Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Norfolk

Great Yarmouth – Blackfriars Tavern

Firstly, my apologies that I wasn’t intending to write up the day that Nathan I spent visiting all the Good Beer Guide pubs in Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. This means that I didn’t burden myself with taking many photos, so my extensive readership of two will just have to use their imagination a bit more than usual. I am slowly, but very surely, visiting every pub in the Good Beer Guide which is an impossible project but that doesn’t stop me. This pub in Great Yarmouth (94 Blackfriars’ Road, NR30 3BZ) is just a little out of the way, so credit once again to the Good Beer Guide for listing this venue.

Let me start by writing up-front that this is a very good pub and I was absolutely unable to fault it. The warmth of the welcome, the engagement from who I am guessing is the landlord, the range of the beers and the inviting nature of the environment. This is going to be one of those feel good posts where just everything went well. As a pre-cursor to the below, the landlord mentioned to us that he had just written a blog post that day about the beer Nathan ordered, so for some extra context have a read of https://www.blackfriarstavern.co.uk/the-story-of-the-starry-night-stout-and-the-three-wise-men/. That web-site is a work of art on its own with the width of their offering being clearly evident.

I went for the Recessive Red from the reliable Mr Winter’s and this was a well kept quite punchy 6% red ale. There were two darker beers with Nathan going for the Starry Night Stout from Tindall Brewing and checking through his Untappd he was happy with it and its smoothness. He probably told me at the time, but I doubt I was listening. We were on one of our random days out with occasional shots (it’s a long story, but we should probably be supervised by a responsible adult if I’m being honest), which is why there’s a delicious shot sitting next to my real ale. I don’t actually want to focus on the beer choice for too long, but it was excellent for a venue of this size with five real ales and an extensive Belgian beer selection. And the pub wasn’t just offering beers, the landlord was positively enthusing about them. This is a landlord that cares about his beer.

The reason that I don’t want to linger on the beer is that this wasn’t the highlight of the visit, and in many ways, it shouldn’t be. The star of the show was the friendly landlord, engaging and welcoming. He also didn’t demur about our random shot and just slightly odd behaviour, he positively embraced it and so no criticisms there. There were plenty of board games and Nathan rushed over with chess as he’s from a chess winning family. Privately I suspect that’s as he didn’t want to play monopoly for four hours which is what I would have ended up doing. Although he quite rightly mentioned that it would have been no hardship staying here for several hours. Incidentally, he won at chess, but I like letting him win as it cheers him up.

There’s also a very decent refurbishment that has gone on here, it’s traditional but yet on-trend which is a hard thing to achieve. There’s nothing formulaic about this pub, it’s laid-back, it’s slightly quirky and it does the welcoming thing well. I’ve mentioned before that one of the key measures of a pub is that someone coming in on their own, perhaps new to the area, feels like it’s a venue they’re part of and a community to which they feel they can join. I absolutely got that feeling here, this is absolutely right to be in the Good Beer Guide, it’s glorious. Anyone coming to Great Yarmouth who likes pubs should pop in and linger here for some time.

March 1, 2023
Food from Every Stall on Norwich Market – Week 3 and Chimneys

This is the third week of our plan to eat at every food stall at Norwich market this year.

WEEK 3 : Chimneys

Now that I’m safely back from Lisbon, Nathan and I can return to our schedule of weekly visits to food outlets at Norwich market which we select randomly. Nathan didn’t ask me to add this, but if he looks tired it’s because he very kindly picked me up from Luton Airport early this morning so he’s a little sleep deprived now. But he’s young, he’ll cope.

I’m very much a creature of habit, so having options thrust upon us requires an element of experimentation and a voyage of discovery. Here’s the first menu board and I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the whole concept.

And the second board.

There’s a helpful explanation of what the food is on another board and the fresh preparation is something that they take seriously. They’re often served in Prague where they’re also known as Trdelník, with the ice cream option being a more recent innovation. The chimneys are made by wrapping dough around a stick which is then grilled and then the toppings added.

