Wednesday 21 October 2009

Broad Minded

Bob said he had never visited the Norfolk Broads, so on Tuesday we went off to Stalham Staithe to the Museum of The Broads. Check out the excellent ‘online tour’ here. Before wandering round the Museum, we went for a trip on the steam launch ‘Falcon’. This lasted about an hour and was stunning – we saw the beautiful waterways, lots of lovely things growing along the banks – and many birds – gulls and swans, a heron, cormorants – and … a kingfisher. This last was amazingly beautiful, wonderful blue plumage – and he was perching on a branch so we got a really good look at him before he flew off.

The Museum itself is well laid out, with interesting and informative displays about Broads history and life. And by Gift-Aiding our entry fee, we get free entry for a whole year. It will be nice to return again in the spring. [The museum shuts between November & April]

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The wonderful brass and copper machinery on the launch

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A swan and her cygnet – one of this year’s brood. The guys on the boat told us that they watched these birds grow from balls of fluff in the spring.

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It was a little chilly and occasionally breezy, but on the whole a bright, sunny day.

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Barton Broad – this is where Horatio Nelson first learned to sail! Quite appropriate, as today [21st October] is Trafalgar Day.

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This boat is called “Bobs”-although the dummy in it is “Arthur”. We were amused by these mannequins posing in the boats. We also saw Julian and Tarquin!

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The displays of boatbuilding tools were great…

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…as were the carefully crafted model boats.

After a couple of hours at Stalham, which we considered to be time and money well spent, we drove down to Wroxham to ‘Roys’. This shop claims to be ‘the biggest village store in the world’ and certainly dominates the town.

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Twenty years ago, my Mum used to enthuse about ‘going over to Wroxham and having a nice cup of tea in Roys’

Well it’s not changed!

The coffee shop is full of pensioners having their NCOT – but even now, in 2009, a pot-of-tea-for-one costs merely 65p! You can understand why the OAPs love it. As I pointed out to Bob, in a decade or so, we will be among that group – so we might as well start getting used to the place now!

80% of the shops in Wroxham appear to be owned by Roys now.

apple&pear hoveton Then we went and looked round “The Apple And Pear People” shop at Hoveton

Lots of unusual old varieties – many Norfolk natives – of apples and pears, plus medlars, quinces and other fruit.

Just up the road is Wroxham Barns. The website claims  Wroxham Barns is “the 'must visit' for all the family - whatever your age - for stylish clothes, gifts for home and garden, country foods, Bill LeGrice Roses & Plant Centre, Junior Farm, Children's Funfair, 12 Craft Studios and table service restaurant.”

We had a good look round – but didn’t buy any gifts – I almost bought a printed ‘Christmas Quilt’ piece in the Sewing Shop – but noticed it had American spelling, and that put me off! Apologies to my US friends – but if I hung something on my wall like that, then I would notice the ‘wrong’ word every time and it would annoy me.

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The elephant and hippos are charity fund-raisers

We drove back to Cornerstones, where we had a real struggle to upload the photos to the PC. Eventually gave up! In the evening we had a lovely meal with Chris – mindful of the change in the weather, she’d made a warming sausage casserole followed by baked apples.

dining room blue curtains Today we had a relatively lazy day – up late and taking things slow. I shortened some curtains for the dining room – the ones I had originally put in there were quite thin, and I decided that my vintage Laura Ashley ones which were heavier fabric and lined would be better. So I have shortened them and plan to use the leftover beige fabric to make matching cushion pads for the dining chairs. Beige is a better colour than blue for that room anyway. I paid £10 for the LA fabric in a sale back in 1982, so I have definitely had my money’s worth there!

It was good to chat to Steph first thing and wish her a happy day!

After lunch we put on our jackets, and braving the rain, went into Dereham. Mostly we wandered round the pound shops and charity shops [there seem to be a lot of both!] Bob risked a quid on a card reader, and was very pleased that it works, so he kindly downloaded all the pictures from the camera.

Hence all the above – and here are some extra ones from Monday…

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The sewing machine in action [Christmassy bits]

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The Priest’s Hole at Oxburgh – those darker bricks in the corner are the end of the little tunnel you have to crawl through to get in and out.

It is roomy enough once inside, but quite a scramble to get inside in the first place!

And finally a picture of my flowers – these roses smell gorgeous – and were a gift from the congregation at Desford where I preached on Sunday night

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They have quite brightened up the room – and as Bob declared it to be a “Grade A Grey Day” we have really appreciated the sunshine they bring. SO glad we opted for the Broads yesterday – it would have been damp and miserable out on the steam launch this morning!

1 comment:

  1. I wnet to Wroxham in my teens (long ago!) and it seemed as if Roy(s) owned almost everything even then. Happy memories!

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