Places to stay

My experience shows that travelling in October doesn't require booking hotel rooms in advance for one night , but I did have a quick look on the Internet at accommodation in Dover to give me an idea of prices and availability.

Dover: We arrived in Dover about 8pm local time and headed straight for The Premier Lodge Hotel. Thanks to my Internet research, it was easy to find, just a stones throw from the ferry terminal. The hotel is really ideal for our needs, reasonably priced, clean and friendly. I was a bit disappointed to find 'Müller' yoghurt at breakfast .....nothing against Müller of course but I tend not to drink English ale in Munich either.

St. Quentin: On the return journey we crossed the Channel during the afternoon getting to France as the sun sank in a blaze of red. Unfortunately we looked for our hotel in the wrong town (I could have sworn we stayed in St. Omer last time) This added a few hours driving about and looking for the motorway in the dark. Having reached St. Quentin we new we were on the right track. The hotel we were looking for is called B&B and last time we were very satisfied with it. Because of our late arrival (it must have been after ten), the place was not manned. Not to worry :) outside the main entrance is a computer screen and instructions in all sorts of languages. All you need is a generally accepted credit card. Unbelievable – we booked two rooms, one for 2 and one for 3 persons and 5 breakfasts. We printed out our room numbers and entry codes enabling us to gain access to the car park and hotel. The breakfast table was waiting for us as ordered the following morning. Perfect! Of course this system is very impersonal, but with my command of the French language that's really just as well!

Cley-next-the-Sea: Our week at Cley-next-the-Sea took considerable planning. I won't go into details here about why Cley, although I did consider places such as Wells-next-the-Sea or Blakeney too. Suffice to say that spending many happy hours surfing the Internet and browsing through various tourist brochures I always seemed to come back to Dolphin Cottage at Cley. I booked per telephone , confirmed using e.mail and settled the financial side of things at home using electronic banking. Everything went perfectly. The cottage was ideally situated, clean and comfortable and even boasts a dishwasher and a garage just around the corner.

Lichfield: We stayed at the reasonably priced, comfortable and ideally situated Bed & Breakfast, 'Mallard'. Just a few minutes walk from the city centre, Mallard provided the ideal starting point for exploring the City of Lichfield and it's famous sandstone cathedral. Unfortunately Mallard no longer offers Bed and Breakfast facilities.

If you would like further details of any of places mentioned above, please don't hesitate to contact me!!

Lichfield

Knowing Lichfield quite well and having lived near the city many years ago, it doesn't wake the explorer in me as many unknown places tend to do. Having said that, Lichfield does offer the visitor everything a small market town/city has to offer. Despite its city status and its awe inspiring Cathedral with three spires, Lichfield has managed to remain small and quite unassuming.

I could write pages about the cathedral, Samuel Johnson's Birthplace or even the house where Erasmus Darwin lived (Charles' grandfather). But you'll be pleased to know I've decided to leave that to the various guide books.

A City well worth visiting, not far from the Staffordshire Potteries (home of the famous 'Royal Doulton', 'Spode', and 'Wedgewood' to name but three, and only about a half hours train journey to Birmingham with it's really splendid new 'Bullring shopping centre' and trendy bistro area at Brindley Place.

- - see also 'Places to stay' on this site!

Cley-next-the-Sea

After just one week in Cley-next-the-Sea, the question of whether the village is pronounced 'Clay' or 'Cly' remains unanswered, and I suppose it really is quite irrelevant.

The guide books tell us that the village was once a thriving port, and is now frequented mainly by ornithologists and tourists like myself who seek peace and quiet, wide open spaces and invigorating walks across deserted beaches. They're quite right too. October was ideal. The winds blew across the bleak landscape and we had the place almost to ourselves.

Cley has a couple of pubs. We only visited one, The George, situated just a stones throw from Dolphin Cottage. The beer was excellent and apparently the establishment has won some sort of Sunday Times competition concerning village pubs.

The menu was really very good indeed, we dined there twice during our stay and each time were quite impressed........... traditional English pub fayre? (pubs always used to be steak'n'kidney pies or ploughman's lunches I thought) not here, we were served 'posh' curries, really excellent up-market fish&chips and I did enjoy a wonderful Steak & Kidney Pudding , it was delicious!

The whole village has a rather up-market feel about it. The village shop goes under the name of Picnic Fayre and sells all sorts of goodies, cheese, olives and things, a good selection of wines but you won't find a roll of toilet paper or a packet of corn flakes in the whole village. (well at least I didn't see any). I can recommend the truly fine marmalades, there were several to choose from and I would have liked to have tried them all !

