We went to Cley Marshes Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve. A bright but windy day. We heard pinging calls and watched bearded tits for a while, flitting about above the reeds. We walked down to the shingle beach. In the distance the wind turbines showed the curvature of the earth, the distant turbines being much shorter …
Rain forecast all day. Last breakfast at the White Horse, looking out over the rainy saltmarsh. We drove half an hour through rural Norfolk, listening to Harry Cox in the car, to Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, near Dereham. We spent a couple of hours looking around the workhouse, where there were exhibits detailing workhouse life. …
Read more “Wednesday: Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, Wells”
After breakfast R went to Titchwell and J stayed at the Inn and played fiddle and went for a walk. At Titchwell there were lots of waders on the shore: sanderlings, knot, turnstones, oystercatchers. A male hen harrier appeared, flying low over the fields in the distance. Pinging calls from some reeds, and then good …
We spent the morning at Titchwell reserve. Lots of people the by the time we left, many with spotting scopes and long lens cameras. Overheard some talk of the rare rufous bush chat that has been causing some excitement down the road in Stiffkey. On the beach there were lots of shells washed up in …
Checked out of the Black Horse at Donington on Bain (8/10, excellent value for money and very friendly) and headed straight for Skegness. Huge sandy beach, wind turbines (132kV from the off-shore substation to land via an undersea cable). Went on the pier. Quiet. Back towards town the vendors were starting to open their souvenir …
Read more “Sunday: Skegness, Frampton Marshes, Snettisham, Brancaster”
Good walk in the Wolds. Rolling hills and farmland, woods, chalk streams. Lunch at the Green Man in Scamblesby. A bit damp and misty when we set off, but it brightened up as the day went on, and the last few miles were in warm bright sunshine. On the high ground, lots of skylarks, and …
Drove northeast to Lincoln, past Stow-on-the-Wold, Moreton-in-Marsh, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Coventry, Leicester, Melton Mowbray, Newark-on-Trent. In Lincoln we parked at the top of the steep hill near the castle and had a look around the castle grounds and the cathedral. We walked down the steep hill called ‘Steep Hill’, where some of the roadside shops from …
After work we drove to the Wheatsheaf in Northleach, near Cheltenham. The evening sun cast long shadows and made the fields and autumn trees shades of orange and gold. The pub was expensive. The room was big and the bed comfortable, but all in all more style than substance. Food (steak tartare, partridge, beetroot, calves …