Meandering through Suffolk and Norfolk

For the August Bank holiday, Phil and I took a jaunt out to Norfolk - the coastal area just north east of London. We had a great weekend pottering around the various National Trust and English Heritage sites in the area and staying in lovely English B&Bs.

Here's a snapshot of our weekend...

First stop was Sutton Hoo, an ancient Anglo-Saxon burial site where they dug up a number of buried people, a horse, royal treasures and even a boat in which a king was laid to rest. We've seen quite a few burial mounds now and there is a small part of us that thinks the English are just cleverly making money off some random mounds of dirt, so instead of some photos of said mounds, here are two funny signs from the site.

You may need to zoom in to read it, but the sign says "No exit from burial site". Think about it...

And my favourite - dog parking!


If you visit Sutton Hoo make sure you look up at the eaves of the buildings.


Next stop was Horsey Windpump - a wind pump (not a mill despite its appearance) used to drain the water from the surrounding farmland, which is mostly below sea level. It's an interesting area because you can see quite tall boat masts that look like they are just coming up out of the fields, as you can't see the canals at road level. We did take a walk though and suddenly the fields opened up to reveal a huge lake.


This is a random duck. No story - I just like the photo.


At the entrance to the windpump we were given a fact sheet and were told there would be a quiz at the end. Phil hassled me for trying to remember all the facts on the sheet as we looked around, but I got my own back when I was given sticker for correctly answering the mans's question at the end. Here's me proudly displaying my winnings with the windpump in the background.


About an hour's trek away we found 50-60 grey seals lazing in the sunshine. There were a couple of brave seal souls in the freezing water, but most were napping on the beach occasionally glancing up at the gathering observers.


On our way back to the car through the fields, Phil was almost taken out by this little fellow who came in for a slightly out of control landing almost at our feet.


Our B&B host on Sunday night recommended that we visit the local village of Wolverton. They were celebrating their annual scarecrow festival and almost every house in the village had a little scene in their front yard.

The scarecrow lawnmower man being overcome by moles was hilarious.


Some of my childhood heroes made an appearance in the Mr Men display.


And my favourite - a lady winding up the car, whilst the man (note NOT a gentleman) sits at the wheel. I think this one would be particularly funny in the rain.


We also took the self guided tour of Castle Acre Priory. The pictures don't do justice to the massive size and well preserved details of this ruin, but we highly recommend the audio tour - it gives an interesting insight into priory life and it is not too long. It seemed to us that the downfall of this spectacular site was the prior's wish to be on a level with his noble peers.



I found part of the charm of Norfolk was the pride that the people take in their villages. Many of the buildings are made of stone like the one shown below. It all seemed neat and tidy compared to London life (which is no surprise I guess).


Finally, in my last post I mentioned that there are some things about the UK that we will never understand. One of these things is the British summer holiday at the beach. We've seen thousands of people stretched out on the pebble beach in Brighton and now we've seen the teeth by jowel chalets, beach hut and amusement arcade on the pier style holiday.


As Australians, we find it all a bit odd. We think it must be that the water is WAY too cold to swim in, so the amusement arcade keeps people entertained, and that people took this type of holiday as children so it is a nostalgic pleasure for many.

I suppose our childhood camping holidays with the snakes, spiders, heat and no running water must seem a bit odd to the Brits!

August update

Here's a quick catch up of what's been happening in August...

• Phil passed the "Life in the UK" test, which gets him one step closer to being a British citizen - although there are some things we'll never understand (read on for more on this)!
• We both got a year older and (supposedly) wiser.
• I did a Data Warehousing course (programmer stuff). It was taught by a wonderful 73 year old man who loves his job and never wants to retire. I hope I have jobs that satisfying for the rest of my life, but I suspect some of the euphoria he experiences might be caused by an old "axe to the head" injury that makes him feel like he's living in a dream. Very strange!
• Britain's king of the one-liners, comedian Jimmy Carr, entertained us for an evening at the Epsom Playhouse. We were part of the test audience for his upcoming tour. His pre-prepared jokes were very funny, but he really shone when he improvised from questions from the audience.
  
• Phil has been using his X-Box sessions as physical therapy for his broken thumb. If it wasn't working so well I'd think he was pulling my leg ;)
• My cousin Jane and her husband Steve have been in town on route to their new life in Germany. It's been great to catch up with them and we hope to pop out to Germany to visit once they've settled in.

And most importantly, a huge thank you to my new best-est friend Leanne, who brought us an Aussie resupply package from her recent trip to Australia. Take note future visitors!!