Created by KeefH Web Designs, October 18th, 2022, 11.28 AM
A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog
Motorhome trip No52: October 5th - 17th 2022
NOTTS-> Norfolk & Suffolk, Various Sites Mostly Caravan and Motorhome Club Sites (M&CC site) -> NOTTS 509 miles
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INTRODUCTION
2 weeks away in the lovely Wendy house basically travelling around the coastline of East Anglia starting at Kings Lynn and ending at Kessingland all in amazing sunshine and blue skies, what's not to like plus we managed rather naughtily to pull in a whole stack of cake eating, which we justified with the line " we are on holiday!" #naughtybutnice
We have previously stayed in East Anglia in the van and with family and friends, go straight to those blogs by clicking on the links below
We loved every minute of it and the van performed well, there was a mixture of Motorhome & Caravan club sites (M&CC), we have renamed it from Caravan & Motorhome club sites as we are Motorhomers, no offence Caravanners but it's like Snow boarders and Skiers, friendly rivalry is the spice of life!
Beside driving only 509 miles, which in fairness apart from the journey there to Sandringham and back from Kessingland was very little daily as we mostly used buses and foot to view most of the East Anglian coastline and some of the inner villages, we walked about 29 miles, an average of just over 2 miles per day with one day around 5 miles being the most walking.
History time folks, you know I like to do this! It is worth noting that as you enter Norfolk you are reminded of their most famous son, Horatio Nelson, the county sign says, "Nelson's County". He was born at Burnham Thorpe which we did visit on the last day on the way home but were deeply disappointed by the lack of tribute, one solitary plaque on a wall on a newly built Nelson's barn, even the church (his father was vicar of Burnham Thorpe), was a huge disappointment. Whilst being proud at a county level, maybe they are embarrassed by his relationship with Emma (Amy) Lyon / Hart / Hamilton, actress and model or as I prefer to call her "Page 3 stunner", at the local level, so much more could be made at Burnham Thorpe for this great Naval Admiral #justsayin
We spent a bit of time reading up on him, Emma and the daughter Horatia whom they pretended was adopted in Naples, named Horatia Nelson Thompson (surname after a ship mate of Horatio's) later Ward (she married a vicar) and is buried in Pinner, Middlesex, note to self-visit when we next see Cuz Ros & Nigel. Very weird relationships, what I would call a menage-a-quatre, when they all lived at Merton House, Surrey, Sir William, Mrs Cadogan, Emma and Nelson, oh and daughter Horatia. Click on the links to read more #historylessonover
Our dear friend Kevin Jackson "Moose / KJ" (1955-2021) was writing his last short historical on Nelson, it was going to be published via Amazon, but they told me on numerous occasions it was being held up although I can see it is now available should you wish. Plug for Kev BUY HERE
Nelson’s Victory: Trafalgar and Tragedy published by TSB | Can of Worms, 2021 (ISBN 978-1-911673-06-4) UK & (ISBN 978-1-948585-19-4) US
Kev had borrowed a lot of Captain Cook biography books from us (our travel hero) and it was going to be his next, he asked us if we would mind if he put in a foreword to us in it... Mind? my god we were absolutely "stoked / made up", not sure if it was finished or will ever get published but we will keep an eye out! You can see many of our Motorhome travels in search of Captain Cook under our 2007-8, 2010, 2013 and 2017 trips links in the trailer!
We attended a memorial at the Hammersmith club to remember Kev on Saturday 22nd Oct 2022, arranged by his wife Claire, a lovely fitting tribute to a wonderful man, I have included my own personal add on to that here
DIARY
This shows where we went and camped on each day of our 13-day mini break in Norfolk & Suffolk in October 2022.
This slideshow is taken from what Google Photos has automatically recorded about the known locations of where our pictures are taken from, all very clever but I thought I would at least record it here.
2 DAYS AT THE SANDRINGHAM ESTATE CAMPSITE
Covers the 5th and 6th of October.
