Blickling Hall

This afternoon I am leaving Mum at home and making my way to Blickling Hall by myself.

The front of the Hall is very welcoming and the gardens in the front are very well manicured.  This house is where the Boleyn Family came from, as in Anne Boleyn the second wife of Henry the VIII.  The original house went into disrepair so the existing house isn't as it was back then.

The house is bigger than Felbrigg Hall, but is also a little more modern, the National Trust took ownership of it in 1940. Again the ceilings catch my eye, some of then looking very tudor.

Both the kitchen and the bathrooms seem to be modern for the age of the house.

The stair case is in the middle of the house and is very eye catching.

At the front of the house there are two buildings that run the edge of the courtyard at the entrance, one of them now is used as offices and the other is a shop, restaurant, and gallery.

After spending a few hours here it was time to go home, its getting close to peak hour and the traffic does get a bit much.

Cromer and Felbrigg Hall

After a very wet day yesterday we are heading for the Norfolk coast today, to the town of Cromer.  I have been wanting to come here to see the pier, its not as big as Blackpool but is a very pretty area.

The sun was out and I managed to get some pretty nice photos in the end.

The pier had a few people fishing, and people even catching fish.

At the beginning of the pier if you turn around and look up towards the town you see this big hotel, it has some lovely architecture.  I'm not sure if it is open, it looked pretty quiet.

From Cromer we headed to Felbrigg Hall, a National Trust site and I get to use my Heritage New Zealand pass to enter for free.  Its a beautiful location and the Hall is a nice size.

The house has these amazing ceilings, each room is very different to each other.  The house is very well furnished, and feels like a home. 

The house is two stories with a lovely internal staircase.

Below stairs we find a huge kitchen that is the full length of the house.

From Felbrigg Hall I think we will go and visit Blickling Hall on the way home, I have tried twice already coming here, but the weather hasn't been nice enough for the walk to the Hall from the carpark.  On arrival we find out the Hall is closed on a Tuesday, the only day it is closed each week, typical.  So off home it is.

Battlesbridge and Southend-on-Sea

Today we are heading south, we have family to catchup with and we are wanting to look around the Antiques in Battlesbridge.

We set off by 9am, it is a 2.5 hour drive to Southend-on-Sea and we have a stop off at Battlesbridge on the way.

Battlesbridge is an amazing wee village, it wasn't the best of weather, but we managed to get around a few of the Antique stores and I managed to spend £11 on some silver.

Once we finished spending we were off to Southend-on-Sea.  My cousin Stevie lives here, we parked at one end of town and walked down towards the sea front.  Once meeting up with Stevie, Mum and Stevie decided on the a traditional lunch at the Pie and Mash shop.  Now this was an experience for me, I haven't done traditional Pie and Mash in East London.  Unfortunately I didn't take a photo, but it was an interesting meal.  I had mine with gravy, but Mum and Stevie had it with liquor, which turns out to be a parsley type sauce.  I did try it but preffered the Gravy.

On out way back to Norwich, we passed these really large wind turbines, I decided to pull over and take a couple of photos, these things are huge.

London Day 6 - Last morning of the Knitting and Stitching show

It's my last day in London, I need to check out of the hotel this morning and I have a class first thing at the show. So no sleeping in for me today.  I need to get my bags down to reception and pay up before heading for the tube.  Things are a bit quieter this morning.  Only tourists are out this time of the morning on a Saturday.

I want to be at the show by 10am so I can get to a couple of stalls before things get to busy.  I arrive at 9.30am and we start queuing, by 9.40 this is the queue, luckily I'm at the front.

Got what I needed on the stall and headed for class.  I am making a Felted Notebook Cover this morning.  The class is full, and we have a lot of fun, almost finished it, but I have some work to do when I get home. By 11.30 my mother has arrived from Norwich, she got a bus down for the day to have a look around the show.  We only have an hour together before I need to head off.  I show mum the highlights of what she is looking for, we take in some fresh air outside while I wait for the bus and I am off at 12.30 heading for Wood Green and then onto Kings Cross.  Off to the hotel to pick my bags up and on a bus to Liverpool Street station.  Luckily the bus isn't too full with all my bags and I managed to get a seat in the end.

I have a 3pm train to Norwich, it is a 2 hour trip and flies by real fast, I have a bit of blogging to catch up on.

Thanks to Google maps I find the bus stop that goes to Mum's with a couple of mins to spare.  So far things are going well.

By the time we are out towards Mum's there are some really bad looking clouds brewing, I am hoping I can be off the bus and to Mum's front door before it starts raining.  The bus stops, I get my bags off and yes it starts to rain, what a mad dash this is all uphill, putting my running skills to the test here I tell you.  I make it in the door just in time.  Luckily I had my keys in my hand.

Later on I decided to pop out and find something to eat, this ended up being not such a good idea, the clouds ended up being hail, and hail like I have never seen before, I really thought they were going to go through the windscreen.  I waited for a while in the store but decided that it was just rain now so made a run for the car, well there was loads of rain and flooding, in the 20 metres to the car I was drenched and the car park was flooded and my shoes were full of water, why did I decide to go out??

The whole of Norwich looks like it has snowed, just wish I could take a photo but it is just too wet I am afraid. Here's hoping it improves for me to pick Mum up at 8pm in town.

London Day 5 - The Knitting and Stitching Show & Wicked

I have an early class today so after such a late night I can tell you it is hard getting up.

