Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Norfolk

  • Swaffham – St. Peter and St. Paul Church

    Swaffham – St. Peter and St. Paul Church

    The bulk of Swaffham’s main church was constructed between 1454 and 1490 and was built on the site of the previous church, of which nothing now remains.

    The main entrance to the church is at the west door. The tower took longer to build, not being completed until 1510.

    Looking towards the altar.

    And looking back towards the west end.

    The impressive hammer-beam roof, which dates to when the church was built.

    The war memorial window, which was designed by William Morris & Co.

    The pews in the main part of the nave date from the nineteenth century, having replaced the earlier box pews. These pew ends in the choir area are survivals from the earlier period, somewhere around the sixteenth century.

    The Pedlar of Swaffham and his dog, which are from an old folkstory, the details of which I’ve pinched from Wikipedia:

    “At last it happened that a shopkeeper there, hard by, having noted his fruitless standing, seeing that he neither sold any wares nor asked any almes, went to him and most earnestly begged to know what he wanted there, or what his business was; to which the pedlar honestly answered that he had dreamed that if he came to London and stood there upon the bridge he should hear good newse; at which the shop-keeper laught heartily, asking him if he was such a fool as to take a journey on such a silly errand, adding: “I’ll tell thee, country fellow, last night I dreamed that I was at Sopham, in Norfolk, a place utterly unknown to me, where methought behind a pedlar’s house in a certain orchard, and under a great oak tree, if I dug I should find a vast treasure! Now think you,” says he, “that I am such a fool to take such a long journey upon me upon the instigation of a silly dream? No, no, I’m wiser. Therefore, good fellow, learn wit from me, and get you home, and mind your business.”

    The pedlar observing his words, what he had say’d he dream’d, and knowing they concentred in him, glad of such joyfull newse, went speedily home, and digged and found a prodigious great treasure, with which he grew exceeding rich; and Soffham (Church) being for the most part fallen down, he set on workmen and rectified it most sumptuously, at his own charges; and to this day there is his statue therein, but in stone, with his pack at his back and his dogg at his heels; and his memory is also preserved by the same form or picture in most of the old glass windows, taverns, and alehouses of that town unto this day.”

    This brass was part of the memorial to Sir John Audley of Swaffham and it was moved to the wall to protect it from damage, although the brass dedicated to his wife had gone missing by 1781.

    I hadn’t realised that there was a connection to Oliver Cromwell in Swaffham, but this is the memorial to Catherine Steward, his maternal grandmother. Steward was born at Castle Acre in 1545 and died in 1590. The Scotsman reported in 1911 that Queen Mary, Prince Albert and Princess Mary had come to visit the church, and spent some time looking at this memorial. Not that the Parliamentarian troops of Cromwell showed the church much mercy in the seventeenth century, they fired guns at the wooden angels in the roof, smashed windows and destroyed some statues.

    On the subject of the local media, there was an announcement in the Bury and Norwich Post which has an interesting turn of phrase:

    “The banns were published in Swaffham Church between Robert Savage and Mary Avey, but two days later the young woman was attacked with a cold and inflammation and on the following Saturday she was a corpse”.

    I didn’t see anyone else whilst visiting the church and I can’t imagine it gets a lot of visitors at this time of the year, so it’s marvellous that they’ve kept it open during the day. The door is also an automatic one, which makes it more accessible than the arrangement (albeit a necessary one, as automatic doors don’t come cheap and often don’t exactly fit into the decor) in some churches.

    All rather lovely.

  • Swaffham – Red Lion

    Swaffham – Red Lion

    The Red Lion has been selling beer to the people of Swaffham since the late seventeenth century and there are also rooms at the rear of the pub for those wanting accommodation. The landlady at the Red Lion from 1896 until 1956 was Emma Dickerson, that’s certainly some stint working at any location. There’s a nice vibe about the pub, with the service being friendly and it feels like a community pub which is welcoming to all.

    In August 1761, someone pinched a “badly engraved and bruised on the foot” silver pint mug from the pub, with the landlord putting up a reward of half a guinea for its return. There’s such a sense of history about locations like this, albeit a crime that took place 258 years ago isn’t an inspiration for the future, it’s intriguing to think what this pub looked like back then.

    There were six real ales, which was a number that surprised me slightly, with a varied choice available. Unfortunately, my half pint of Elgoods Blackberry Porter was on the turn, although it remained drinkable. I suspect the staff would have happily changed it, but it wasn’t unpleasant, although the flavour was wrong, so I just kept it (I probably wouldn’t have been so forgiving if it was a pint). I’m moderately surprised that what appeared to be their only dark beer hadn’t sold a little quicker.