The service was warm, engaging and personable. It took a little short of ten minutes for the food to be prepared, but that’s much better than having something rushed out. The guy serving is just one of those people that you want to will on to do well, he’s clearly passionate and proud of what he’s doing. We were the only two customers at the stand and I wonder how many visitors he gets, but he absolutely deserves to be busy given his personable nature.

Nathan scares me sometimes….

I went for the same as Nathan as I thought he went for the best option, the large freshly baked chimney with pistachios and peanuts. We went for the traditional option of not having ice cream in it, as we’re very health conscious. The portion size is substantial and this was about as much as I would have been able to manage, with Nathan debating taking some of it to work as an afternoon snack.

A generous portion of Nutella was provided inside of the chimney, which was easier to eat then it might look. It was tasty with the nuts adding texture and the Nutella extra flavour, with the dough itself being light and fluffy. The food cost £5 (and they accept cards, which is very handy) and although it’s not the sort of food that I’d usually think of ordering, it was tasty and the freshly made element was a bonus. The strongest element was the service, which felt authentic and genuine. Another market stall that I’d recommend for a little (or large) lunchtime snack.

March 1, 2023
2022 US Trip – Day 32 (The Final Part of the Adventure)
I use the word ‘adventure’ in the title of this post, but I accept that I hardly went on a solo trip walking through the Amazon or something. Although on the 32nd day away, I was getting a little tired and thinking that it had been an adventure of sorts. But, I’ll tidy up my random thoughts about the trip in a final post. I had a £10 fare to get from London Liverpool Street to Norwich and was able to board first so I had a choice of seats.

I went for the seat on the right, pleased that Greater Anglia weren’t running the bloody Stansted Express services without tables on this journey. The power worked so that was a relief and the conductor came stomping through the train on numerous occasions always looking she was heading to an emergency at the other end. To be fair, she probably was.

Biscuits I had acquired from somewhere that I found in my bag along with my refilled water bottle.

And that was that, safely back in Norwich. I must admit that I’ve rushed through the last few days of this trip to finally get this trip written up for posterity, but I’m pleased to say that other than for one more post with general thoughts of the trip, that completes this write-up. Yay!
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December 30, 2022
Streets of Norwich – Stamp Office Yard

Part of my Streets of Norwich project…. [Updated in November 2023]

One of the reasons I started doing this long-winded thing of walking around every street in Norwich is that I hoped to notice some things that I hadn’t really seen before. I’ve found all manner of things I didn’t know existed, including plaques, streets and historic buildings. And, although I’ve been by it hundreds of times, I’ve never noticed Stamp Office Yard located off of St. Andrew’s Street (it’s the one in the centre of the above map, so to the left of the S of St. Andrew’s Street).

The street takes its name from a business that operated here in the eighteenth century, which stamped official documents. Although in the map above, from 1885, there were plenty of buildings in the yard, it’s all been opened up now at the rear and is mostly car parking. The building to the right hand-side of the Stamp Office Yard is St. Andrew’s House, and when that was extended in the 1970s there were plenty of medieval pottery finds.

At the 1921 census, there were two households reported as living on the street. In the first property there were six members of the Sabberton family, Frank William (aged 56), Emily (aged 59), Stanley (aged 22), Hilda (aged 25), Emily Ellen (aged 19) and Winifred (aged 16). Frank William Sabberton worked as an engineer at a clothing manufacturer, whilst Emily was noted to be working at home duties. Stanley was an engineer at Sabberton Brothers Engineers at Palace Plain, Hilda was a shorthand typist at Boulton & Paul, Emily was a clerk at Mann Egerton Cars on Prince of Wales Road, whilst Winifred was a shorthand typist at Singer Sewing who were at 16 Calvert Street in the city. In the other household was husband and wife Reginald Arthur Sabberton and Amelia Sabberton, aged 28 and 34. Reginald worked as a motor engineer for Goffs at Aylsham Road.