10.30 class today is Make a Quirky Creature, it is my first sewing machine class so far.  I end up making a cat, its pretty nice and the first thing I have managed to completely finish in the time we get allocated.

I have to say other than the crowds, which are to be expected, the heat in this building is a bit too much for me. The area the classes are in is the worst under these big hot lamps so by the end of class I am after some fresh air.  I find the picnic area they have down the side of the building. The weather isn't the flashest today. But the picnic area is under cover. I get talking to another lady sitting at my table and before long we can't hear each other for the rain, hail, thunder and lightening.  This goes on for some 30 minutes and before we know it, the marquee we are in is beginning to flood on the sides, and people are having to move.  Some guys turn up with their walkie talkies and they stand there scratching there heads for a while as the roof starts to sag with the weight of the water. Time for me to leave I think.  I will walk the main hall once more before my next class.

My next class is called couching with Wonderfil, Wonderfil is a Canadian product, which is in New Zealand, I haven't seen it before.  The tutor shows us some techniques again I haven't learned before.  The products we are using are going to come in real handy with the projects I do, so I can see I might just be spending some money tomorrow at their stall, just as well we get a 10% card.

I have my last show tonight, it is also my last night in London, so I am pretty keen to get going by 4.30, I don't want to get stuck in traffic again.  I end up talking to this lovely lady on the bus, she is a crochet designer, and tells me this amazing story that is straight out of movie.  She is retired and started a blog on crochet, a publisher found her blog and she ended up writing a book, she is just finishing her second book, it hasn't been edited yet and they have asked her to write a third as she has just hit the best sellers list, her name is Susan Pinner, it's such a great story.  She was working on one of the stands at the show.  She was such a lovely lady.

I am off to see Wicked tonight, I have heard it is a great show and I had one more night left so why not.  The theatre is next to Victoria station, which is a bit different to most theatres.

This show attracts both young and old, and everything is green.  The seats I have are in the dress circle which I do prefer and I have a great view of the stage.

The theatre ends up being pretty full.  The worst thing about this show is the leg room. There isn't any, even for me, the seating is pretty steep up here in the circle, and the seat in front of you digs into my shins, and I don't even have long legs!!! By half time everyone is standing around, not sure how I will last through to the end.  I have to say it is very off putting to the story.

Well I do make it through to the end, but man I will never be going back to the Apollo Victoria again!

Another late night for me, and loads more drunk people on the tube tonight being a Friday evening and all.

London Day 4 - The Knitting and Stitching show & The world premier of Made in Dagenham

I have a late start today at the show, my first class isn't till 2.15pm, so no hurry this morning.

I arrive at the show with plenty of time to look around some of the stalls, I only got 1/4 of them done yesterday so time to get some more in. There are a few more people around today, it is a lot busier that is for sure.

I have been pretty well behaved so far not spending too much money, and the moment I think that to myself I turn a corner and find a stall where I spend £50!!!!

My first class is on Introduction to Trapunto Quilting, again a traditional method dating back to the 1300's, originated out of Italy.  It is where you stitch through two layers of fabric, cut an opening in the back layer stuff it and then sew up the cut, this gives a very 3D look to the piece. Here is my sample piece. A bit of pratice required but I like the technique and I will be able to do some cool designs on my sewing machine.

My second class is a 2 hour workshop, my most favourite thing to do is Mixed Media and this workshop is all about Mixed Media. I learn so much from these classes, products on the market, and techniques which we just don't get at home.  We are a pretty full class, the tutor is pretty well known and there are even 3 kiwis in the class.

Here's a photo of my project partway through, I won't get to finish this until I get home, I need to do a lot of machine embroidery on it yet.

I leave class a bit early. I have a show this evening at 7.30pm and I need to make it back to the hotel to drop off all my stuff.  I arrive at the bus stop at 5.10pm to take the bus to Wood Green now you have to understand this is normally a 7min trip on the bus, well tonight it took 50 mins!!! I could have walked quicker, I managed to get to the hotel by 6.30 drop my stuff off and grab a change of clothing.

I am off to the opening night of Made in Dagenham.  I need to take the tube to Covent Garden.  On arrival at Covent Garden I find they are doing major renovations to the lifts in the station.  This station is only being used as a drop off station.  This is the crowd for my train.

It turns out I can't use this station after the show so will need to walk Leicester Square probably.

On my arrival at the Theatre I find out this opening night is a pretty big things, and I am still not sure how I managed to get tickets.  There are camera crews, celebs, faces I recognise but can't put a name too, what a buzz.

We are asked to turn our phones off and no photography but I managed to get one photo in before too many people sit down.

So this is the World Premier of this musical, as it turns out. I am sitting next to the producer and director and across the row from us are three ladies who worked in the Ford factory in Dagenham when this all happened. The show is based on the film. The lead character is Gemma Arterton, I can now say I have seen a Bond Girl with my own eyes.

OK this is the best show I have ever seen, I think even without all the hype of the night.  The story and dialog is just great, and very very funny, if you are heading to London, put this on your must see list.

Being opening night the show ran a little longer than normal and we didn't leave the theatre until 11pm. I haven't eaten since 12 and as I need to walk to Leicester Square, I think I had better find a restaurant.

Arrive at the hotel by 12.30am, I was beginning to wonder if I had missed the last tube to Kings Cross as half of Leicester Square station was closed already.