I've been very lax updating the blog recently, we went to Norfolk for the second time this year over two weeks ago, and I'm only now getting around to the update. We had a lovely week, very lucky with the weather as it's pot luck in November. Apart from a couple of grey days, we had plenty of sunshine and virtually no rain, unlike today which is definitely an indoors, catch up with paperwork day!
The week's itinerary went like this: we had an easy Friday packing up and ambling over there, you can't get into the property until the afternoon, so there's no rush to get up at the crack of dawn. Once we were settled and unpacked at the other end we popped to the shops for victuals, then had a quiet evening. One good thing about going to a familiar house and area is that you know where everything is. Saturday morning saw us off on the hunt for crab and also a general mosey around. We drove over to Salthouse about an hour away, bought plenty of delicious crab and also a gorgeous lobster from Cookies Crab Shop and then wended our way back home via country lanes. On Sunday we had a super walk from Thornham, up into the agricultural fields then back via the salt marshes and sea wall. The walk details said it was 5 miles, but the GPS told us over 7, I have to confess that I hit the wall about a mile from home and had to stop at the Lifeboat Inn for sustenance (and the loo!) while OH went to fetch the car.
Monday saw us back over towards Salthouse, at a nature reserve on Cley Marshes, one of OH's favourite haunts. During the week we came to the conclusion that if we were to move to Norfolk, this is the area we would like to be in. The area where we hired the cottage is lovely, but not really close enough to the bits we truly love. While OH was tramping around the marshes, I headed into Holt for a little retail therapy and a chill out in a coffee shop with a panini. Heaven! No idea why I'm struggling to lose weight ...
Every Tuesday there is a market in Kings Lynn, so we headed there in the morning to see what it was like. The fruit and veg stalls were amazing, some really exotic fruit for sale and all of it looking beautiful and fresh. There was also a seafood stand, just as well as we'd eaten all our Saturday purchases by this time. We had a walk around a designated town walk that we'd found in a book at our cottage and finished off with a coffee and panini in Costa. After taking our loot back home we headed to Snettisham Beach, another RSPB reserve, and this one close to where we were staying. It's a couple of miles walk from the car to the beach, but definitely worth the hike. We stayed until the sun was going down, but didn't see vast amounts of birdlife. However, the sunrise and tides were right the following morning for the dawn spectacular, so OH headed back early and had some incredible views of hundreds of geese flying close overhead. Pretty spectacular. Later that day we headed up to another favourite RSPB reserve at Titchwell, although this is a favourite with most birders who go to Norfolk and gets very busy. However, we headed down to the beach where OH saw a grebe that he'd never seen before, so he was chuffed with the trip. We also saw a couple of spoonbills fly over, another first. All very exciting :o). That evening we had dinner with OH's brother and SIL at the Lifeboat Inn in Thornham which was very enjoyable.
BIL and SIL were having a few days in Blakeney at a cottage they had hired, so the following morning we headed over to check out their place (Morgan Cottage). It was very cute and in a little road in Blakeney that I hadn't even realised was there. It also had excellent Wi-Fi, so I caught up with emails before we headed over to the Dun Cow at Salthouse for lunch (another very good meal). We spent the afternoon on Cley Marshes while they headed to Holt, not being quite so keen as us on swamps and birding as we are!
And sadly, that was the end of our holiday. Our lovely hostess said that the cottage wasn't booked for the following week and we could have an extra day if we liked, but unfortunately I already had commitments for Saturday, so Friday saw us packing our bags and heading for home. Another excellent break in Norfolk and I can highly recommend The Coach House at Ingoldisthorp if you want a little Norfolk air in a comfy home-from-home.
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The Old Rectory where our hostess lives,
The Coach House is next door
The Coach House is next door
2 comments:
That looks like one heck of a seafood supper, yum yum. Glad you had such a good time. The rest of your photos are beautiful, easy to see why you love the area so much.
Lovely place isn't it? Sounds like you had a great time.
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