    All told, it’s a friendly little pub and the staff were cheerfully putting up Christmas decorations to make it feel festive. Not sure I like the positioning of the pool table there as it has taken out some of the space for seating and distorted the atmosphere somewhat, but if that’s what the customers like then I suppose it has to go somewhere. I didn’t order food, but it’s well reviewed and seemingly unpretentious. The owners seem to be working on improving the look and feel of the building, with everything being clean and well maintained. Hopefully, it’ll merrily on serving for customers for another few hundred years….

  • Swaffham – The Future of Banking

    Swaffham – The Future of Banking

    Welcome to the future of banking…… Barclays closed their Swaffham branch in 2018, Natwest have closed theirs and the couple that remain look like they might go as well. But, this exciting van has replaced the Natwest branch, with the extensive hours of 13:30 until 15:00 on Mondays and Thursdays, this has certainly got the people of Swaffham comprehensively covered…..

  • Dereham – Dereham Library

    Dereham – Dereham Library

    After my failed visit to Swaffham Library, I was pleased to see the council have bothered to open Dereham Library. So, I thought I’d look at the Pevsner here to see what I’d missed in Swaffham. I was moderately confused as to why they have the London North West guide in Dereham, but the Norwich & North-East makes more sense. Although, it doesn’t cover Swaffham or Dereham, that’s the North-West and South Norfolk book, which Dereham library should have. So, I check the on-line catalogue and there is a copy in Dereham, which pleases me.

    Anyway, to cut a long story short, a very friendly and helpful member of library staff ponders where this book is. We’ve concluded someone has pinched it as they can’t find it either. Anyone reading something as wonderful as Pevsner should not be stealing it!

    But, just bloody marvellous…. (although to be fair to the very helpful staff member, they did offer to get a replacement copy sent to Dereham library for future visitors).

  • Swaffham – Swaffham Library

    Swaffham – Swaffham Library

    I had this marvellous idea during my trip to Swaffham that after a couple of pubs and a visit to the church, I’d quickly read Pevsner in the library and then do a little perambulation as he’d call it, before visiting the museum. Anyway, the library is closed if you don’t have your library card. I don’t. So, I abandoned Swaffham, its library and its museum. It’s not for me to comment on who is responsible for inaccessibility of public libraries, but it can’t be good for the future of the library service.

  • Norwich to Gatwick Airport by Overnight Train

    Norwich to Gatwick Airport by Overnight Train

    The train from Norwich to London Liverpool Street wasn’t very busy, around a handful of passengers in each carriage. Although, slightly irritatingly, I had to change carriage after getting all comfortable as I discovered the power didn’t work in the one that I had chosen. The conductor was a friendly and affable man, with the train being spotlessly clean since the cleaners spent around thirty minutes on it, cleaning it both inside and out.

    Safely at London Liverpool Street, arriving on time. I noticed customers in two carriages couldn’t get out, an unfortunate side effect of these slam shut doors. I, being ever helpful, opened one door when walking by, whilst the others managed to unfree themselves from their trap.

    Although I had a ticket to use public transport from London Liverpool Street to London Blackfriars, the underground was just shutting down and the times suggested by GWR didn’t seem to actually correspond to any underground trains. So, since I like walking, I went for the option of the 25-minute walk across the city.

    I’ve never seen the above church, which is St Ethelburga’s at Bishopgate, near to Liverpool Street station, which just goes to show how unobservant that I can be… It’s one of the few surviving medieval churches in the city centre and there were once two shops at the front of the building, but these have since been removed. It was also one of the churches which allowed divorcees to remarry, which wasn’t quite within the rules of the time. Although the building has mostly survived, even through the London Blitz, it didn’t entirely make it through an IRA bomb placed outside in 1993, which destroyed 70% of the building.

    The Bank of England.

    St. Paul’s Cathedral.

    Safely at Blackfriars station, where I promptly went up the wrong escalator and reached the platform for trains to Luton Airport. Hopefully no-one noticed me going up one escalator and then straight back down the one next to it.

    This was awkward, I’d reached the correct platform, which was Platform 1, and noticed there was a train ready and waiting to depart to Three Bridges. This is also the train to Gatwick Airport and the passenger in front of me ran for the train, where as I thought I’d have a little meander around as I was hardly in a rush. And then I heard the station staff call out that they’d hold the train for me, so I do a slightly fast walk to get a train that I didn’t really need to get.

