Back from the East

We got back from Norfolk at about 5.00pm yesterday. We had a lovely time; the weather was very cold which I actually didn't mind at all and we hardly had any rain.

On Monday we went to a National Trust place at Sutton Hoo - it's basically lots of park land and woods and ancient burial mounds in which they found a ship containing treasure (very rare, they were usually looted). The mask is a reproduction of one of the treasures found. It was a lovely sunny, but cold, day and we had hot chocolate outside overlooking the park before going on a long walk.

Tuesday it was into Norwich for the Beer Festival - I went in for the first hour and played some pub games and then left Peter in there with his brother in law whilst I went to lunch at the Slug and Lettuce with Peter's sister and niece. Norwich is a lovely city and still retains its outdoor market which is lots of little wooden huts. Nice lot of department stores too.

Wednesday we met up with Peter's sister and went to Penthorpe http://www.pensthorpe.com/ (they filmed Autumn Watch and Spring Watch there in past years). I was very impressed with the place - bitterly cold again but walking around kept us warm and we made a pit stop in the cafe at lunch time. Their gift shop had some lovely Christmassy items in it - I know, I know it's probably too early for most people - but not for me :-).

Thursday we had to ourselves and went to another National Trust Property at Anglesey Abbey (http://www.angleseyabbey.org). The house was gorgeous and had surprisingly cosy rooms for such a large house. Most National Trust Properties now have second hand book shops in their outbuildings which is a very nice addition I think, so needless to say we made sure we made a trip in there.

Friday we headed back slowly - the journey was ok except for M25 which was like a car park - how do people commute on that road every day? We got home just as it turned dark and swiftly put a 'no trick or treaters' sign on our door. Call me a party pooper but I really hate it. Anyway, compared to last year when the door bell was ringing every half an hour we were thankfully left alone.

I was tired last night but this morning I woke up at 4.00am and couldn't get back to sleep - laid in bed for about an hour and then gave up and came downstairs and sorted all the washing out and watched the 6.00am Coronation Street omnibus (I gave Peter a rest from my soaps whilst we were away).

Peter is going to football later and I'm looking forward to a day inside in the warm, surfing the net and reading. I loved our break but it's also nice to be home.