Easter Holidays

It feels and looks like May. The school holidays are here and we have got off to a grand start.

This time last year we were in snow but it's been warm and sunny for a couple of weeks, and dry for a month or more. So of course we and everyone else from the East Midlands headed for the Norfolk Coast. This made for a frustrating 2 hour car trip but there was plenty of room on the beach once you got there, because it was freezing!

As always, cars were backed up from Hunstanton to King's Lynn so wound our way through the Sandringham estate looking in Landrovers for Princess Anne or another Royal but only seeing grizzly turkey farmers.

The back lanes were really pretty and frothy with blossom. So attractive in fact, that we detoured several times to get more of it until we reached Burnham Market (known as Chelsea by the Sea because so many trendy Londoners own property there.)

We love the place. It has boutiques, a bookshop, the best hat shop in the world and a good pub; The Hoste Arms.

After sampling the village delights we went on to Holkham Beach which appeared in "Shakespeare in Love" and also in "The Duchess". It is a world-class sandy beach, beyond pine barrens and dunes. When the tide is out, its a really long way to the sea from the top of the beach, and so it was on Sunday.

We set up our expedition base in the lee of a dune and fanned out from there. Most of us reached the sea at some point, but Dan stayed put while I toured the nature reserve inland.

Dan was an absolute delight and busied himself being a movie director from his chair, using the telscope as a pretend camera. His school just made their own version of "Bugsy Malone" and Dan was in it.

At dusk we set off for home, stopping at the pilgrimage village of Little Walsingham for the best fish and chips you can buy. Dan really loved hanging out while the food was prepared and then eating it in tyhe car with his fingers. Just perfect.