Five go camping in Norfolk.

Lots of photos for this post. So many more I could have used but who likes looking at other people's holiday photos?
As I said before, we recently returned from a short camping break in Norfolk. I picked Norfolk because it is not too far from Kent, a couple of hours drive. We took our small fold-up caravan with awning (the girls and I slept in this) and a pop-up-tent which Hubby and Henry slept in.
The park was Pentney Park, near Kings Lynn and cost us just £98 for 5 days. There was a free outdoor pool and also an indoor one with jacuzzi, gym and sauna for a few quid extra. There was a fair bit of noise at night from the busy main road and the nearby RAF base.


Here is Honor reading a book to her little sister, Hope. I put up the curtain behind them to separate off Hope's cot from our sleeping area.

Hope was fantastic on this holiday. Full of enthusiasm and yet sat quietly and patiently in her pushchair whenever things needed to be done ie, putting the camp together etc. (Unlike her mother who did a fair bit of whinging and whining about the cold, damp and filth that is the essential fun of camping!)

I did, though I say so myself, put together a very good itinerary of excursions. I recently joined The National Trust which gives us free entry to many historical places and nature reserves aroung the UK.

Here we are about to embark on a boat trip to Blakeney nature reserve to see seals in their natural habitat. The weather was pretty cold and wet as is obvious in the pictures. I tried to be prepared with jumpers and waterproofs, however, the last month or so had been so hot and dry I had forgotten how miserable our summer weather could be. As Hubby didn't own anything so cool as a kagool, we had to spend £30 on one in the local village shops and I felt I had to get myself an extra fleece too!

But look at poor Henry. Smiling bravely through it.

And it was worth it to see those seals... and the look on the childrens' faces.

This visit is on a much sunnier, warmer day to Oxburgh Hall, another National Trust site.

There were lovely trails for us to follow...

swans with their cygnets in the moat....

and an old Tudor stately home which belongs to the Bedingfield family and contains tapestries made by Mary, Queen of Scots.

This is Honor coming out of 'the priests' hole'. The original family were Catholics and therefore had to hide their priests during that time of persecution.

Another day out was to a very nice town called Holt which had lots of nice shops selling nice things! After dragging the family around the shops we headed off to the Country Park.

More on that later...

Fossil hunting at Charmouth

It's snowing again. I'm hoping it'll mean a few more days off school. Though, really, I think I need to go and see Honor's teacher as yet again I'm disappointed with her last report. It's clear that she is learning very little and I wonder why I send her. Other than actually go in every day with her and make her work, I don't really know what else I can do. Perhaps the teacher will have some answers????

Anyway, here are some more holiday pics, this time of fossil hunting in Charmouth. The waves at the beach were quite dramatic and the kids saw this as a bit of an adventure, though they did get a little scared! Henry, in particular, was on a mission to find himself a fossil. I think he likes doing things that involves tools like hammers, knives etc!

Even more from Dorset!!!

These two photos were taken at the Eileen Soper exhibition in Poole. Eileen Soper did the illustrations for the Enid Blyton books. This was a great day out but I want to do a separate post on that later. For now, just a couple of pics of us being silly with some silly specs out of an old 1940's toy box!

These next two pics are in a cafe. The thing I like about this cold weather is I haven't done anything with my hair for weeks (apart from wash it!). I can just stick a hat on every time I go out!

Full of excitement, waiting for Father Christmas to arrive. The kids have pillow cases laid out by the tree, and that is all they had. And they didn't seem to mind that SC brought a few books some other bits 'n pieces and....a cuddly toy.

And she is simply.... beautiful!

More from Dorset

These pictures are from the Dinosaur Museum in Dorchester. We had just been to the Tutankhamun exhibition which cost £22.50, lasted for 10 minutes, made Honor-May cry and the lady on reception was really rude! So a very pained hubby, then agreed to shell out another £22 for this one down the road. It was much better, still expensive though.

Here is Honor-May (drinking cherry juice!) in our log cabin, waiting for the turkey.

And here are Honor-May and Henry (drinking coke! - well, it is Christmas!) in a pub on Lyme Regis sea front, just before we go back to the log cabin for Christmas dinner.

I'm back!

We have just returned from a fabulous Christmas break in Dorset. We are just sorting out the boring stuff that needs to be done like washing, etc but maybe later on this evening I'll get to upload some photos and record all the things we got up to.