November 9, 2022
Streets of Norwich – Willow Lane

Part of my Streets of Norwich project…. [updated in October 2023]

Willow Lane connects St. Giles Street to Cow Hill, a looping road that is shaped by the St. Giles’s Church site. The lane takes its name from the willow trees which were once on the south side in the seventeenth century, with the Mayor of Norwich being responsible for checking them. Despite this being a relatively short road, there are nine listed buildings along it.

This is the St. Giles Street end of the road, the building on the right (which is 53 St. Giles Street) is the side of Ellis Second Hand Books and then the building behind is 1 Willow Lane, an early nineteenth-century residential property which was sold in 2019.

The next building along is a former Catholic church which was built in 1827 by JT Patience, which was then turned into a Catholic school. The building is now used by Rogers & Norton solicitors and George Plunkett has a photo of when the building was still used as a school.

Looking back towards St. Giles Street, the former church is on the left behind the fence.

What looks like a Georgian building on the left, the entrance to the former church site is now on the right of this photo.

The series of buildings on the left-hand side are early nineteenth-century residential buildings, which remain as houses. The white building on the right-hand side is number 9, also known as Willow Lane House, an eighteenth-century residential building that has been converted into offices.

The brick building on the right is 15 Willow Lane and is a seventeenth-century residential building that was extended in the nineteenth century. It was also the home of Francis Blomefield (1705-1752) who was a local historian who wrote the ‘History of Norfolk’. The building was used as a boarding house in 1939, so the register gives an interesting look at its occupants. There were:

Mary and Stanley Page (boarding house owner and husband was a hairdresser)

Barbara Dash (assistant in grocer’s shop)

Alice Nicholls (billiards room attendant)

Sarah Barber (private nurse)

Jacob Black (steel bender)

Mary Black (unpaid domestic duties, wife of Jacob)

Elizabeth Ledleve (boot and shoe branding).

There were also two other people on the register where the record remains closed, so it’s possible that they’re still alive.

Looking back the street from the Cow Hill end. The street feels very Georgian and unchanged, and there’s also the hidden property that was once the George Borrow museum, where the author lived between 1816 and 1824. However, this now has more in common with Cow Hill, so more on that in another post.

Norfolk Pubs also suggests that there might have been a licensed premises called the Cellar House located along the street in the early nineteenth century.

October 6, 2022
Wednesday – Greater Anglia Trip to London, Brewdog, Goose Island and Rain (Part 1)

I’m not going to be travelling as much next year, so make the most of this riveting content whilst you still can. Because next year, it’ll be limited to the Vulgar Dictionary, graves from the Rosary Cemetery and photos of chips from the market. For now, this is Norwich railway station in all its glory. They still haven’t found a replacement for West Cornwall Pasty which is unfortunate, nor has the M&S ever re-opened from its “temporary closure” in March 2020.

I always get everywhere early, on this occasion so early that the train hasn’t arrived yet at platform 2. The eagle eyed would have noted that if I had decided to depart from another platform, I could have gone to visit Cromer Carnival. I’ve also never noticed that some London trains have eight carriages and others have twelve carriages, but I can’t imagine that sort of information will excite or delight many people.

Wooo, it’s not the Stansted Express train, it actually has tables. The service was relatively busy, but there were always seats available during the journey. Not that I’m one for complaining, but these new Stadler trains do make for a bumpy journey, but I’ve noted that before when the man in the on board cafe was struggling to even pour a coffee.

London Liverpool Street was busier than when I arrived at 4am two weeks ago. I think I prefer it quieter. Note the new Greggs is open, and there’s another one just opened opposite the entrance to the station, they must be quite an opening drive. I can only imagine that it will be Pret who lose out here.

Then a quick visit to Brewdog Shoreditch to take advantage of my new Brewdog Plus subscription, more on which in another post. Like the Norwich outlet, they struggled a bit with the QR code, but it all worked out in the end. The beer is the last of the Donut Series that I hadn’t tried, this is the peanut butter cup with salted caramel glaze. The flavours were pleasant enough, but it was a bit thin and it needed a bit more salted caramel taste for my own personal preference.