Left home about 11 a.m. and headed off towards Norfolk via our usual route. Stopped on route for lunch in a layby on the A47 with cobs and sandwiches (including marmite, yippee!) love it or hate it, I love it and of course Annie's homemade lemon drizzle cake, start off the way you mean to continue I say.
Arrived at the Sandringham Estate Caravan and Motorhome club site at about 2.30 p.m. We were surprised at how empty it was, nicely laid out site really in 2 areas with 2 facilities blocks, 1 motorhome service point which we used to fill up with water, habitation 110 liters for our Wendy House and of course the loo flush. Chose a pitch quite close to the amenities block, pitch number 73. See Site Details. It was also close to the woodland pathway leading across to Sandringham, which we did try visiting the house and gardens the next day, but the house was closed as a Friday and as the car parking fees were huge, we decided against it. You can park for 30 minutes for free, hardly long enough to even walk to the ticket office. Anyhow we had a bit of a walk around the site and out the entrance researching where the bus stops were for our trip to King's Lynn the next day. Loved the Bug-ingham palace insect houses dotted around the site and the tributes to our late queen. After this we went back to the van and carried on listening to our Richard Osman audiobook before about 6 p.m. trundling down to the gate to buy our lovely fish and chip supper from the mobile van that visits the site, luckily for us on a Wednesday evening. Thursday by the way is the wood fired pizza van at the gate, but we skipped that as Keef had the trad lasagna, salad and garlic bread at the ready. Thursday started as a very sunny day, and we walked to the bus stop just outside the site (other side of the road) to catch the bus to Kings Lynn. The opposite way the bus goes is Hunstanton on the coast. King's Lynn was only about 15 minutes by bus, the Hunstanton trip is about 30 minutes. Love our old codgers bus pass, long may it remain, quite a perk!
King's Lynn has an association with bad King John being one of the last places he visited as was evident from the Statue, stories about his treasure and cup and sword at Guildhall and Gaol.
The history trail around King's Lynn was lovely with many plaques pointing out what was what, we learnt a lot #culture from historic Marriott's warehouse museum, the old Purfleet dock area, back streets, priory, granary, malthouse, Custom House, Whites House, King's Lynns famous son, captain George Vancouver (yes, its Canada again folks), jail, guildhall, the guy in there giving us a personal history tour (obs. bored) , did you know on the dole was to do with the doling knife used to dole our left overs to the poor, I didn't #fact , St Anne's church, the Globe, Market square, the fabulous Minster and old town area, King's Lynns museum, quayside, walks, Asda on the way in and later teehee for booze and cakes (ok not cultural but almost edifying Haha)
Here is a slideshow of our images taken during those 2 days, it last approximately 7 minutes.
2 DAYS AT WELLS NEXT SEA OR AS AWAG SAID WELLS NOT NEAR THE SEA
Covers the 7th and 8th October. The above introductory comment you would understand if you visited the beach and the tide was out as it was when we went, it's a true hike to the sea.
Anyhow in chronological order, we packed up and left the Sandringham site after using the motorhome service station to fill up again and drain off our wastewater etc. Our first stop was Castle Rising, an English heritage site not far from the campsite, we parked up and went to take a view of the ruins. Nice area though and fabulous sunshine to show it off in its splendour. We then called in at the ASDA store on the route to King's Lynn for provisions before going to the Queen's Sandringham (I guess now King Charles III's estate) how weird is it saying that it's been my lifetime so far! We parked up and walked to the ticket office, huge gardens, cafes, shops but sadly as it was a Friday the house was closed, so we decided to travel on.
Annie was interested in getting some lavender for po-pouri bags, so we went to Norfolk Lavender on the A149, bit difficult parking a motorhome up in their somewhat cramped packed car park but as Wendy house is so slender it wasn't an issue. Sadly, they didn't have any, but it was a fun look around and their Farm shop was a delight, bought coronation chicken pasties for lunch and some Black Bomber cheese, a particular favourite. Amazing gourds on display and fresh local produce, the varieties of Norfolk apples I had never heard of was extensive. Anyhow we took our ill-gotten gains off to Hunstanton sea front and had lunch there, pasties and Annie's remaining lemon drizzle cake, why not? Amazingly blowy on the sea front, i foolishly got out for a closer look over the cliffs, I and the van were rocking and not in a good way.