    I thought I looked quite smooth and nonplussed in walking towards the train, although I might have actually rushed and been less lackadaisical if it was a train I was actually trying to get.

    On board the Thameslink service from London Blackfriars to Gatwick Airport.

    The train arrived on time at Gatwick Airport.

    Inside the terminal, one of the few times that the ticket machines are so underused. Incidentally, my railway ticket failed to open the barriers and I noted that Gatwick Airport had employed a member of barrier staff who didn’t burden himself in using his customer service skills. But, since he was standing there at 01:00 in the morning, perhaps it’s not entirely fair to expect him to be anything other than fed up.

    And here we are at Gatwick Airport arrivals at South Terminal, arriving around 30 minutes earlier than expected as I accidentally caught a train I hadn’t intended to get at London Blackfriars. The ticket cost just over £20, which I think is reasonable given the distance travelled and the comfort provided. It just now means I have to faff about for my flight, but I like the adventure really….

     

  • Hull to Norwich by Train – Northern, LNER, Cross Country and Greater Anglia

    Hull to Norwich by Train – Northern, LNER, Cross Country and Greater Anglia

    My time in Hull had come to an end, so it was time to get the train back from to Norwich. In theory, this would have involved a Northern train from Hull to Doncaster, an LNER train from Doncaster to Peterborough and a EMR train from Peterborough to Norwich.

    Here it is, the pride of the north, a Northern Rail Pacer train (144019) which they were phasing out by July 2019. As can be seen here, since it’s October 2019, that timetable hasn’t been met and there’s another year of them.

    These really aren’t the best of trains, they probably do need to be sent to the dustbin of railway history.

    Anyway, I was meant to get the 19:27 train from Hull on the Northern service. There was flooding along the line, outside of where I was going, but it was impacting on the Northern train service. Being a responsible passenger, I approached the TransPennine ticket desk as this was the only one I could readily find and they’re the company who operate Hull Paragon Interchange railway station. On this, I wish they’d just call it Hull, as it’s a bizarre name for the city’s main railway station. The staff member there was helpful, but he reassured me that the 19:27 was running, but that there was a service at 19:12 if there was a cancellation of my service. But, if at 19:12 the 19:27 service was showing, I had to wait for that, which is what I did.

    There was a member of First staff at the railway station, which is logical because they operate the very interesting Hull Trains open access service to London from Hull. He was offering customer service advice as the 19:27 service was changed to start from Sheffield, not from further down the line. And, by the time I spoke to him, the 19:27 service wasn’t operating on time. This is relevant, in what is otherwise a winding and endless story, of mine because I could technically now no longer get home. He said that the rail policy was to get as far along my journey as possible, which made sense to me. He also explained that there were some tests of the brakes going on as the train had gone through the flooding earlier on during the day.

    So, on the 19:27 service I get. I say 19:27, but the doors didn’t open until 19:40 and it didn’t set off until nearly 19:50. It then made extra stops, so my train from Doncaster to Peterborough had long gone when I arrived into Doncaster.

    I thought I’d go and ask LNER staff at Doncaster what the rail policy was, because I’m interesting in knowing what happens when the rail network goes a bit wrong and people need to get home. Some of what they told me I knew, other parts I didn’t. But, in short, I was told that the rail network preferred to get taxis home for anyone who missed their final connection, as this is the set-up that different rail operating companies have with each other.

    I was also told that rail companies might pay for a hotel, but this would usually have to be at least semi-authorised by the rail company would end up paying for it. So, it would be hard for a member of LNER or Greater Anglia staff to authorise a hotel and then get Northern to pay for it, whereas taxis were always paid. LNER apparently frequently shuttle passengers by taxi from Doncaster to London and from Doncaster to Newcastle, but rarely pay for hotels. But, equally, I was told that rail staff have been told to be pragmatic, so if someone is stranded hours away from home, with no other passengers to share a taxi with, the rail company might just pay for a hotel and endorse the ticket for use on the next day.

    I had also become aware by now that I had what they called “an illegal connection” which was possible. So, not a connection that wasn’t allowable, but just one that passengers couldn’t be expected to get as there wasn’t enough time to change trains. Which is like conformance times at airports, although they can enforce those cut-off points. In my case, I could connect from the Doncaster to Peterborough train onto the Peterborough to Ely train, but there was only four minutes to do so. The LNER staff told me that I was under no obligation to rush for this, nor was I expected to even know about it. Rail policy was I should present myself to rail staff at Peterborough and they’d advise me. It was clear here that if I wanted a free taxi from Peterborough to Norwich, I could probably get one by faffing about when disembarking. However, I prefer trains and don’t really like taxis, and it would have also been a waste of the rail company’s money, in this case, Northern Rail.