It would be wrong to be in the Shoreditch area and not pop into Goose Island. As usual, everything was in order, and although Daniel the manager was there, this bar seems to run efficiently all the time. I mention that as it can’t be easy to run a venue in this part of the city with an often fraught atmosphere outside, but with calm inside. Nicely done as ever. This is the Cold IPA (I had to Google what that beer style was, apparently it’s an IPA fermented at lower temperatures) and it was rather decadent, quite a touch of grapefruit flavour in there. I expect Nathan would have known that without looking it up, he knows a lot of irrelevant stuff.

I’ve complained that it’s too hot for weeks, and then at the very moment I need to go to the nearby restaurant, it pours down in Biblical terms.

Well, how lovely. I can’t really complain, I’m happy with rain as it makes things much cooler.

I’m standing under a railway bridge here trying to wait out the rain, whilst admiring the street art.

On the Zeppelin walk that Des led a few weeks ago, he mentioned that this area had Shakespeare connections, something that I hadn’t been aware of before. And, since late 2019, there’s been a statue of him (Shakespeare I mean, not Des, although I’m sure his time will come), marking the nearby Curtain Theatre.

And for anyone interested, here’s a bit more about the uncovering of the Curtain Theatre. The theatre had opened in 1577, remaining in use until at least 1624 and one of the discoveries was that it rectangular shaped and not round. The stage was 14 metres long and despite it clearly being well attended, it’s not entirely cleared why it closed. I’m impressed that so many bits of it survived, including remnants of ceramic boxes where admission fees were placed before being taken to the office to be opened, a forerunner of the phrase ‘box office’.

Anyway, with that I meandered across, whilst quite soggy, to Sagardi, but more of that in the next instalment.

August 20, 2022
Norwich – Namaste Village

I was pleased to be in Norwich for the Hike Norfolk monthly meal, where twelve of us went to the Rose before coming to the vegetarian Namaste Village restaurant. We had gone for a monthly meal here before and the standards were high, and it’s good to visit a location where there is plenty of choice for vegetarians (indeed, on this case, the entire menu).

It’s a large venue in a glorious setting, the former Methodist Church Hall which was constructed in 1887. Given that it was a Saturday night, I was surprised just how quiet it was, there wouldn’t have been a need to book in advance.

The poppadom dips were average and lacking in any particular taste, and the portion size provided for four people was insufficient. It seemed an odd thing to scrimp and save on, particularly when contrasting it with the hugely impressive Lowestoft Tandoori where I visited last week.

They had though made an effort to get some local beer in, the King Wazoo from Redwell Brewing (where Namaste also do the catering from time to time). That’s Gordon visible at the rear of the photo, I suspect being quite demanding. As for the menu, I must admit I’m not entirely keen on vegetarian restaurants having dishes such as “lamb rogan josh” or “prawn koliwada”, as there will be some diners who just drop in randomly without realising it’s a vegetarian restaurant, and for who those have English as a second language, there’s a possibility of being misled. Indeed, some of the restaurant’s reviews complain about the quality of the meat, so I assume they’ve not realised what they’ve ordered.

The vegetable labbabdar, which was nicely presented and the peshwari naan was slightly crispy, which is as I prefer it. One element I liked is that they don’t fiddle with the spice levels between dishes, if someone orders a meal that is meant to be served spicy, that’s what it will be. Having written that, there wasn’t much spice in the labbabdar, although it was marked with medium heat on the menu’s symbol guide. There was a depth of taste to it though, with the vegetables in the curry retaining some bite.

It was all convivial in terms of the atmosphere, with the staff at the restaurant being cheerful and pro-active, although the prices were pushing towards the more expensive end of the scale. The quality seemed reasonable, but unexceptional, but for those who are looking for vegetarian or vegan Indian food in Norwich, it’s one of the better options available at the moment. I’m puzzled why the restaurant wasn’t busier, but it’s an odd time for hospitality venues at the moment, a few landlords in Norwich have mentioned that the pub trade is all over the place, often quiet when it should be busy and vice versa. Anyway, it was all a lovely evening, with the staff never rushing us, with the reviews online generally very favourable, so they’re getting a lot right.