After lunch on the way to Wells-next-the-sea we stopped at the Burnham Overy Staithe windmill, we came across Staithe and Wherry a lot as words in Norfolk, a wherry I knew as an old-style boat but staithe I had to look up, "a landing stage for loading or unloading cargo boats", there you go although as the windmill was now inland, I wasn't sure how it applied. After the windmill we went onto the campsite, checked in and set up on pitch 18, good facilities, not so great pitches, and at £44 a night the most we have ever paid in the UK, I have to say not worth it. Mobile vans doing fish and chips, Thai, Indian, Pizza etc. visited the field day by day but we had enough in the fridge already so ate in.
The next day after showers we walked to the beach and had a really good walk along, a massive expanse of sand stretching miles. All owned by the Holkham Estate. The beach huts are possible the best I've seen on any beach even beating Southwold. After the beach we took the tow path back along past the RNLI (contributing, they do a great job and in my humble opinion should be centrally funded) and along the harbour back into the town, a lovely stroll in beautiful sunshine, great views, bird life and benches should you wish to sit a while and take it all in. In town we had a coffee and lemon drizzle cake. A long stroll up the main street to the end, uphill, looking in the very interesting array of fisherman and other types of shop, of course being forced into having a local made ice-cream on route. Unheard of normally in October. we then came back downhill via one of the many little jitties, adorned with flint fisherman's cottages, just lovely. By the time we had walked back to the site we had walked just over 5 miles, exhausted we revived in the van with, you guessed it cake and assam tea whilst listening to a few more chapters of the Thursday Murder Club, we slept well that night. See the Spoonbill Drift Touring Park details HERE
The slideshow is 5 minutes long
3 DAYS AT WEST RUNTON, NEAR CROMER
Covers 9th, 10th and 11th October. Sunday morning breakfasted we "broke camp" and having realised we couldn't make the departure time for the Wells & Walsingham steam train from the Wells station, Keef rang to see if we could do a return journey from the other end of the line at Walsingham, the lady said yes, so we got our skates on and travelling through some lovely Norfolk villages parked up at the village car park (pay and display) beyond the Farm shop and literally legged it to the station with a few minutes to spare. A very nice 30 minutes each way through rural Norfolk on this narrow-gauge railway, I heard a guy say he was taking lots of pix to feed his son's obsession with train porn #haha the journey was great fun, and we avoided the Essex Hen do that had decided this was their day out, little did they realise it was quite a hike at the Wells end to the nearest pub #haha again
After the train we had a look in the Saint Seraphim Trusts reused post Beecham station now a shrine with tranquil and well-maintained gardens at the back along the old platform. A true trainspotter delights. The garden shed had lots of memorabilia about the villages old station and line, such a shame, will they ever be resurrected Mr. Shapps, Grrr, another broken promise #sorrypolitics
After this we moved the van down into Walsingham and had a good walk around, quite a historic village, very catholic ended up on our circular walk at the farm shop, much more expensive than the one at Norfolk Lavender so we gave it a miss in the purchase stakes.
From Walsingham we travelled on through many lovely villages especially the wonderfully named Little and Great Snoring. Annie my lips are sealed! We arrived at the West Runton Incleboro Fields caravan and motorhome club site at about 5 p.m. Lovely staff so helpful and friendly, got settled in for the night and planned tomorrow's excursion. For site details click HERE. We were on Pitch 16.
Monday, we visited the National Trust's Blickling Hall, not surprisingly at Blicking. Full of history it was where Anne Boleyn was born, not a lot of people know that, as Michael Caine once uttered in his best Cockney. A fascinating place with many clocks, grapevines, vistas and a whole lot more topped off for Annie with the Norfolk Craft market in one of the upper floors, we had great fun and learning all day and the guides were very knowledgeable. See the slideshow to get a much better idea.
