Today we had a relaxed day visiting
Norwich. We drove via Swaffham, a larger village to the north of us and the
location for the filming of town scenes for the Kingdom TV series starring
Stephen Fry. He may possibly even live thereabouts too.
Norwich was a lot easier to get into than
Cambridge, and parking was a breeze as well, setting a good tone for the day.
It seems like a laid-back kind of town but still plenty of interesting
buildings, including two cathedrals.
After the obligatory coffee to wake us up,
we found and looked at the Norman castle, which has rather a modern appearance. From there we
spotted the Anglican Norwich Cathedral and made our way there. This cathedral
is relativey unchanged from Norman times. We had lunch the the refectory there,
where I had the pleasure of queuing next to a woman of my height – this is rare indeed.
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| gate to cathedral precinct |
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| baptismal font originally used to make chocolate |
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| altar piece |
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| detail |
We then made our way across town to the
Catholic cathedral of St John the Baptist, the first RC cathedral we’ve
encountered this trip. It was completely empty and silent when we arrived,
being off the main tourist trail. It had a good lot of stained glass that
appeared to be pre-Victorian. Also notable was the black stone used for small
polished pillars. It contained fascinating fossilised plants and sea creatures.
I wonder wonder what Bishop Usher would hade of that.
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| love the columns |
On return to our home village, we explored
the grounds of the grounds of the nearby Lynford Hall, now a country hotel.
Queen Victoria visited here and even considered buying it, but opting for
Sandringham instead.
Did I mention it was warm today - 25℃, just like yesterday.
We’ll be staying with friends over the next
two days, so blog posts will be deferred until we are in London.
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