August 7, 2022
Norwich – Poor Pedestrian/Cycling Planning from Council on Prince of Wales Road

Just as one of my random complaints….. I’ve noticed two near collisions between pedestrians and cars here in recent weeks. The proposals for this piece of work were sent out for consultation in 2018, and Norwich Cycling Campaign noted in their official reply that:

“The footways are busy and there should be an unambiguous differentiation between the footway and the cycle track.”

This seems like a comment that shouldn’t even need to be made, but the council merrily ignored it, as least in part. Clicking on the photo above makes it larger, and it shows that they’ve added a cycle lane on the junction between Rose Lane and Prince of Wales Road. This is very sensible, but I rarely see any cyclists use it, and what appears to be about 90% of pedestrians crossing in this area here use it. That’s not ideal, the pedestrian crossing is off to the left of the photo. Because pedestrians think this is a crossing for them, they’re reliant on a cyclist showing caution and not ploughing straight into them.

There’s a three-way problem here, namely that it’s an unsafe place for pedestrians to cross because it’s a road where cars often speed, it’s increasing the likelihood of a collision between a cyclist and a pedestrian, whilst also putting off cyclists for using a track which was built for them. The cost of this project, which also involved the council putting a cycle track which ran into a tree (which the council initially said was fine), cost £2.6 million. I imagine they’ll have to rip it all up again within a few years…..

Anyway, complaint over and I hope that there are no serious accidents here (or indeed any accidents at all), as the council must be more than aware of the limitations of their little project.

August 7, 2022
Saturday : 2022 LDWA Summer Poppyline Walk

Eric Rolfe ensured that there will be plenty of photos of the Summer Poppyline event for Strider and elsewhere in due course, so this post is more about the organisation of the Summer Poppyline challenge event. It’s organised by Norfolk and Suffolk LDWA and it takes place most years, taking in a smaller part of the Winter Poppyline 50 mile event which is put on every two years. This year there was the choice of a 19 mile route or a 50 kilometre route, with this latter distance being chosen as part of the LDWA’s 50th birthday celebrations.

It was an early start, with Richard driving Stuart and I to the start of the event at Sheringham High School. You can spot them both to the right of this photo, with Stuart wanting to set off as soon as possible for fear that he might come in last or something. However, it’s all about completing the event and enjoying the view, so it wouldn’t have mattered. But it didn’t happen either, Karen and the other NEC members swept him along. Stuart, Julie, Bill and Sara were all very brave in taking part, not to mention that Karen was doing the longer event and is always brave.

The numbers were a little lower than usual, mostly due to external factors than any loss of interest in challenge events, but we had over 130 people signed up. I’ve trained Richard up to do everything that I used to do, showing just how good at delegation I am. I think in a few years that Richard might be able to cope entirely on his own. Registration went smoothly, particularly for those in my queue who enjoyed my professionalism and efficiency. Or something like that.

There’s Jayne, ready to set everyone off on the first wave and I note Katie, the organiser of the Norfolk & Suffolk group’s 100 event in 2025, at the front just bursting with enthusiasm to start. I like being at the start of the events, to see all the excitement and just a little trepidation about the adventure that was in front of the entrants. To some, the distances are easy, but to others they’re more of a challenge and I know we had plenty of people taking part in their first LDWA event.

There’s Eric on the left, ready for his day of walking and taking photos. There are plenty of hills near to the start of the walk, not least the challenges of Beeston Bump, but it’s good to have a variety of terrains as not everyone can cope with endless miles of flat in the way that I can. I’d add that it’s great to see so many local members volunteering at the event, it’s a highlight for many people who want to help support the walkers and runners around the event.

Jayne setting the runners off on their walk, or in this case run, with the weather being quite warm, but not overly hot and there was a breeze from the coast. It was a delight to see our marshal Simon H turn up, although he was doing a very strange walk due to a leg injury, namely because he has pushed himself so much to try and be an athlete like myself. He should know his limits, but I didn’t say anything of course, and I was very sympathetic and full of empathy.

