Blickling

Today did not go according to plan. Our best-laid plan was to go to Blickling, then on to Blakeney, and Cromer.

I looked up directions to Blickling on Sattie and was informed that it opened at 10:00. Yeah, well, fuck you very much, Google, that’s when the gardens open, we found out on arrival. The house doesn’t open until 12:00. We’d already bought tickets by this stage, so we hatched a cunning plan to go straight to Blakeney and book a seal-watching boat trip from there.

When we got there, a little after 11:00, we found that due to the tide, all the seal-watching boats had left at 10:45. Bugger. By the time we discovered this we’d also dropped £6 for all-day parking (the only option). We walked around the paths a little, but there was a persistent wind coming in off the sea, and very little bird life to be seen other than the ubiquitous ducks and gulls. We did spot what I thought was a blackcap (not a BLACKCAP, which is an entirely different beast) but too far to get a decent pic of it. Blakeney is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, apparently, but as the tide had gone out, I designated it an Area of Outstanding Natural Muddiness.

We drove on to Cromer, where fortunately we managed to snag a parking space on the street, and had a look at the church there. Other than that, Cromer offers little in the way of history. We walked back along the coast and returned to the car.

By this time, we were getting peckish, so we headed back to Blickling and had our sammies in the garden there. They also wanted to charge us for all-day parking, but I noted that both Blakeney and Blickling were National Trust properties, and their parking tickets look identical. As I already had a ticket with NT and today’s date on it, I decided to chance it and not pay for another.

Blickling Hall is, in fact, very impressive. It was extensively rebuilt in the 17^th century by Sir Henry Hobart, who took over the house previously owned by the Boleyn family, and Anne Boleyn had been born there. It was later remodelled by more Hobarts, and then Kerrs through the distaff side. Amongst other things, an entire staircase was moved from the original entrance hall to another, more impressive area, and extended further. In those days, the size of your staircase was a willy-waving contest. We toured the rest of the house, including the kitchens, and elicited much information from the guides dotted around the house. 

Afterwards, we had a look around the gardens, which were populated by a large flock of greylag geese. It also contained the world’s worst maze.

Worst. Maze. Ever.

By this stage we’d seen enough so, apart from a quick stop for a cup of tea, we made it back to Norwich. This is our last night here – tomorrow we’re off to Lincolnshire.