Our Cromer Holiday
This year we whipped the kids on a 3 hour car journey to Cromer, in north Norfolk.
We were staying at 'The Grove', a wonderful guest house a short walk from the town centre. The grounds of The Grove were set in beautiful well maintained gardens. We were staying in one of the self catered barns towards the front of The Grove. There was plenty of room for 6 of us.
Bags unpacked, kids fed we took at 15minute walk along the sea front to the pier. Walking through The Grove's grounds,
Day 1 - Firsy day we visited Hillside Horse and Animal Sanctuary. (http://www.hillside.org.uk/) The sun was shining for the afternoon and we had such a great afternoon looking and stroking the horse's, donkey's, goats, pigs, ducks and best of all the talking parrots. This is a great place for the children to run around and get close up to the animals. Each horse had a different tale to tell as to how it got to the sanctuary, and although most not nice stories, it is pleasing to see them all doing sooo well.
Day 2 - We took a good stroll down to the town. The wind and weather was not on our side today. So while down south in Hertfordshire you were living it up in the sun, in your t-shirts, shorts and sunglasses, we were buttoned up with coats and rain covers :( Not what I had hoped for. It didn't take long to notice that it wasn't only The Grove's garden that were kept well, everywhere it Cromer seemed to be blossoming with flowers and neatly mowed lawns.
After taking a stroll around Cromer, darting in and out of tourist shops we settled on lunch, Fish and Chips at Mary Janes Chippy (our First choice of No1 wasn't open on a Monday, very bizaare). The weather had decided to brighten up after lunch and we took a stroll to find some sand for Isabelle. The tide was just going out and we were lucky to find some soft sand further along the beach near the beach huts, where Izzy could build some castles while burying her feet beneath it.
On our stroll back we discovered a little park area with 2 swings and a zip wire, enough to keep Isabelle amused.
To end day 1 we took the kids to The Grove's heated pool, which when said 'heated' it wasnt the warmest place to be. But being the only one's in there, it was great to exhaust the kids off even more before bed.
Day 3 - Today was an early start, packed up and out the cottage by 9am. We were on our way to Aylsham, a quite little village about 20minutes drive south from Cromer. Aylsham housed the start of the Bure Valley rail way, (http://www.bvrw.co.uk/), which took us on a 45minute trip to Wroxham ' the 'capital of the Norfolk Borads'. The train ride was interesting as it wasn't like any ordinary ride as the line was a small gauge line (to me, a non-train geek, it was just a smaller train with littler carriages to fit in). Although probably abit too long of a journey for the children we got to the otherside, where after a 10minute walk we arrived at the Norfolk broads, where we were greeted by a Boat trip. Again the boat trip was very long for the children, taking an hour and half, but for me I loved looking at all the houses which backed on to the Broads. There were some beautiful thatched and expensive looking houses, very picturesque.
After a 45minute journey back on the train and a 20minute car journey home, we finished off our day in the swimming pool. An excellant chance for Isabelle to perfect her skills again.
Day 4- Today after alot of deliberating what to do we decided on BeWILDerwood adventure park nr Wroxham. (http://www.bewilderwood.co.uk/) The place was brilliant. Not only did it entertain Isabelle, it was alot of fun for us adults. Set in the middle of woods, BeWILDerwood is based on a children's book ' A Boggle at BeWILDerwood' written by Tom Blofeld. We started off taking a trip in a boat to the park, where they set the scene by telling us the start of the book. We then discovered the adventure park. There were big slides, toddler areas, zip wires (for adults and toddlers), bridges, tunnels, swings, mazes and soooo much more. The only down side was that as we were not there at peak time there was only one eatery place open, but with the park not being overly busy and with a few schools visiting there was plenty of places to sit and no queue's. It was a very active day and our baby Josh even got have a go at the zip wire and swings at only 8months old.
After an exhausting day we headed back to the cottage, for a swim and bedtime for the children.
Day 5 - Today we headed to Sheringham, about a 10 minute car journey from Cromer. We parked up at the train station, and was greeted by the Poppy train line. We booked our tickets for the next available steam train jorney, the previous train had seemed to be packed with people, and then we headed for lunch. Sheringham is another seaside town, the high street bustling with small shops. We had lunch at the Robin Hood pub, which was smack bang in the middle of the town. It was fairly quiet and had a good selection of foods, and catered for the kids well. After eating we hopped it back to the train.
The train ride was to Holt and then back again, overall taking about 1hour round trip, the journey seemed to go very quick this time.
After the train we headed back to Cromer town centre to finish off our holiday with an icecream on the beach front and a dig in the sand. To finish it off properly we saw many a Cromer crab on the beach.
Day 6 - Today was home time. We packed up early and headed off. When we got home the weather had picked up and we enjoyed a sunny afternoon in the garden at home :)
If any of you are thinking of a holiday to this part of the UK, I would say its a beautiful part of the country , although just a little cold. Hope this gives you a few ideas of what you can do this area. If you want to know any more details on the places we visited then please ask.
