VISIT TO EAST OF ENGLAND 2011

SUNDAY 4^th

There had been 2 weddings in the area yesterday and so we were joined for a late breakfast by these guests. We had almost finished when the Austrian head chef arrived and asked if everyone would put their order in for a cook breakfast as breakfast finished at 10am. No 10.15 according to the notice on the back of the room doors. First he had heard of it in the time he has been working here. We thought it a funny time to finish. It seems he wanted to get his roast meats in the oven so they would be ready for noon and the queue of Sunday lunches. We said goodbye to the young barmen who had looked after us very well, especially when it came to stamping the card to get a free pint after purchasing 10 beers!

We set off to find the area of woodland and lakes close to West Acre. Our sat.nav. was having a funny day as it tried to take us down a road in West Acre that was unsuitable for cars due to a deep ford. I left Keith to reverse and went to look at another of the lovely village signs this one standing in the children's play area next to a Church. As Keith pulled up I said we should explore as there was a lovely archway leading down a winding drive. Unfortunately it only led to private property but what lovely views of the valley they had. The Church was locked but the clock face was interesting as instead of numbers it read ‘watch and pray’. I wasn’t too sure about the weathered stone head in the centre of the archway – it looked very grotesque with deep sunken eyes.

Moving on we passed Narford Hall, the village of Narford being long gone and those buildings till in existence now come under the village of Narborough. In an adjoining field was a sign stating ‘Church of the Virgin Mary Narborough’. So through the large metal gate we walked down the wide grassy path by a field of some flowering crop to reach a very large lake. To our right through a smaller iron gate we stepped into the church yard where rabbits had undermined several graves behind iron railings. I had seen the rabbit at the entrance to one of the burrows and he quickly disappeared as we walked closer. Another front and stone Church built on a small mound but again the door was locked. We had access to the lake where many swans were resting, that was until they saw us and they fled into the water leaving a carpet of feathers and mess. Under the shade of a large tree a flock of geese were also at rest but again as we slowly walked along they too took to the air honking which set the dogs off in the grounds of the house. We thought this was a good time to leave.

Once again we had been invited to join the family for lunch and meet up with another cousin, Anne and her husband David. Anne’s sister Helen was unable to attend as both she and Anne suffer from a breathing problem inherited from their father, Jim. Both rely on oxygen, unfortunately Helen has to use it all the time. Lunch was taken in the conservatory which was just as well as the rain began. It had been forecast for yesterday but never arrived.

Just after 3 we said our farewells and set off for Holywell, a small village near to St. Ives in Cambridgeshire where we would meet up with our Surrey friends, Ian and Julia. We drove through another very heavy rain shower but arrived at ‘The Old Ferry Boat Inn’ just as the sun reappeared. This pub is reputedly the oldest in the country and stands on the banks of the Great Ouse where a small cabin cruiser was just tying up. As food is served all day there were still lots of people eating. Going up to the bar we were directed to reception where a young man apologised and said we had been transferred to their sister hotel in Huntingdon due to a boiler problem and there was no hot water. Whilst we waited for Ian and Julia to arrive we were offered a complimentary drink. We were just about to go to a table when our friends arrived. Before moving on we booked a table for Tuesday night as we had arranged to meet Brian and Lilly as they live close by in St. Ives.

Setting the sat.nav. whilst I took my photos we began our journey over to Huntingdon about 8 miles away. This town was not on my agenda for our short stay in the area. We reached the town without any problem but drove around the ring road twice looking for ‘The George Hotel’ having been told it was on the ring road. As I asked Keith for the print out of our route given to us by the receptionist I saw Ian was now in front and told Keith to follow him as he seemed to know where he was going. No problem and as we got out of our cars Ian was surprised to find we had been following him. He was getting concerned about the car behind and even more so when it followed him into the car park and then into the small area by the hotel building as this was a pay and display car park owned by the town council.

We had a very pleasant surprise as we walked through the large gateway as the courtyard was a blaze of colour. There seemed to be no problem with the bizzie lizzies cascading down the walls from the window boxes unlike some parts of the country where a disease is wiping them out. All the rooms are set around the courtyard which we discovered as we set off to find rooms 15 and 17. Up and down different levels along narrow squeaking corridors we came to Ian’s room first at the bottom of a couple of steps. We were further along the corridor. It seemed a nice room, but had a very uneven floor, as we found out when we climbed into bed. Keith also discovered that he cannot stand up straight in the bath to use the shower as his head hits the low ceiling! Due to kitchen maintenance we had been requested to eat early which was no problem but I did notice a lot of people came in after us. We went for a short stroll along the High Street which was deserted. Across the road from 'The George' is a church which looked lovely in the floodlights and again colourful planters enhanced the gateway. The area was pedestrianised and all the shops were occupied but apart from Pizza places there seemed very few restaurants.

When it came to going to bed and putting the light out Keith found he nearly rolled out of bed and then I discovered that I too was following him. Getting sorted he then noticed that his feet were higher than his head. Don’t you just love these old places!