Holkham Hall Village, Pub and Beech, Norfolk.

Holkham Hall is quite an amazing house but I will first show you a few before and after pictures.

Having spent the morning walking around Wells-Next-The Sea (previous post) we needed lunch before our time in the house.

We ate delicious Cottage Pie with sautéed cabbage and green beans

in the Victoria Inn which is owned by the Coke family (Holkham Hall owners) and managed by the Estate.

Above photo courtesy of the website

These muskets were used by Holkham Yeomanry in response to the threat of invasion posed by Napoleon Bonaparte, the French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century. 

Holkham village is a small village on the edge of the Estate

and then after spending the afternoon at the Hall I had to visit and take a look at Holkham's beach(which entailed a walk on the board walk through the sweet scented Pinewoods) before driving back to our cottage.

It was early evening and mostly deserted and I could easily have sat until dark it was so peaceful.

The vast red are Sea Sedums which are only visible when the tide is out. 

This place is said to be 'where the sky meets the sea' 

I am sure you will enjoy the Hall which will take at least 3 posts to cover

It's taking a long time to get my holiday snaps together and I am sure that Windows 10 is half the problem with the filing system

Wells-Next-the-Sea, Norfolk

Wells-Next-the-Sea
a fishing and harbour town on the North Norfolk coast



We made a quick visit here on our way to Holkham Hall which is just a couple of miles along the coast

Something different - a boat cafe

where as well as serving seafood they are known for Traditional Dutch Pancakes.

However I found the private Beach of Holkham Hall much more enjoyable.

Will be sharing this in the next Norfolk post before sharing with you the delights of Holkham Hall

Wroxham, Irstead and Neatishead, Norfolk

On the Wednesday of our Norfolk stay in October we decided to do something different to visiting country houses. (more of that later)

We first went to Wroxham which is part of the Norfolk Broads. These broads consist of 188 miles comprising 7 rivers and 63 broads, mostly connecting. 124 square miles are navigable and much used as holiday destinations. 

Considering it was October we were blessed to have another warm and sunny day.

We had a great carvery meal in The Kings Head pub on the waterside

Why I want to photograph a Heron I don't know as we do our best to keep them out of our garden as thgey eat our fish!

We soon decide to drive further up the broad to Irstead where we knew there was a Board Walk down to the water.We find this walkway through the reeds (a pretty long walk in itself) but at the outset did not realise it was about 3 miles away from the car park to a viewing point.

We were nearer the coast and the wind was pretty cool here

Worth it though as we saw these Cormorants  

A beautiful Dragonfly basking in the sun on the way back

Driving through the village of Neatishead on the way back

we passed this community run village store and decided it would be a good place to stop for tea.
These community run stores are quite unusual here and we wanted to give them our custom. 

Also a good opportunity to chat to the locals

Ye Olde Saddlery

The White Horse Inn

Three places visited today so think we need to head back to our cottage. 

Fellbrigg Hall, Norfolk, Part Two

For this post we are looking at the gardens but first wanted to show you the back of the house.

At roof level we see 

"Glory to God in the Highest" 

worked into the stone work in Latin.

This certainly says something about the family who first built the house in 1620 ad

Considering we are about to enter October there is still some colour about

This is an amazing Dovecote

and I take the risk of entering!

All was well!

The walled gardens here had many hens and chickens running around and the many hen houses were fun

A different kind of bench to sit on

Well that is it for Fellbrigg - do check the previous post if you did not get to see the interior of the house.

Coming soon - on Norfolk