Two Days in Norfolk - Day 2, afternoon

Continuing to fill our second day in Norfolk with as much as possible, we headed to Wells-next-the-Sea for a picnic lunch - not out at the beach or even by the quay as the wind was still howling

but through more narrow streets

 to a village green. At last a place out of the wind where the day actually felt as warm as it looked!

We'd intended heading for Brancaster beach but the thought of the cold wind whistling over the expanse of sand rather put us off. Instead we headed inland to Oxburgh Hall, a National Trust property.

 We visited Oxburgh a few years ago but since discovering that it inspired the setting for Chris Priestley's ghost story The Dead of Winter I've wanted to return. It has everything that a 'proper' old house should have

 a gatehouse with turrets..

....staircases going up....




     ...staircases going down ...

views from the battlements over the surrounding countryside

..a moat..

...a walled garden with apples, pears and  fig trees..












...even a secret hiding place.

 Fortunately, we didn't encounter any ghosts.

 I would have liked to have spent longer exploring but the site was closing for the day and it was time to make our way home at last - feeling like we'd been on holiday for much longer than two days.