The Queen's Norfolk Retreat

We arrived on Sandringham Caravan Club Site at about 1:00, we had a nice welcome from the wardens and drove round the site to choose a pitch. The weather was great with a lovely warm sun, and due to the volcanic ash from Iceland there weren’t even any vapour trails from planes, so we had our lunch sat outside the van before taking the dogs into the massive open woodland next to the site.

Linda was very excited the next morning and woke up early because her Mum and Dad were arriving today. It was a scorching hot day, so after taking the dogs for a walk in the forest we had our sandwiches sat outside the awning in shorts and t-shirts before relaxing in our chairs reading books/newspapers while the beef and ale casserole was cooking in our electric oven (Thanks Jude and Steve!). Linda’s parents landed earlier than expected (thanks to David’s lead foot), so we settled in to enjoy the casserole.

The next day we headed for Kings Lynn, and because David knew it so well it was decided we would follow him there. We ended up following him round the whole town, turning round several times and getting beeped at by angry locals on more than one occasion! Still at least we found the free car park that they knew about. Oh no, I lie, we didn’t, we parked on the market square for some extortionate sum! After having a look at the river Great Ouse, which is much more picturesque than it may sound we had a walk around the town centre and ended up at the Tower Garden where we had some coffee. The tower is the Greyfriars Tower, and is the only above ground remains of the 13th century Medieval Franciscan Friary, and is the finest example of a medieval bell tower left in the country (there are only 2 others in England). After a walk back through town and a quick stop in a few shops (and Gregg’s café for tea and pastys) we headed out of Kings Lynn up to Hunstanton, where the Parry’s were staying. On the way there we stopped at a few pubs to check their menu’s for this evenings tea, after following Mr ‘I Think I Know Where I’m Going’ for a while and turning around a few times, we’d been in more pubs than you can shake a stick at and not had a single drink! We eventually arrived at Hunstanton and drove past the B&B they were staying in before parking on the sea front so that we could take the dogs for a bit of exercise. We walked past the disused lighthouse (now a house) and down to the beach at St Edmund’s Point, a huge expanse of flat sand meant that Prince and Smudge got a great run around before we headed back to the van to freshen up for tonight’s meal. We ate at The Plume of Feathers in Dursingham Fantastic steaks, rare breed pork burger and scampi ensued until we were all stuffed, and after drinks and scintillating conversation we headed to our separate residences for bed.

We headed out to The Wash this morning to go for a walk along the sea defence. We drove past Kings Lynn and over the Great Ouse and then headed out on lanes that were steadily getting narrower and narrower until eventually it turned into a dirt track up a steep little bank, we drove up it and spotted a tiny car park on the other side (as the OS map had promised), so we parked up and headed across the field towards the sea defence (a huge long mound of earth!).

Once we were up on the embankment the view opened out even more than it had already and we could see right across the mud flats to the hills of Sandringham and even Hunstanton up the coast. We walked along the sea defence for a total of 4 miles before we headed back to the van. Once at the van we decided to pack some butties and go for a walk in the Sandringham estate, past the other campsite and up the road we were soon at the front gate, we weren’t allowed in with dogs, but were allowed to the church, so we walked up the path to the front door where the lady inside said we could take the dogs in, a new experience for them! Inside the church it was very ornate with a lovely polished alter and lectern, quite a surprise compared to the unassuming exterior. We carried on our walk past the visitor centre/shop and stopped by the woods to have our sarnies. We carried on enjoying our walk through the estate past a viewpoint (a wooden structure opened by Her Majesties Agent) and past ER’s gates until we were back at the campsite, 4 miles walked again! Then it was out again to the Plume of Feathers where we had burgers, and fish and chips with Linda’s Mum and Dad.

The next day we met Linda’s parents again and headed out to Wells-Next-The-Sea (although nowadays its not so next-the-sea as the tide brings in more and more mud and sand), we parked up alongside a lovely little grass square surrounded by houses and 3 pubs. We then followed a little path out to the sea front and walked along a path that follows the route of the miniature railway, looking back towards Wells it gave us a great view of the little fishing harbour with the boats rowed up and the busy shops on the front. We had a walk back along the front before heading back to the car to drop the dogs off so that we could get some lunch. Back at the sea front again we hot-footed it into one of the fish and chip restaurants where we had a great lunch if not great service from the not-so-over-enthusiastic staff. Then it was back to the cars to continue up the A149 to Blakeney, which we drove through, turned round and drove back! We did see a wildfowl sanctuary, and a nice looking pub though! We drove on along the lanes until we got to the little village of Letheringsett, there is a working water mill here which we stopped at and we all bought some freshly ground flour. In the shop you could hear the mill working away with all the heavy machinery operating and the millstones constantly grinding. Back at the van the dogs had some bones we had got from the butchers on the grass in the sun and we sat out reading with a brew!

After walking the dogs the next morning we headed to Sandringham House for a look around. We got an ice cream each before paying our £10 each to go into the gardens and house. The gardens were lovely, and just coming into spring a lot of the trees and bushes were in bud if not in bloom, we decided that Queenie must be quite pleased with her gardeners. The tour of the house was brief, but interesting, we got to see the Queen’s sitting room, dining room, office and ballroom all of which were as grand as you might expect with not a single comfortable sofa to loll in. Out of the house we had a walk to the stables where the museum is housed. Lots of old cars, trinkets, collections and thingymebobs kept us entertained for a little while before we were back out and strolling in the grounds again, this time we walked to the 2 lakes and then around the front of the house and had a lie on the Queens lawns before heading out to the car and back to the van.
We met Linda’s parents in the Coach and Horses, Dersingham this time, a very warm welcome, and after some great beer and a great meal we were all convinced to have a pudding! It was a really great way to end a lovely visit, and we said a slightly tearful goodbye to Linda’s parents in the car park before heading back to the van. On the way we went via the Sandringham Forest drive, a very narrow one way forest road which takes you through a quiet part of the estate, at this time of day it was silent down there and we felt a bit sneaky as we drove through, we did catch a brief glimpse of a deer in the road before he ran off.

We have now moved to a little 5 van site just outside Louth in the Lincolnshire Wolds