We met an older couple who had the same van as us so traded notes. We had lunch in the van then started slowly making our way back to the campsite. We stopped at what we thought was an open craft center on the way back at Abby, only it was closed apart from (his words) the mad metal man with anvil but no forge, making / welding a giant Giraffe for a commission, he was a lovely bloke who let us watch, ask questions etc. The lady who had asked him to make this said it would enable her to think she was on the safari she had never done every time she looked out of the window. She must have had a huge garden. I joked we could get him to do a mouse for ours.
After taking to him for a bit and asking all manner of ill-informed questions #teehee we returned to base via Cromer where we parked up on the sea front, fairly empty as late in the day, we walked through the many landscaped sunken gardens along towards the RNLI station and pier, stopping by the west cliffs for some fab views. Something that saddened us was the passing of the Cromer bagots which you could see the remains of on the cliff edges, traditional goats that had long since perished. Apparently, they will make a return in summer. That is such good news.
Happy and filled with new knowledge we settled back in for tea on pitch 15. The site goes across a golf course on entry, FOUR!
On the Tuesday we walked past the West Runton common and railway station to the bus stop to catch the bus into Sheringham, where we had an extensive walk through the main street, shop hopping, especially drawn to the Norfolk ales shop and the hippy shop down to the coast and along the promenade quite a way past beach huts and sandpipers as far as the east end and back via the murals showing crabs, lifeboat history and town criers. Almost back to the bus stop Keef had a look at the North Norfolk tourist steam train before we caught the bus back chatting whilst awaiting its arrival with a couple from Ely Cambridgeshire who owned a static caravan at West Runton, fun times. If you want to see site details, click HERE.
The slideshow is almost 12 minutes long
You probably all know of my huge interest in Horology and Blickling Hall National Trust house enabled me to further indulge my passion in all thing's clocks, here are just some of the many English, French and American ones I found at the house. Just wonderful
3 DAYS ON THE GREAT YARMOUTH RACETRACK, LISTED AS CRAISTER
Covers 12th, 13th and 14th October. Wednesday, we packed up and headed off towards Horning ready for our paddlesteamer ride which I had prebooked (essential) online. As we left the site across the golf course, we stopped opposite West Runton common as we saw a muntjac deer chomping away. He didn't seem concerned at our presence and indeed allowed me to both photograph and film him.
We parked up in the sailing club paid car park and were surprised to find first a silver shadow roller parked in the car park behind us, then a successive series of old English cars dating back to the early 1900's all being Alvis's and it was a club who were on tour and going to join our 1 p.m. 90-minute round trip on the Southern Comfort Mississippi river boat cruise.
We started talking to one of the club members who was very pleasant and most informative, what nice cars and all in such pristine condition.
After a brief chat and viewing we went off for a walk around the village of Horning, an incredibly quaint place with thatched roof pubs, expensive properties on the water's edge with space to park your boat. On the way back to the paddle steamer, we had to arrive 15 mins early for boarding we noticed a set of early Dickens books in the Post Office window. We bought then and quickly rushed them back to the van, heavy they most definitely were.
We then joined the queue for our cruise it was packed but we managed to get a prime seat outside up top enabling fab views and easy listening to the captains great and humorous commentary throughout our journey. We turned at Ramsbottom Broad in the Broads national park which we had entered from the river Bure which was mostly what we travelled on. Past various luxury abodes, the ferry inn, the marina with its Spoonbill metal statue, even the ranger who patrols the broads, the vicar's rectory off church road, returning the way we went, a little blowy but nothing a hat and gloves couldn't sort out. As we came back to land 3 older guys were racing model yachts in the harbour, much like the real thing, magical. We thanked the captain for a fun afternoon and returned to the van to warm ourselves up with hot soup and bread and yes you guessed it, cake!
We then carried onto Gorleston St Andrews church across the huge new Great Yarmouth harbour bridge in search of Annie's rellie Spencer Smythe who was Great Yarmouth harbour master for many a year. Sadly, no luck despite looking at every row of gravestones. We then came back over the bridge to our next campsite, called Craister but actually in the middle of the Great Yarmouth racecourse.