There is an art gallery and an impressive porcelain shop aptly named 'Made in Cley' well worth a visit if you're looking for something more exciting than a stick of rock to bring back from your holidays.

I read the Cley-next-the-Sea webpage before the holiday and I must say the village lived up to it's reputation completely, the village and indeed the whole area is well worth a visit!!

The Shire Horse Centre

Having spent the morning being pulled around north Norfolk's countryside by an iron horse, the afternoon was spent getting to know real horses. The village of West Runton, just a short drive from Sheringham, is home to the Norfolk Shire Horse Centre. We had lunch in the café at the centre before visiting the collection of farm animals on show.

Once again the weather was perfect, and before being introduced to the various breed of shire horse, we were given a working demonstration of harrowing and tilling the land using these massive beasts with the big hairy feet (excuse the equestrian terms).

As fascinating as the horses themselves was, in my humble opinion, the old farm machinery on exhibition in two large sheds. The collection contains not only farm equipment but also several old gypsy caravans and a shepherds caravan from bygone days.

The season in October was drawing rapidly to a close, and during our stay there were pleasantly few visitors at the centre, allowing us to ask questions and enjoy almost a personal demonstration, but be warned...... during the summer holidays it must be very popular!

I'm afraid I can't remember all the 'makes' of horses on show, but I think there were about five different sorts. The Shire Horse and The Suffolk Punch to name but two. Expecting a centre with stables bursting at the seems with shire horses and fouls we were somewhat disappointed to see so few of the animals. However the museum itself is worth a visit and the farming demonstration was very interesting indeed.

Admission was £5 for adults and £3 for children (for us £24). A really good afternoon for all.

Norwich and The Norfolk Broads

To see all the sights that the City of Norwich has to offer would require several days. The Norfolk Broads would remain largely unseen after a week. We did both in one day.

Leaving Cley after breakfast we set off for the coastal resort of Sea Palling. A stroll on the wind swept beach and a stroll past the deserted amusement arcade set us in the mood for another busy day.

Travelling on to Horsey I had hoped to visit the Wind-pump, unfortunately it's only open during the second half of the week. We therefore had a stroll beside the Broad before returning to the car.

Hunger was beginning to make it's presence felt, and so we set off in search of fish and chips. Homing in on a welcoming neon 'Fish and Chips' sign in Wroxham, we stormed the quiet restaurant for our take-away fish'n'chips. They were fantastic! We ate lunch on a seat by the river just a few yards away from the restaurant and soon attracted all sorts of water foul. The native swans were very restless and badgered us continually for a few spare chips.

It was getting on for mid-afternoon before we arrived in Norwich, the county's capital city. We parked in the newly developed Castle Mall (I think that's what it's called). Unfortunately we were too late to enjoy the bustling market at it's best because most of the stands, under the famous brightly coloured roofs, were closing for the day. Not to worry, we bought a few goodies in the nearby Tesco and the set off in search of Elm Hill and the Cathedral.

Elm Hill lived up to it's reputation completely.... well worth the visit, and the Cathedral was still there in all it's majesty. A brief look inside then back to the car park before nightfall.

The North Norfolk Railway (The Poppy Line)

I couldn't imagine going to England without enjoying at least one train ride. During the extensive 'planning phase' I discovered the 'North Norfolk Railway' which runs from Sheringham to Holt via Weybourne.

The main station building at Sheringham station was built in 1887 and oozes Victorian atmosphere. We were lucky enough to travel first class (at no extra cost!), and reclined in very large comfortable seats with yards of legroom. The stunning views of the sea, the clear blue sky and the wonderful smell of steam all contributed to a really enjoyable trip.

Arriving at Holt we found the station to be about one and a half miles from the town centre. Not to worry, a horse drawn cart was waiting to ease us gently into the small market town.

We didn't have a great deal of time to explore Holt, the horse and cart would take us back to the station within the hour, but a quick look round the centre revealed the ever present antique shops and galleries. My attempt to buy a pair of socks was in vain.

Before travelling back to the station we sat down in the 'coaching station' courtyard and a cup of tea which was included in the price of the cart ticket.

The return trip on the Poppy Line cost us £23 for a family ticket, not bad for a really first class ride.!! The horse and cart ride should have cost us £18 which on the face of it is rather expensive, however the friendly coachman proved flexible and took pity on a poor down-and-out father of four, and let us go for £15. It really was most enjoyable and much more 'nostalgic' than walking, and the free 'cuppa' set us up nicely for the return journey.