As promised, here is a blog on my holiday to Norfolk earlier this Summer. I know that summer holidays seem to be a long time ago now but, due to lots of things going on within my family, I have only now been able to find the time to blog again.

So, let me try to remember what my husband and I got up to during our short stay in Bressingham in Norfolk. This holiday and the one we had in Fife, Scotland, were both organised through Sykes Cottages and, I have got to say that we had no complaints whatsoever. Both properties were privately owned and were of an extremely high standard. The accommodation at Bressingham was a studio that was situated within the garden of the owners.

Now saying this, it sounds like we were staying in someone’s garden shed however this could not be further from the truth. The studio contained a kitchen/living area with patio doors onto our patio with garden furniture and there was also a separate double bedroom and a separate bathroom with a shower cubicle. The garden was absolutely outstanding with flowerbeds, vegetable garden, apple and pear trees and a pond which four ducks happily swam in each day (although when they started wandering around the outside of our studio at 1 am quacking loudly their cuteness was not something I thought of in fact I can’t write what I was actually thinking of as I may never be able to blog for Gateshead Carers again!)

Bressingham itself is a village that has a population of just over 800 people. Within Bressingham, there are two tourist attractions, Bressingham Gardens and Nursery and the Dad’s Army Museum which attract a lot of interest.

Bressingham Gardens feature over 8,000 species and varieties of plants in six linked gardens over 17 acres of breathtaking views. I was amazed to discover that there are many different species of plants. The walkways through the gardens are all lawned but are still accessible as I was still able to drive my scooter around them.

I have honestly got to say that these gardens are the best I have ever visited and would highly recommend visiting them if you are ever in Norfolk.

The Gardens are looked after by three generations of the Bloom Family and they are a credit to them. Within the Gardens there is the former family home Bressingham Hall which is a Georgian Mansion that can be hired out for Weddings which I would imagine would be amazing especially for taking the wedding photographs.

I remember when my husband and I married almost 35 years ago I was over the moon with the flowers in my bouquet and having my wedding reception at the local pub’s restaurant and an evening disco at the local social club, how times have changed, our first mortgage was probably not far off the cost of some weddings nowadays. I’m afraid I didn’t marry into money but at least my husband has kept a roof over our heads all of these years even if I had to pay for our ridge tiles to be repointed last week haha!

Anyway, getting back to Norfolk. On our second day, it was my husbands 60th Birthday and as a treat, I paid for us to visit the Dad’s Army Museum. The Museum was indoors and contained the actual vehicles which were used during the filming of the Dad’s Army sitcom which was televised in the late 1960s through to the early 1970s. There were also full-size replicas of some of the buildings which appeared in the series. Unfortunately due to Covid restrictions some of the sets were not accessible however this did not stop my husband from sitting down in Captain Mainwaring’s chair and shouting out “Pike, you stupid boy!” Of course, when I had to alert him that there was a member of staff heading in our direction it wasn’t Pike who was looking stupid!

Our stay in Norfolk was only for 5 days however we were still able to visit Great Yarmouth Racecourse and had a wonderful day basking in the sunshine, eating burgers and chips and losing a small fortune!
I have got to say that the staff were absolutely brilliant at ensuring that everyone was Covid safe by putting out garden tables and chairs at a safe distance from each other. I don’t know whether it was because the weather was so good but everyone seemed so happy and friendly in fact, we spoke to quite a number of people whilst we were there but none of them, unfortunately, had any good tips!

As we have visited Great Yarmouth in the past, we did not visit this time however my husband suggested visiting Lowestoft which is situated at the northernmost part of Suffolk. I have got to say it is somewhere I would never have thought of visiting however I was not disappointed as there is a lovely long promenade which is so wide there is even a cycle path.

The views from the promenade were fantastic and there were plenty of seating areas, where we happily sat watching children playing in the sand and families buying fish and chips, ice creams and all of the usual seaside treats. We took a picnic with us but once the aroma of fish and chips reached us I was straight into my purse sending my husband off with an order of chips with batter and a 99 sugar cone. Of course, this fell onto deaf ears as he returned with fish, chips and mushy peas, cinder toffee, candy floss and a toffee apple, of course, I couldn’t refuse as I was always brought up it is rude to refuse. Of course that evening I didn’t sit out on the patio drinking wine instead I was sitting on the sofa knocking back a bottle of Gaviscon as I had terrible heartburn, you would think at my age I would learn but I never do.

Well folks this is the end of my holiday ramblings which I am quite relieved at as taking on the persona of Judith Chalmers can be quite tiring! (For those of you who don’t know who Judith Chalmers is she is an attractive blonde lady who presented “Wish you Were Here” in the 1970s, basically the complete opposite of me!)

So be prepared as the next holidays I will be blogging about will start with the letter C so just hope that my laptop loses power haha!

Take care of yourselves and speak soon.

Susie x