Still not much of a summer: today is warm enough, but gloomy and with a fair bit of light rain here and there, heavier this evening, including a thunderstorm. Our four days at Blakeney were very mixed.
We arrived first on Saturday and partook of the usual afternoon tea in the Blakeney Hotel first-floor lounge when the others arrived. On Sunday the outlook was quite good, and so it turned out. We walked to Morston in the morning, got the bus back and became involved in the first of a proliferation of craft fairs before having lunch in the Ship near the Quay at Blakeney. I wasn’t really hungry.
After lunch we drove to Heydon, where there was an Open Gardens day. I thought that just seeing Heydon might be interesting enough, but I had reckoned without the traffic, which was immense. We got in a long queue, almost abandoned the whole thing, then parked by the side of the road nearly a mile away and walked back into the village.
The refreshments were quite unable to cope (long queues) so we kept walking, looked at some classic cars and then paid to see the gardens at Heydon Hall, which turned out to be worth seeing. Then the long walk back… Very good for us, no doubt.
On Monday the forecast was bad, and so the weather proved. Dot drove us in pouring rain to Sandringham, which the Evetts had wanted to see. Happily it eased off a bit once we got there, and we had a cup of tea before proceeding over to the gardens and to the hall, where we had the good fortune to coincide with an excellent and knowledgeable guide. Julia got very worried about a picture of two elephants fighting because she was sure “elephants didn’t do that”.
We then proceeded to lunch in the Stables Cafe and a walk round the museum, where Julia got worried again, because of the absence of the Duke of Edinburgh from two key pictures where he was “not even listed among the absentees”. Some interesting stuff in the museum, particularly old royal vehicles and an account of the disappearance of the Norfolk regiment at Gallipoli (advanced too far, got cut off and massacred; typical British army shambles).
We then walked down to the lake and eventually sheltered in a small summerhouse called Queen Alexandra’s Nest while the rain absolutely tipped down for about half an hour. I took a video of it, then as it eased off we raced back across the lawns, avoiding the geese (“ducks” – D Evetts) and popped into the church before bypassing the giant squirrel and having a final cup of tea. Oh, somewhere around here I bought a shirt, and we visited the gift shop. I drove home, checking the tidal situation at Stiffkey on the way.
Tuesday, on the other hand, was dry and quite warm. We walked to Wiveton Hall by the path opposite the hotel and had a drink. Dave booked for lunch the following day, outside, which proved a tad optimistic. We the drove to the Anchor Inn at Morston for lunch (very good) and thence to Stiffkey, where I left the car in the marsh car park (cf yesterday’s check) before walking to Wells – just over three miles by the North Norfolk Coast Path.
There we had a pancake on the Albatros – very nice too – and attempted to catch the Coasthopper bus back. It turned out, despite guidance from a local and a clear indication to the contrary, that we were waiting in the wrong place, but the bus driver kindly took us to the right place, where we caught a bus that appeared to be going the wrong way but actually dropped us in the right place at Stiffkey, where we picked up the car.
On Wednesday, after booking out, Dot and I walked out into the marsh opposite the hotel, and needless to day it soon began to rain, though not too heavily. We made our way back, popped into the book fair and then drove to Wiveton Hall, where we discovered the Evetts had managed to get us transferred inside. I had a gigantic sandwich which was quite difficult to eat (a) because my breakfast had not yet been digested and (b) because my broken teeth were giving me trouble. I broke them in the cafe at Sandringham and had rung the dentist from there. Amazing coincidence that both should break at the same time – or at least on the same day.
Anyway, after finishing lunch and seeing the TV star owner, his son, his mother and probably his daughter, we drove back to Norwich in time to go up to the dentist and get both teeth fixed – one filling replaced and the other refilled (I had lost the broken bit, presumably swallowed). After all this I was shattered and didn’t do much else for the rest of the day.
Today, by way of recuperation, we had a Paston Footprints meeting at North Walsham. I was a bit late but managed to take down the minutes, which I’ve now written up. After lunch, Dot and I went to vote in the historic EU referendum and then did a bit of shopping at Morrison’s. Dot was at a governors’ meeting tonight; so I cooked the meal, and we’ve watched a bit of TV.