4 quite young children. Of course we only saw a small section of the house but my mind was spinning around thinking about what the rest must be like, especially the kids' bedrooms!

Cricket in the front yard

Willows by the lake

Holkham Hall from the back

Jump for Holkham

Inside the entrance hall

The piano

This is nice of Lady Polly

I'd like to dine here

And have a bath here

They even had a hall with dresses on display!

Pretty!

Two stately homes is enough for one day so we decided to check out some of the Norfolk coastline. In less than 10 minutes we were at the seaside and I was impressed to see golden sand. I could not believe how many people were out an about, it was great to see so much cricket been played on the beach. Rich was determined to get me eating some fish'n'chips near the beach and luckily we managed to find an award winning place to get some from. We had to eat quickly so as to get back in time for the orchestra and Rich assured me as I ate my first chip covered in salt and vinegar that I was a bit more British now :)

Cute little beach houses

Something we whipped up...

Jade and I on top of a sand dune

Nice day!

Oh yea!

We raced back to Norwich and made it to the orchestra just in time. I wasn't quite sure what to expect but felt very cultured by the end of the evening. The Philharmonic performance was in an old church so the acoustics were amazing and on the way home I learnt that the conductor is very famous and performed at the Queen's Jubilee. How lucky was I to have been in such great company!!! 

We all were fast to fall asleep after that full on day but needed to be up bright and early for a morning of adventure boating on the Norfolk Broads before I started to head back home. We had to be at the Broads by 9am to ensure we'd get a boat and with such good weather we knew everyone would have the same idea. We made perfect time and were off on our boat cruising the Broads in no time. The Broads are a waterway system that were created by the Monks to drain the water of the land and have been continually worked on since the 17th century, so it's a very old system. Rich drove for the first part and then I decided to have a go. Wasn't too bad considering it was my first time behind a wheel in 5 months (no crashes Dad). It was peaceful cruising along the Broads, feeding the ducklings and goslings and noticing all the different green of trees. It really was the perfect way to end my weekend away in such a beautiful part of England. I've seen quite a lot of the Motherland now and I have to admit, it is rather beautiful! 

Captain Rich!

Nice cottages along the way

Thatched roof!

Living the good life!

Zara's at the wheel...

Feeding the (Ryan) goslings!

Aww!

Even an ice-cream boat!

So thank you Jade and Rich for been the BEST guides and giving me such an English experience. 

Now, it's time to go get ready for Spain and some proper hot weather. It'll be another early start for me tomorrow so I make my flight in time but hey sometimes you must make sacrifices for the good stuff ;) 

Tomorrow it's my 5 month been away from home anniversary. Time has flown!!!

Adios amigos!

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