    At this point, I boarded the LNER Azuma train at Doncaster, which is in the above photo when it pulled into the railway station.

    I commented on these before when I got the train up, but these are really clear to understand. There was also plenty of seating on the train.

    And I got my table seat, with wi-fi and power that all worked well. An LNER member of staff came by and I asked him about my connection at Peterborough. He said the same as the customer service staff had at the station, which was that I shouldn’t worry, I should just get off at Peterborough and ask a member of platform staff what to do.

    I was slightly disappointed to get off, as a staff member had just come into the carriage to check tickets. The customer behind me only had a reference number for his ticket, not the actual ticket. I was humoured by the staff member when she said “what do you want me to do with a reference number?” and the customer replied “accept I’m telling the truth?”. Which is quaint and rather innocent. She replied “it doesn’t work like that, how it works is you give me £130 and then I give you a ticket and not just a reference number”. I’m not sure what journey he was making, as that seems a lot of money, but he wasn’t happy. They were just getting into quite an argument, albeit a polite one, and I was really disappointed that the train pulled up into Peterborough and I didn’t hear how that ended. I love a drama….

    And the good news is that I got in Peterborough six minutes early, so an impressive performance from LNER on a really decent train. Above is the photo of the train as it departed from Peterborough towards London.

    Which then meant that I’d get the Cross Country train to Ely, which turned up on time. I got another table seat and the train was comfortable, but not particularly clean.

    Let’s just say, it was clear that there wouldn’t be a fight for space when boarding the train. This is Ely railway station and it’s a shame Dylan and Leon weren’t there, we could have gone under the tunnel at least 20 times in the time I had to wait. The Greater Anglia service was on time and the staff member was enthusiastic and helpful, something which is common with their staff, which is why I still like them a lot as an operating company.

    And smoothly into Norwich railway station, on time and the Stadler train (the one on the left) journey was seamless and comfortable. The train fare cost £19.80 and I got in 57 minutes late, so I’ve put in a delay repay request to Northern Railways for £9.90. I’m not sure how this will work out as they don’t seem to think they operate a 19:27 service, as it didn’t come up on the on-line form. We shall see, but all told, the rail network did come together nicely and there was not one single moment where I was doubting whether I’d get home somehow, even if it was a taxi.

  • Norwich to Hull by Train – Greater Anglia, EMR, LNER and Northern

    My train from Norwich to Hull involved four train journeys, (i) Norwich to Ely with Greater Anglia, (ii) Ely to Peterborough with EMR, (iii) Peterborough to Doncaster with LNER and (iv) Doncaster to Hull with Northern. This trip cost just £12 and was a bit precarious, as if I missed any connection then I would have missed the last train operating into Hull. Anyway, all was well and I ended up in Hull on time and without any delays.

    The first journey was with Greater Anglia and the conductor was exceptional, and I partly know this as he sat down opposite me to read the Metro newspaper and he was conversational and humorous. His train announcements also amused me, I’ve never heard Ely described as something like the “effervescent and glowing beauty of Ely, which also has a big church”. Marvellous. The train was also the new Stadler service, which is growing on me after my initial scepticism (my favourite eight-year old boy has sold it to me).

    Not much to report on the second journey, which was just the short hop from Ely to Peterborough with the new EMR set-up. It’s an older train which doesn’t have the facilities of the Stadler, but everything ran to time although I didn’t see a conductor on the journey. I did see the Flying Dustman though…..

    The only train that I had which was timed was the Peterborough to Doncaster one, so I got on a train from Norwich which got into Peterborough giving me around an hour’s connection. This gave me chance to go to the nearby Wetherspoons and get a chicken wrap, as well as to moan about their quiz. And then complain about the LNER seating at Peterborough railway station…..

    LNER’s Azuma train pulls into Peterborough railway station. This is a beautiful and sleek train and it was easy to identify which seats on board were reserved. They have a red light by each seat for reserved, a green light for free to use and an orange light for currently clear to use, but is reserved later on. I’m surprised it has taken rail companies so long to come up with such an easy system, but it’s very logical. No staff checked tickets and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a bit of fare evasion going on along this route.

    Doncaster railway station, a solid traditional building which I got to see for around 15 minutes.

    LNER and Doncaster railway station are clearly, and rightly, proud of their Azuma trains.

    I didn’t get a service operated by Hull trains, but this is an innovative open access operator which is now owned by First Group. They operate on the Hull to London route and I like the idea of this set-up, something similar is happening in Germany and hopefully it’ll expand throughout the European Union.

