A trip to North Norfolk!

At the beginning of last month, we went on a trip to Norfolk for a long weekend away. I’m afraid I’m only just getting round to sorting out the photos as I’ve been pretty busy with uni (just two more months to go though!). We were incredibly lucky to have lovely weather that enabled us to go on some great walks in the Norfolk countryside.

The first walk we went on was a round walk through Castle Acre and towards West Acre (click for walk map). We started at Castle Acre Castle (a weird sandwich of a name), which is an old motte-and-bailey castle, originally built not long after the Norman invasion in 1066!

Next we walked past the Priory, another nearly millennia old building, originally founded by order of Burgundy. We didn’t go in the Priory itself, but it’s owned by English Heritage now and you can pay to access the building.

The walk leaves the roads and takes you through fields, where we sat down and had lunch!

The sun lasted most of the walk, which was great, allowing us to get some lovely photos of the scenery.

And then finally, a walk along the river Nar, which was ever so slightly flooded, and we got a bit muddy. By now the clouds were closing in a little and we were ready for the walk to be done! But it was a lovely walk in a great area of Norfolk.

The next day, we went on a Woodland and Coastal Walk at Sheringham Park. As the name suggests, the walk began in the woodlands in Sheringham Park before heading towards Weybourne Station and the coast.

Once again, we were blessed with beautiful weather leading to great views, like the above of Weybourne village!

We walked past Weybourne Station, part of the North Norfolk Railway, which unfortunately was closed so we were unable to go in and have a look, but from the bridge overlooking it it certainly seemed a lovely quaint little place.

We also came across this marvellous sign (click the picture to enlarge) showcasing some fine Norfolk language!

Soon, the walk headed along the coast, which although providing lovely views, was extremely windy! This part of the walk was particularly difficult as it became very cold and gusty and the coastal path seemed to go on forever!

We did eventually turn off and head back towards the park itself, where the weather, once the wind had died down, proved to be lovely and warm.

And finally back in the park itself before we headed back to the car. I can highly recommend the coastal walk at Sheringham (follow the link above for the instructions) as it was really fun and had some great views of the area.

Sandringham & Hunstanton

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday – we’ve gone away for the weekend to my Granny’s in Norfolk. It’s lovely here but the internet is certainly sporadic!

We started off the day by heading to Hunstanton Beach – which was really quite foggy and overcast! But still a lovely beach, we go there again and again.

After heading back for lunch, we went to Sandringham woods for a walk with my Great-Uncle David and his two dogs, Hetty and Florence.

That’s Hetty there running on ahead!

Sandringham is such a beautiful place – and the sun had decided to show it’s face so it actually became lovely and warm!

We also went to the orchards at Sandringham where they sell Pick Your Own apples.

We got some eating apples (Cox’s) and some cooking ones (Bramleys) so hopefully I’ll be doing some sort of apple baking soon!

Finally, we headed back to Granny’s and spent the evening sitting infront of the fire. Yes it is only September – but her house is several hundred years old and gets very cold in the evenings!

Norwich

Today we went into Norwich.

First of all we visited Norwich Castle. The castle, from the outside, is not ornate or anything “pretty” – in fact it looks like a prison, which is what it was used as for most of its history.

The castle was built by order of William the Conqueror in the eleventh century AD, however from the thirteenth century onwards it was used as a jail, up until it’s conversion to a museum in the late 19th century.

The castle now is a museum, with a miniature recreation of the original Norman layout inside – it’s quite interesting as I don’t know much about the Norman period. However the castle was full of a group of schoolkids so it was quite noisy!

After we went to the castle we had lunch at Pizza Express. I had the new “pianta” pizza which is a new cheeseless option. It’s good to be able to order a pizza that’s meant to not have cheese on, and this pizza was tasty though quite spicy.

The leaves are rocket on top! It had artichokes, mushrooms, pine nuts, and a spicy tomato sauce base.

Cromer

Today we went on a trip to Cromer.

Cromer has been a popular seaside destination for over two centuries – even mentioned by Jane Austen as a great sunbathing spot! It’s easy to see why when you visit – miles of beaches, a lovely pier, cliffs, and many nice small beach villages nearby. Being a popular resort however has the drawback that it can get horrendously busy.

I was expecting Cromer to be quite busy today as the weather was beautiful, but luckily it’s not the school holidays yet and it seemed to be quite empty. The sky was blue, and, quite surpisingly – so was the sea! I don’t think I’ve ever seen the British sea so blue and beautiful! Usually it is a sort of murky grey colour but today it was stunning. We even went for a bit of a paddle!

Hunstanton

Today we went to Hunstanton.

We’ve been a few times before, but every single time we’ve been together it has been raining. The first time we went as a couple, we took this picture:

Shows how wet and rainy it was! It was in August last year – so still summer time, but everywhere was closed, all the shops were shut, it was pretty much dead.

Today – no such thing! The weather has been stunning, and it’s warm and lovely. Of course there is always a breeze at the sea which was nice, but it was hot, sunny, everything you don’t expect the British seaside to be.

Just to prove it we took this picture:

Can you spot the difference?!