Thursday morning, up early, breakfasted and walked out across the Melling Road (sorry not sure what the crossing across the racetrack at Caister is called) to the bus stop and caught the no 8 local bus into Great Yarmouth bus station. From here we caught the express bus, either X1 or X11 can't remember which into Norwich bus station a very fast ride, normally costs £7.50 free to us pensioners #tick
Walked around various older areas of Norwich, Timber Hill, Castle gardens and old Market area. To be honest much of the older areas like Castle Fee etc. have been redeveloped so overall we were quite disappointed in Norwich and the 60s planning department should be shot, the best building by far is the original Norwich Union headquarters (now Aviva) so in the end we decided to cut our loses, had a lovely 2 course lunch in Bella Italia, did a quick bit of shopping in the Tesco's express and hot footed it out of there back on the bus to Great Yarmouth and then back to the campsite. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing.
Friday, we caught the bus no 8 the other way as far as it went which was to Marram Drive, this was after an aborted attempt to walk out of the site to the left and down to the coast there, fairly quickly we realised that was impossible as it was open scrub land and miles to walk so the bus was a far better option to see the beach at Caister on Sea. Marram drive was quite close, we had a nice long walk as far as we could go on the promenade towards Caister town, Keef getting onto the beach shore and sand under foot. Once we could go no further, we turned back and walked through the Caister Haven holiday camp, more or less empty, used the cash machine, observed what it had tom offer, it claimed to be Britain's 1st ever holiday park, not sure if that is true. Walked all the way through and out onto the main road to look for the first bus stop and caught it all the way back to the campsite. Caister is nice and interesting. Still bits we couldn't see so will bring the van back tomorrow.
It you wish to see the site details plus some stuff on Norfolk bus routes click HERE.
The slideshow is 7 minutes long
2 DAYS BACK AT WHITE HOUSE BEACH, KESSINGLAND, SEE BLOG 184 FOR EARLIER VISIT
Covers nights of 15th and 16th October, we travelled home after 13 lovely days in the sun on the 17th of October. So, Saturday 15th we packed up the van and went and did a bit of shopping in the Tesco's on the outskirts of Caister we had spied on the way in by bus yesterday. After that we drove along the narrow road called appropriately Beach Road but found height barrier bars at the car park in front of the RNLI preventing the van from going in, turned around and went up and parked on the side of the road a bit further up and walked back. A lovely beach area with nice views, interesting fisherman's cottages and outhouses to store nets etc. in, mostly Victorian at a guess. Loved the Lions Head gates leading to the sands.
After Caister we drove to the Southtown area of Great Yarmouth to St Mary's church to try and find Annie's relatives gravestone, sadly the church has none, but I have the vicar's number to follow up, Spencer Smythe was a "big fish" in this fishing community for many a year as harbour master so hopefully we will get somewhere with this genealogical jigsaw puzzle.
After Great Yarmouth we went to the embankment at Gorleston looking back on the harbour master's house. A nice area with steep cliffs, great views and sunny skies and seas, indeed the cloud formation was quite weird and pronounced as we sat there.
After Gorleston we carried along the coast towards Suffolk visiting Hopton on Sea and Potters Leisure resort which we had been to with my parents and sister and family in 1998 & 1999. Then onto Corton beach another family favourite from years gone by. Until we finally returned to White House breach caravan and motorhome site at Kessingland, pitch 92 this time. Checked in, set up, got ready to walk up to the fish and chip restaurant for tea. Very nice meal with a shared chocolate fudge cake and ice cream for pub. The first course being way too filling. #wimps
We walked back past the lovely Waterfront where we will eat tomorrow all lit up and busy at night.
Sunday was a bit of a lazy day, Annie's knee was giving her some pain, so Keef went beach combing and picture taking over to the beach, got some nice driftwood and stones. Lunch time we went to the fab waterfront restaurant, so love this establishment, it's what drew us back to Kessingland after last time. Afternoon spent sunbathing and reading outside gearing up for the long 5-hour trip back home.