    And safely into Hull railway station on the train which is on the right hand-side of the above photo. My ticket was checked by a friendly conductor and once again, for the fourth time out of four, I got a table seat so that I could type away on my laptop without having it perched on some dodgy tray table.

    For the money, this was an amazing value fare given that I used four different rail services from four companies. Two of the trains were state of the art and the other two were perfectly adequate. It’s easy to be excited about railway services in other parts of Europe, and indeed around the world, but the UK network is still one of the best in the world that I’ve ever experienced for trips such as this.

  • Norwich Beer Festival 2019

    Norwich Beer Festival 2019

    And that was a lovely two days of volunteering at Norwich beer festival, my sixth year in a row. Always a friendly environment and I was sad to report that I didn’t even get one grumpy customer this year, although I did get the obligatory one who thought that there was unlimited beer for £3.

    And, primarily for my own record since I can’t imagine anyone is in the slightest bit bothered, these were my favourite festival beers.

    Orange Blood by 3D

    Dark Drake by Dancing Duck

    Robin Goodfellow by Papworth

    Mild by Shipstones

    Stain Glass Porter by Star Wing

    Lemon and Basil by Blackjack

    Cinder Toffee Mild by Half Moon

    Hygge Figgy by Brass Castle

    Dark Matter Custard by Turning Point

    Stagecoach by Tombstone

    Blackberry Porter by S&P

  • Norwich – Brasov Romanian Restaurant

    Norwich – Brasov Romanian Restaurant

    The Hike Norfolk monthly meal was this month at Brasov Restaurant on Dereham Road in Norwich, a relatively new dining option for the city which is well reviewed. The welcome was friendly and seemed genuinely personable, despite the meal’s organiser being concerned about the whereabouts of some of the group (I might have arrived fifteen minutes early…..). Anyway, the table for eight of us was ready and the dining environment was clean and comfortable, with quite a modern design to it.

    The whitebait starter, with the fish being at the appropriate temperature and they were reasonably well coated with the batter. They had a pleasant taste and the portion size was perfectly acceptable. The homemade garlic sauce wasn’t though really to my taste, it was very watery and had no complexity to it other than a very strong garlic flavour which was too overpowering for the whitebait. I think I’d rather have had a tartare sauce with garlic flavouring, but nonetheless, the whitebait themselves were fine.

    I can’t claim any attempt at Romanian cuisine with this little effort of mine here…. The Greek salad was though entirely satisfactory, with a decent quality feta cheese crumbled on the top and cucumber, olives, onions, tomatoes and lettuce underneath. The portion size was reasonable and the quality of the ingredients was fine, with the chips being suitably firm on the exterior and fluffy on the interior. The homemade sauce was very moreish (so moreish I ate most of it, forcing Gordon to get more for the table) and flavoursome.

    Some of the others had Romanian dishes of various types and I think there was a view that they were well presented and interesting, although perhaps lacking a little in seasoning. But Gordon, who as usual ordered the most expensive on the menu, was content with his steak. Although he had the same problem with the garlic sauce as I’d had with my starter.

    The staff were also very tolerant of our group, which as usual went off the rails somewhat when Gordon changed the subject to talk about his money. Or, something like that, I can’t quite recall…..

    We weren’t going to have desserts, other than Gordon who messed the friendly and ever tolerant waitress about, but I doubt he’ll read this for some weeks so I can put that. However, the restaurant brought out this dessert for free, a Papanași, which was a doughnut type pastry with blueberries. This was a very kind gesture and the blueberries and the sauce were delicious and the pastry was light.

    These weren’t my beers, I temporarily stole Dave and Gordon’s beers to take photos of a couple of the Romanian options. My ever more specialist beer tastes inevitably weren’t met at the restaurant, although that’s more to do with me than them. Although I do remember from my last trip to Romania, there were some dark beers available, including a dark version of Ursus. I couldn’t taste the difference between the above beers, I have no ability to really differentiate lagers as they all taste broadly the same to me.

    All told, the service at this restaurant was well above average and it felt a welcoming environment, with the staff member being engaging and personable. I get the feeling that this place is a popular cafe during the day, with some intriguing cakes and coffees available for customers. For food, I was content with my choices, the prices were reasonable and the quality of the ingredients was fine. Ideally though, I’d have liked some better quality bread on the table and that garlic sauce was quite punchy. But, it’s another interesting addition to the city’s dining options and I hope it does well.

    And, I have a week in Romania in February, which will be rather lovely.