Monday, February 20, 2017

Sunday, February 19, 2017



Hello!


Up around 7 and down to breakfast around 8 am.  Dan was taking both of the boys to a birthday party at 10:30 am some way out of town, where apparently they have an indoor/padded climbing frame on which all the kids can play. 
King's Lynn port

Really a brisk kind of day!
  Philippa took Robert and me into King’s Lynn for the morning.  Being a great reader of Dorothy L. Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey books, King’s Lynn played a prominent part in her book “Nine Tailors” and we’ve always wanted to see it.  Didn’t take long to get there, and we found a great parking place along the quay.  King’s Lynn is a very old city, and they have a wonderful old Minster – St. Margaret’s!  (Which R continues to say isn’t possible…)  My understanding is that one time, King’s Lynn was on the North Sea, but over the past hundreds of years, things have silted in and it is no longer a real fishing or trading port.  At one time, King’s Lynn was a member of the Hanseatic League, and there is quite a legacy of warehouses lining the road.  Many of these have been converted to other uses – both professional and commercial, but they have retained their wonderful initial construction.  We walked around the town center, which is compact and very trim, and even did a bit of shopping … like I actually found a box of Cheezits for Robert! 
King's Lynn old customs hall

This is indeed a first!
Never happened before in Europe, so of course I had to get them for him.  Visited St. Margaret’s and got to hear a bit of organ practice; it’s really a lovely church, from 1101!  Now that’s old! 
Hot chocolate & Jammie Dodgers at the Duke's Head!

R's scone with jam and clotted cream!


Finally had a bit of a sit-down at the Duke’s Head.  Beautiful building on the town square, and they had wonderful hot chocolate and Philippa and I had something known as: Jammie Dodgers (!) which were very good – like two shortbread cookies with jam in between.  Robert had tea and a scone.
Former jail and prison!

St. Margaret's Minster

From there, we started heading toward the coast, to meet up with Dan and boys at the beach in XXX.  Really lovely drive, going past Sandringham, which is one of the Queen’s favorite residences, and now the home of William and Kate, in Anmer Hall.   (None of whom have been spotted as of yet.)  Sandringham is surrounded by a beautiful forest, and is open to the public for walks and playgrounds.  Truly lovely drive past.  Would have loved to stop, but maybe next time? 

Made it to XXXX and parked the car near to the beach.  Found Dan and the boys enjoying ice cream (actually, just the boys) and decided it was time for us to get something to eat.  Very nice café next to the beach, where R had a ham/cheese Panini, I had a ham/cheese cold sandwich, and Philippa had something much more complicated, but I can’t exactly remember what. 
Lovely window and altar

We got to hear some organ practice!
Lovely presentation, with green salad as well as something like a carrot and cabbage slaw, and potato chips.  Excellent!  Then outside to join Dan and the boys on the beach!

There were several rows of beach “huts” on the sand overlooking the beach and brightly painted different colors. 
Dan, Hugh, Leo, Philippa and me!

Did not want to come out of the water!

I love the ripples the tide makes!
Apparently they are all individually owned, and can get quite expensive.  They’re like little boxes with everything one needs all contained there-in, some more elaborate than the others.  (Would love to see inside one sometime!)  We walked down on the sand, over some very definite sand ripples; they were beautiful!  The bottom is very shallow, and the actual North sea was a fair distance out from where we were.  But there were shells everywhere, and lots of puddles and low-lying water.  The boys, both in Wellies, were literally having a ball running through the water, digging and filling holes, and generally getting very wet!  As it was really chilly with the wind on the beach, I was really feeling the cold – of course, I wasn’t running through the water, digging and filling holes, so maybe that was the problem!

We left the beach about 4 pm and did encounter some traffic on the way home, but it was still a lovely drive.  Into the house, and wow, did it smell good!  Dan and Philippa had put together a beef stew in the slow cooker, and it smelled wonderfully! 

Fabulous dinner – stew, dumplings, potatoes, broccoli and carrots – followed by Philippa’s home made Pavlova filled with cream and strawberries and kiwi!  All amazing!  We had a really nice chat around the kitchen table, and up to bed around 9:30 pm.  It is so incredibly quiet and peaceful here in Watlington – really easy to have a good night’s rest!
Fabulous Pavlova!!

Reading to Hugh

R reading to Leo!

Up this morning about 6:30 am and have just been looking at Leo’s fossil and shell collection.  He has some amazing pieces!   Some of the fossils are so small that honestly, he must have excellent eyesight to spot them!  Leo also has some rocks that were a present from his Granny and come from Mount Everest!  Really neat!  Robert promises to send him one of the fossils we found a few years ago from Kemmerer, Wyoming.  Glad to think it will find a good home!

Heading out towards Stonehenge now; will report more (yet again!) later!
Much love,
m
xxx



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