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Hi! I'm Eunice and I live in Bolton, Lancashire, with my two dogs Sophie and Sugar and an assortment of cats - well it used to be Sophie and Sugar, now it's Sophie and Poppie. I first began camping back in 1997 when my then partner took me to Anglesey for my birthday weekend. We slept in the back of the car - a hatchback - using the cushions off the settee at home as a mattress, and cooked and brewed up on a single burner camping stove. The site was good, the views were great, the weather fantastic and I was completely hooked. Following that weekend we got a two-man tent and some proper accessories and returned to Anglesey two weeks later, then over time we progressed to a three-man tent followed by an old trailer tent, then a new trailer tent, a campervan and finally a caravan. When my partner decided that the grass was greener on the other side of the street - literally - in April 2009 and I suddenly found myself alone after fifteen years, I decided there was no way I was going to give up camping and caravanning if I could cope on my own. This blog is the story of my travels, trials and tribulations since becoming a solo camper - I hope you like it

Thursday September 17th 2015 Part 2 - Blickling Hall and gardens

From Horning I drove through Hoveton and Coltishall up to Aylsham and the nearby National Trust stately home, Blickling Hall. Built in 1616 on the ruins of an older property belonging to the family of Anne Boleyn, legend has it that every year on the anniversary of Anne's execution her headless ghost arrives at Blickling in a carriage driven by an equally headless coachman, and she carries her head with her on her hauntings. I'd seen pictures of Blickling on leaflets I'd picked up from various places some time ago and thought it looked nice, but I wasn't prepared for exactly how nice - situated at the end of a long wide pathway bordered by lawns and well-trimmed yew hedges the red brick mansion with its central clock tower and tall chimneys was absolutely stunning, and most definitely worth a few photos.

Although I really wanted to see the gardens I couldn't visit this place without looking round the house so I decided to do that first. There was so much history connected to Blickling that it would have taken me ages to read through everything so I just followed the designated route round and through the house and if I liked the look of a room I took a photo of it. I particularly liked the arrangement of a decorative mirror and two wall plaque/candle holders on the wall above the fireplace in one of the bathrooms, I thought they were really pretty and deserved a photo of their own.

Back outside I went back to the car park to make a quick check on the dogs - they were all asleep - then with the camera working overtime I wandered round the gardens. With terraces, borders, formal and informal flower beds, shaped hedges and immaculately-cut lawns they were a visual delight, and I'd never before seen so many gardeners busy working in various areas. I got chatting to one of them who was mowing a section of lawn and he pointed out a dragonfly resting on the side wall of the fountain; I've never really seen a dragonfly close up before so that was definitely an opportunity for a photo, and luckily it stayed still long enough for me to snap one.

With time getting on and the need to get back to the dogs I couldn't explore the gardens as much as I would have liked - there was a lake, a walled garden and acres of parkland to see yet - but as I drove out of the car park I mentally put Blickling Hall down on the list of places to return to.

 My route back to California took me through Potter Heigham, and although it was late in the afternoon I once again found myself heading into Latham's for my fourth coffee and Belgian bun; a guilty pleasure maybe, but I'd enjoyed Blickling Hall so much that a coffee and bun just rounded off the afternoon nicely.

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6 comments:

  1. Christine6 October 2015 at 12:12

    Wow. What a beautiful place! Can you even imagine living there 400 years ago?
    One of my favorite things about visiting Europe was the long history. The US was only "discovered" 400 years ago, yet you have buildings that old which were built on the ruins of other buildings.

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  2. Tigermouse6 October 2015 at 13:20

    It really is a beautiful place, and one thing I liked about it was its perfect symmetry on every side. The gardens were gorgeous too, so it's definitely a place I'll be going back to next time I'm in Norfolk

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  3. Anabel Marsh6 October 2015 at 17:03

    What a gorgeous house! And your picture of the dragonfly is amazing. Really enjoying this set of posts.
    Anabel's Travel Blog

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  4. Tigermouse6 October 2015 at 23:57

    I was lucky to get the dragonfly, I wouldn't have known it was there if the gardener hadn't pointed it out to me. There was a frog in the pond too but I couldn't really get a good photo of that as there was only its head above the water.

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  5. ShrinkingAlly22 November 2015 at 19:03

    The dragonfly looks like it is ovipositing - laying eggs. They jam their tail into vegetation, wood (such as trees on the very edge of water), etc, and lay their eggs in there so that when the nymphs hatch out they can quickly get into the water.

    Tigemouse - I love your blog. I came across it from the UK Campsite blog a while back. Full of admiration and envy for your camping adventures and I've noted a couple of sites from your blog for future camping trips of my own. Planning to visit Norfolk next Spring/summer.

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  6. Tigermouse22 November 2015 at 20:35

    Hi Alison - thank you so much for your comment, I'm glad you're enjoying reading through the blog. Thanks too for the info about the dragonfly - I must confess I know nothing about them so that was very interesting.

    I hope you do get to visit Norfolk next year. There are loads of interesting and lovely places to see, especially in the Broads area, and I don't think you'll be disappointed - do let me know where you stay and what you think of the places you see. I won't be going again until next September and no doubt I'll be revisiting some of my favourite places but hopefully I'll also be able to add some new ones to the blog.

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I really appreciate good comments - who doesn't? - but due to a recent tide of spam from anonymous readers all comments will now be moderated, and only those with a direct bearing on this blog will be published. I'm sure my regular blog readers/commenters will understand the need for this - and to anyone whose comment isn't published, you know why.

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