I know some readers like my short travelogues. So here goes with a quick two day trip to North Norfolk.
Day One
At last they have found a way of solving the problem of traffic in Cley Next the Sea - dig the road up.
On Saturday we set off on a triangular drive into the Glaven Valley. Our aim was to go to Cley, Glandford and then Holt.
We had just got onto the coast road at Weybourne when we saw a sign informing us that the road was closed at Cley High Street. As our first scheduled stop was Cley we were hoping we could at least get there and so it turned out. At Cley they had the road up in two places, effectively cutting the coastal village off.
It was like a ghost village. We were able to walk down the middle of the road with only a couple of cyclists causing us any problem. It was like going back to the days of lockdown - only one piece of exercise a day with nobody around (who remembers that?).
It was nice to be able to take photographs unhindered by traffic but it was cold and drizzly and we soon walked back to the car and did a u turn. All the local businesses were open but doing very little trade. They must be fuming.
Cley's lack of traffic reminded me of the television documentary on the village that I mentioned previously when the BBC seemed to clear the main street of vehicles. Usually Cley is horribly jammed up with cars parked all over the place and hundreds of vehicles trying to navigate the narrow main street.
The second point on our triangular drive was Glandford but first we stopped at Cley Church, an imposing and quite plain building. Then we went to Cley Spy which is a strange name for a place. But it isn't actually the name of a place, but the name of a shop which sells telescopes, binoculars and outdoor gear.
Next to Cley Spy was an art gallery with a difference. It features paintings and sculptures with a wildlife theme. We walked in the door and were immediately offered wine and fruit juice. I'm not sure whether this was a special day or if they do it all the time. I should imagine it would be the former otherwise we would all be drinking their profits away.
We were most taken by the very lifelike wildlife sculptures of Karen Fawcett. It was one of those interesting places that we will return to - possibly just before Christmas.
From there we visited Glandford Church and then walked along the River Glaven to a nursery before returning to the car and driving to Holt.
On these little trips I'm always looking for slightly off the wall stories and that's exactly where you might find these stories - off the wall.
That's precisely why I always look at the walls inside churches. So Saturday's fascinating story involved Glandford Church.
By 1730 the original church was in ruins. There was some limited restoration work in 1875 but it was at the end of the 19th century that Sir Alfred Jodrell, who had inherited nearby Bayfield Hall, rebuilt the church in its entirety as a memorial to his mother. And that's where something interesting happened.
Sir Alfred was a creature of habit and liked to sit in the same pew on the left side of the church. He would take his dog Nimmie with him to services and his faithful companion would sit with him. When Sir Alfred died his dog pined for him. As a result Sir Alfred's pew has a carving of Nimmie on it. The dog is pictured looking for his master.
Sir Alfred founded the shell museum close to the church. Apparently it's the oldest museum in Norfolk and has a collection of sea shells along with fossils, birds eggs and other local archaeological finds. Unfortunately it wasn't open.
There's something else strange about St Martin's Church at Glandford. It has a carillon of 12 bells which play hymns every three hours from 6 am until 9 pm. Glandford is certainly worth a return visit in the summer. There are so many of these out of the way places in Norfolk where you just feel that you are away from the rat race and enveloped in history and the past. On our travels we even came across a public telephone box that still contained a phone. That was in Cley.
I hope you enjoy some of my photos, although it was a very grey day. You will see one of the wooden panel with Sir Alfred's dog.
I did ask my other threequarters where she thought Sir Alfred had obtained the money to rebuild the church. "Was it from Jodrell Bank," I asked? That by the way was a joke.
More on our travels tomorrow.