Away from the City

Having spent two weeks in London, we finally managed to see some proper English countryside, and some proper English villages.

Our first stop was Banham, a wee village in Norfolk, where we went to see Robyn's Nana Lawrence and her aunt and uncle and cousins. We (us, Lyndon and Mim) drove up on Friday night and had a lovely dinner with Aunty Celia, Uncle Ian, Alasdair and Caroline. Andrew met us there, having caught the train. We spent the night at Nana's house, and had a nice relaxing morning chatting on Saturday, before going out to celebrate Nana's recent birthday. She took us all to Dunstan Hall, an estate with a grand restaurant, where we enjoyed a lovely buffet meal and pots of hot chocolate afterwards (for some of us, anyhow). A postprandial constitutional by the river in Norfolk was a nice follow up, where Lyndon and Andrew felt the need to act as mean older brothers and did their best to beat Robyn up and throw her in the river. They soon learned this would be more painful to them than it would be to her! A wander through Norwich Cathedral led us to an enormous copper font which, on closer inspection, was revealed to be an ex chocolate melting pot from the local sweet factory! (Quite the way to do it, we thought). In commemoration of the Battle of Britain, there was a very impressive lace panel depicting the various planes and fighters including a New Zealand battalion. Returning to Banham we enjoyed a nice boardgame in the evening in which each played is a taxi driving around London. . . for those of you who do not know, Miriam has a tendency to win boardgames, in which she indulged on this occasion. . . She does not mean to, it just happens.

Sunday morning worship was at the Baptist Church in Diss, a nearby town. We returned to Uncle Ian & Aunty Celia's for a yummy Sunday lunch, after which Lyndon and Alasdair took Andrew off to the train station. We girls decided to go for a walk about the village and, well rugged up, had wandered over the village green and through the church, when it began to snow! It was quite windy, so the snow was sharp, but it was such a novelty and so fun to be out in - very invigorating. We had a sociable evening with the family.

We were up bright and early Monday morning with our bags packed ready for Cambridge. We had a glimpse of how bad the traffic jams can get, but made it in good time anyway. Lyndon and Mim dropped us off outside the Youth Hostel as they headed back to London, so we booked in and made use of the left luggage room before walking into town. We got our bearings at the Information Centre, and purchased tickets to go punting on the Cam and to look around Kings College. A wander through the town came first, though, having a peep into some shops and choosing a picnic lunch. We ate by a bridge where we tried to play Pooh sticks, but there was a grate or something, and it didn't work. After that, it was time for our personal chauffered punt ride (nobody else showed up) down the Backs complete with cushions and warm blankets. This is down the part of the river that many of the colleges back on to, showing off their grounds and buildings from a different angle. Highlights included drifting under the Bridge of Sighs (see photo 2) and the Mathematical Bridge, and seeing the great library at Trinity. We heard the gory story of an ill-fated boat race in Victoria's reign (swords in punts are a bad idea) and of the bridge whose designer reclaimed a wedge of stone as payment for his services. We also enjoyed the vagaries of Cambridge weather, beginning our ride in the sunshine and going on through snow, sun, snow, and a little cloud. Weather for everyone!

Kings College was next (a relief to be out of the biting wind and snow!), with a walk through the Chapel guided by a handy pamphlet. The thing I (Miriam) found most moving was the inscriptions of all the names of Kingsmen who had fought and fallen during the two World Wars. These were inscribed on the walls of a little memorial chapel, and on a separate pillar from the rest was etched the name of a Kingsman who had fought for the other side.

After strolling about the grounds we returned to the street (by which time the sun was shining again), where a visit to the fudge kitchen resulted in us becoming the proud possessors of a whopping slice of 'double trouble chocolate' fudge. Some more strolling was now necessary, so we got some dinner supplies before heading 'cross town back to the hostel. We were cosily ensconsed in the lounge with books when the fire alarm went off! We were herded out the door (sans coats) and across the road to stand in the bitter wind waiting for the fire truck to arrive with seven firemen (two of whom got out) and learned that in such an old building it is best not to use a hair dryer right under the smoke alarm. Fun. The rest of the evening was fairly uneventful, until a busload of stout German schoolchildren arrived and took up residence on the floor above. They seemed to particularly enjoy playing leapfrog down the hallway and propelling themselves off the bunk beds with great force. They made the most of an unenforced bedtime, and kept this up well into the wee hours, and then woke us at an unearthly hour the following morn. Even more unforgivable, they scoffed all the pains au chocolat that were promised in the breakfast menu.

Having realised the weather was not going to improve, we ruled out such activities as cycling around the countryside and settled on a daytrip to Ely, a nearby Cathedral town. After purchasing Young Person's Railcards, we were amazed to find just how little we had to pay for the train there and back. It was lovely seeing all the countryside whizzing by and we arrived all too soon. We once again found the wind bitterly cold and walked speedily around the village, through a lovely park (see photo 3) and found ourselves at the Great Gateway, built many years back. From there we entered the cathedral through a back door just in time for the start of a guided tour. It was really interesting hearing all about the history of the church and being shown features we no doubt would have missed ourselves. The tower of the cathedral was built by monks with a structure very advanced for the time and is still magnificent today (see photo 4). We then wandered through more of the village, stopping at the visitor's centre which is located in the great Oliver Cromwell's house. After an unhealthy lunch of burgers and fries in a little family run diner, we came accross an amazing book shop where an hour and half of time whizzed past. Although tempted to purchase half the store, we left empty handed due to budget (and luggage!) restrictions. We stopped at lots of lovely little shops on our way back down to the river while it continued to snow on and off, then arrived back at the station for our return journey. After picking up our luggage and purchasing delicious hot chocolates, we settled in for the trip back to London. It was again lovely to see all the countryside, this time being covered in a blanket of snow (see photo 5), and it was with some sadness that we arrived back to the dull buildings of the city.