Monday, we packed up earlyish, got some diesel on route and visited Nelson's birthplace at Burnham Thorpe, see HERE for details. After that we called back into our famed ASDA outside King's Lynn and then wended our way home, a fab holiday, loved every minute and feel like we know the East Anglian coastline quite well now. It you want to see the site plan click HERE.
The slideshow is 5 minutes long
GALLERY
See below for the Highlight images split in 3, firstly us and then the landscapes then finally the cakes (oops)
Here is a gallery of assorted pix of us.
Plus, Keef at King's Lynn Customs house on the quayside, just love my birthday tee from dear pals Chris & Allyson "iRetired, there's a nap for that" in case you can't read it #friends
See our fun motorhome travelling with them back in 2017
Here is a gallery of what I would deem the highlights or maybe just best pictures from throughout the trip, clearly the whole set of our images are included within the individual sections of the trip based around which campsites we stayed at. It lasts about 7minutes and is accompanied by Kate Bush music #strangerthings
Here is the gallery of some if not all the cakes we managed to consume during our calorie ladened adventures, our excuse, apart from "we are on holiday" is that as we are now deep into autumn and need to generate body heat during the energy crisis, OK as it was totally sunny during our explorations of darkest Norfolk & Suffolk that "business case" probably doesn't hold water, tee hee #cake
So, the cakes we ate were in no particular order, Annie's homemade Mary Berry Lemon Drizzle tray bake, Eccles cakes, millionaire slices, terry's chocolate orange cheesecake, warmed chocolate fudge cake with chocolate sauce, chocolate eclairs, more chocolate cake oh and a few ice creams but they don't count as cake. I've probably missed some but that is most definitely guilty as charged. So now it's back to Cals and carbs in a big way #boo
PS it's not cake but I can't sing the praises of Jigfoot, a Norfolk golden ale enough, just loved it, had it first in the Warehouse on quayside in King's Lynn, a 14th century conversion with museum of old King's Lynn buildings and trades, I then bought various bottles and even bought some home #yummy
Also, Adnam's ghostship from Suffolk is not bad, had this in Kessingland but have had it often in Southwold before and at Potters Leisure Resort in Hopton on Sea which we did revisit for nostalgic reasons, we went as an extended family with Mum & Dad in both 1998 and 1999. #family
TALKIES
This is the total set of talkies videos combined using MS Photos app taken from my phone and Annie's, it last about 20 minutes but there are train rides, beach walks, and much much more, give it a view. love #craister
HIGHLIGHTS / LOWLIGHTS
In no particular order the HIGHLIGHTS would be, sunshine, Wendy House running smooth, a variety of cakes, Blickling Hall NT house and its Norfolk Craft fair, very interesting, the Wells and Walsingham miniature steam railway, 30 minutes each way, we went from the Walsingham end, it's a bit far away from Wells so drove, the garden of peace located on the pre-Beecham railway station, Walsingham Catholic village, a tribute to Charles 1st the Martyr as they named him, Wells beach huts, realising (finally) that my 12V light system in the van only works off the hab. (habitation) battery (silly me!), Bella Italia in Norwich, Timber hill in Norwich, Using our bus passes, proximity to M&CC sites to the bus stops at nearly every site, good stuff , Norfolk Lavender farm shop, listening to the Thursday Murder Club audiobook, Reading Jo Nesbo's latest - The Jealousy Man set of short stories, twists galore, v clever, Annie mastering pix on her phone, Horning and the whole paddle steamer experience (the Southern Comfort) on the Norfolk Broads, the commentary was fun sometimes hilarious, plus getting the complete set of 1930s Dickens books from the local post office there, plus and Horning was the village that kept on giving meeting and seeing the old Alvis car club, just so lucky, Gorleston on Sea coast line, Turner's Walton Bridge (pre impressionism, more Constable) wholly owned by Norfolk and currently on show in the King's Lynn Museum, just wonderful alongside a special Turner exhibition, I spent a while there, the lovely little sandpipers at Sheringham, Steeleye Span (with Maddy Prior) playing in King's Lynn, sadly not when we were there else would definitely have gone, John Sell Cottman, a Norfolk artist from the JMW Turner school, and trained by him during Turner's stays in Norfolk, Marriott's warehouse Kings Lynn, Fish & Chip suppers at both Sandringham and Kessingland, munch jack on west runton common near the golf course entry to the site at Incleboro Fields.
