May 2017 – Travels
Gerry’s recovery is going well and we have been able to get away for a couple of days on two occasions this month.
The first visit was to Norfolk, an area neither of us knew. We had a great time using the George Hotel in Swaffham as our base. National Trust and English Heritage provided us with some stunning destinations.
First there was Oxburgh Hall surrounded by a wide moat.
Then on to Castle Acre Priory.
Our 
next port of call was the magnificent Felbrigg Hall and Estate.
The walled garden at Felbrigg is large and we spent an enjoyable hour wandering around the beautifully manicured flower and vegetable beds where the labelling of plants was brilliant.
Between the garden and the Hall there was a statue of Mother Nature.
Visitors were encouraged to bring a branch or some foliage found on their walks and place it as part of Mother Nature’s skirt.
The final destination for the day was Blickling Hall.
Our visit to Norfolk would not have been complete without exploring the Heritage Railways. We travelled on both the Mid Norfolk and North Norfolk Lines. The first was on a two car diesel unit and the second was hauled by a very shiny steam engine.
The mid Norfolk line ran from Dereham to Wymondham where we discovered Wymondham Abbey. 
The Abbey is one of the grandest religious buildings in East Anglia and was established in 1107 as part of a monastic foundation. The building suffered as did many during the dissolution of the monasteries but has recently seen some modern building work.
The blend of old and 21st Century architecture is, in our humble view, fantastic and well worth a visit.
We decided to get the kitchen decorated during the month. The first phase was to have the ceiling replastered and new lights fitted. There was going to be a lot of mess so we elected to go away for a couple of nights to Symonds Yat.
En route we stopped at the National Trust gardens at Westbury on Severn. Westbury Court Garden is the only restored Dutch style water garden in the country and is magnificent and very peaceful.
The view across the lake to the church was interesting because it looked like the spire was covered in plastic (It probably was as they are clearly doing a lot of work on the building).
We enjoyed a picnic lunch at Tintern Abbey and meandered to Monmouth where we walked to the Monnow Bridge. The bridge is the only remaining fortified river bridge in Great Britain with its gate tower standing on the bridge.
Once at Symonds Yat we wandered down to the river and were amazed how quickly the pleasant area around the Old Court Hotel (our base) changed to a tacky amusement arcade and buildings in need of much TLC adjacent to a massive caravan site. We retreated quickly to the hotel gardens!
The following day we visited Raglan Castle which was truly magnificent and would rival Goodrich Castle as a place to take children to for the opportunities to explore and play hide and seek etc.
We followed Raglan Castle with the White Castle, Skenfrith and Grosmont Castles which were just ruins but very pleasant to walk around. The weather then broke and we went from walking in T shirts to driving through water covered roads as the heavens opened. However, by the time we got back to the hotel we had gone through the rain and were able to sit out in the gardens and enjoy a glass of wine before dinner.
We returned to Fairford to find the plasterer had finished his work and, despite his warnings that it would be dusty for some time to come, were amazed how clean everything was. Well done to the plasterer and electrician.
