Norfolk Coast

July 8 - Today we drove south east to the Norfolk coast of England.  First stop was a town called Spalding to have a visit to their Tuesday Market Day.  These are quite popular among several of the towns we’ve visited - large outdoor markets take over the main street, with the usual array of farm produce, baked goods, handicrafts and clothing vendors.  On the way in from the parking lot, we took a picture of this old pub with a thatched roof.  Very pretty.

Thatched-roof pub in Spalding

Almost a Christmas card

Lovely curved building in Spalding

A VERY skinny building that is VERY long.  It's a
Chinese restaurant now.

I suspect Norfolk is most famous for being home to Sandringham, one of the royal family residences.  We didn’t know that when we set out - we happened across some signs pointing there, so we thought we’d drive in to see what’s what.  The area is huge - about 20,000 acres according to the official website.  About 650 of those have been set aside for public use with beautiful footpaths and picnic areas, and FREE parking.  Parking is rarely free in this country.  Tours of the estate are available, but we decided to carry on with our original plans for the day and drove along the coast to find the Holmes Dune National Nature Reserve.  Along the way, we stopped into the village of Heacham to visit the beach - it was miles of sand with a lot of pebbles thrown in.  It wasn’t a particularly warm day and the beach was pretty much empty.  The name of this one is South Beach - somewhat different from its namesake in Miami.

South Beach at Heacham England on the Norfolk coast.

Entrance to South Beach

 The Dunes reserve is beautiful - it’s a huge marshland full of grasses, and about a mile walk out to the shore.  The shoreline is a magnificent, empty sand beach that stretches for miles.  We walked out to the shore and thought about carrying on for awhile, but it was tough to find significant landmarks and getting lost is not on the agenda.  So we meandered back through the grasslands - I met a couple who were busy collecting something into paper bags, and stopped to chat.  They were gathering a seaweed called samphire - we had seen signs for it at various homes along our drive, but had no idea what it was.  They gave me a taste - delicious!  Apparently it’s highly prized by restaurants in London.  Their little dog jumped up on me and covered my leg in some black muck - I tried to wipe it off, but it just smeared, so I had to wait ’til I got home.  I don’t really want to know what that was!

Holme Dunes National Nature Reserve on the Norfolk Coast.  The
ocean is Waaaaaaaaay out there.

We finally made it out to the beach.  Miles and miles of it.

I forgot to take a picture of the samphire, so I took this one off a website
about it: http://www.herbalclinic-swansea.co.uk/podcasts/samphire/

Giant thistles on the dunes

The stone houses in this area are a wee bit different than the ones we’ve seen elsewhere in the country.  They are decorated on the outside with these lovely round stones instead of the flatter, more brick-like ones we’ve seen so far.  Really pretty, and quite pale in colour. 

 

Home near Burnham Deepdale, England.  Norfolk Coast

Home near Burnham Market on the Norfolk Coast.  Love the rock work

This area is pretty much right across from Holland, and there is some Dutch influence to be seen - here’s a windmill we saw on our drive along the coast.  This is now part of the national trust.  The new modern windmills can be seen all over here - many of them are actually floating wind farms out in the ocean!  I thought my eyes were deceiving me, but ’tis true!  Here’s a link to a Wikipedia article I found on this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_wind_turbine

A more traditional windmill on the Norfolk coast.  This
is now part of the national trust.