Now also in no particular order the LOWLIGHTS would be, Pinewood independent site at Wells, whilst the facilities and location were excellent at £44 a night the pitches were not good, too many sites with grass only pitches when I believed I had booked hard standing, the mentality of some Brits, whilst Wells beach clearly delimited areas with big signs saying NO DOGs people took no notice, clicking relay on switch board in van (gotta get it fixed), Hunstanton, Lowestoft, most of Great Yarmouth, Norwich (medieval my whatsit!) , Norfolk Lavender not having any Lavendar for sale, Boo! The Club site new app not working properly re "take deposit, take balance automatically night before"... in fairness to the great Warden at Incleboro Fields site he reported the problem and rang ahead on our behalf and its will i'm sure get sorted (I ....probably in a minority here....like the new Club site app, teething problems I accept from poor testing, but it will all get sorted) #mytuppenceworth
Not being able to find the gravestone of Annie's rellie Spencer Smythe who was harbour master at Great Yarmouth for ages even though we looked in 2 churches at St Andrews, Gorleston and St Mary's Southtown, realising that my phone photos only works with my finger as security, when Annie uses it they always turn into videos, she now uses her own phone for images #goodnews Too many yappy little dogs that sadly started their barking v early in the morning, we like to sleep in when camping, Holkham Hall estate near Wells was far too expensive for House & Gardens else we would have visited, Lowestoft quay side area, old people at the back of the express bus into Norwich taking up 2 seats each or putting shopping bags on the seats preventing people from getting on saying it was full and therefore having to wait for the next bus, appalling behaviour .
MAPS NORFOLK & SUFFOLK
CAMPSITE DETAILS
Here are the images of pitches we stayed at on each campsite, they will be followed by the site plans
Sandringham, Caravan and Motorhome Club Site
Here are some details we picked up at the Sandringham estate, quite empty really but I guess understandable for Autumn although the weather belied the season
Wells-Next-The-Sea, Pinewoods estate
This is all private with static caravans and part of the wider Holkham estate, they seem to own the beach as well. We didn't visit as House & Gardens cost £34 p.p. and we didn't expect to be there that long.
West Runton, Cromer, Incleboro Fields Caravan and Motorhome Club Site
Here are some details we picked up at the West Runton site, quite empty really but I guess understandable for Autumn although the weather belied the season, but also the wardens had closed off much of the site as limited visitor numbers.
Great Yarmouth Racecourse / Caister Caravan and Motorhome Club Site
Here are a few details including the Norfolk Buses route map and suggestions, we used buses heavily from the site as you can go a long way on an oldie's free bus pass especially with stops really close by just outside the site entrance, ideal for the "hard of walking" like us #smile
White House Beach Caravan and Motorhome Club Site, Kessingland
Here is a pitch map, our second visit in a month, see BLOG 184 We were on Pitch 92 this time and just around the corner Pitch 93 last time, very handy for sunshine, hence our sitting out on chairs on Sunday afternoon after a big Sunday lunch. Site really attractive for 1) nice warden who know our pals Lawrence & Yvonne (at the Bolton Abbey site in Yorkshire) and they come from Stapleford / Breaston / Long Eaton (indeed the wardens at Great Yarmouth also know L&Y) 2) Waterfront Restaurant and Fish & Chip restaurant and Old Sailors pub (great Gone Fishing local ale) #recommendation
AUDIOBOOK AND DICKENS
I was lucky enough to buy this set of 1930s Dickens books whilst on our travels from the post office in Horning, many thanks to the older gentlemen who was happy to sell them to us. Just wonderful, clearly, they are not currently in publication order but paying homage to my inherent OCD #nerd I will set them straight
Here is the chronological order they were written in, I have read quite a few but will definitely read those I haven't as yet