Sometimes we don’t have access to all of the cooking facilities in the locations that we hire, but in this case that wasn’t a problem, Jayne and her crew were busy making a variety of wraps for the walkers and there was a handy self-service area. As an additional treat, there was Eton Mess and ice cream, along with a range of cold and hot drinks.

It was all peaceful at HQ during the day, although since I was the emergency contact, I received a phone call from a walker concerned to see a fire near checkpoint 2. This transpired to be quite a serious fire on farmland, but fortunately the fire brigade were on hand and they were able to put it out. It provided some memorable moments for walkers, who might have feared momentarily that they couldn’t access our checkpoint full of food and drink. We ensured that the fire brigade knew about the situation and Malcolm bravely went out to go and have a look at the situation in case it impacted on our walkers.

Some of the entrants from Hike Norfolk celebrating their success, it’s good to see a steady flow of walkers from that group doing so well on these challenge events.

It was positive to hear all the feedback about the checkpoints and the welcome that they had offered, not to mention the range of food and drink that walkers and runners enjoyed. I hope that all of the marshals enjoyed their day, with everyone at HQ having a marvellous time, especially when Jayne arrived with some extra lunchtime treats for the hardworking registration desk operative and also for Richard. We heard later that a few of our walkers encountered some wasps early on during the walk, not something that is ideal, but good humour and bravery got them through.

As for the NEC entrants, Karen swept in looking like she hadn’t even entered the event, whilst Stuart looked quite worn out if I’m being honest, which I was. I had a lot of sympathy for him, I know how he felt, but he had been very brave indeed. Julie, Bill and Sara looked suitably tired from their experience, but I’m pleased that they enjoyed the route. Tim was also going to take part, but unfortunately, due to circumstances mostly out of his control, he wasn’t able to make it to the event. But, we’re pleased to have been able to offer some hospitality to the NEC officers who did take part.

The next challenge event is the Flower of Suffolk on the first Sunday of October, sadly this will be one of the first local events that I’ll miss in years, namely because I hope to be in the United States. I do hope that Richard copes without me on that event, but there will support on hand if he gets overwhelmed without my calm influence to gently guide him back on track. I shall of course report back here in October with whatever gossip I’ve managed to pick up from overseas.

I’m not sure I’ll be walking any more challenge events this year, but I hope to take part in a few next year, especially as Richard has indicated that he’s up for trying an 18 mile event. He’ll definitely need my support, encouragement and positivity with that, so anyone with ideas on which is the best LDWA event for him to start on, don’t hesitate to let me know 🙂

August 2, 2022
Norwich – Rosary Cemetery (Averill Woollsey and Benjamin Woollsey)

Another in my random series of posts about gravestones in Rosary Cemetery in Norwich.

Two things caught my eye about this gravestone at Rosary Cemetery, firstly, it’s very clean and secondly, the dates of death are very close. I assumed that it had been cleaned recently and so there might be a story on-line, but if there is, I can’t find it.

The grave is that of Averill Woollsey (nee Mitchell) who was born in 1775 and she died at the age of 69 on 15 April 1844. Benjamin Woollsey, the son of Benjamin Woollsey and Susanna Wells, was born on 13 December 1786 and baptised in St. Nicholas Church in North Walsham on 31 December 1786. The couple were married at St. Nicholas Church (now the Minster) in Great Yarmouth on 6 December 1812 and they moved to Norwich at some point to live on Magdalen Street.

Benjamin died on 16 April 1844, just one day after his wife, so unless he died very quickly of a broken heart, I assume that there was an illness or accident. However, there’s nothing in the media about it, just a notice that Robert Burcham, who was Benjamin’s business partner in running a corn and seed merchant, would continue the business alone.

This appeared in the local newspaper on 27 April 1844, the quick sale of all of the property which the couple owned. I can’t establish exactly which property he lived at on Magdalen Street, it would have added some colour to the thought of Benjamin’s stuff being carted out of it on Friday 2 May 1844. This remains another blog post without much of an answer, just a story without resolution of why they died so close together, and who has arranged for their gravestone to be cleaned and restored.

July 31, 2022