Thursday 28 August 2014

A Visit to Holkham Hall.

On the Thursday of our week in Norfolk, we decided to spend the afternoon at Holkham Hall, a short drive from Hunstanton.


When we arrived it was quite busy and were were directed to an overflow car park.  Whilst OH walked the dog in the extensive grounds of the Hall, Little Bird and I decided to explore the Bygone Museum and the House itself.

We started our exploration in the museum.  There were lots of interesting exhibits including this Victorian kitchen.


I liked this hot cross bun stamp.  I'd never seen one before and it fascinated me.



Little Bird had fun typing with this old fashioned typewriter.  I had a go too.  It reminded me of learning to type a good few years ago now.  (It wasn't my strongest skill as a teenager.  Put it this way, I used a lot of Tippex in those days!)


Outside in the courtyard there were lots of old vehicles.  I particularly liked this old Bentley,



this motorbike with sidecar,



and more especially this beautiful Airstream caravan, which is apparently still used today by the family in residence.




Having explored the museum we took a look inside the house.  There was a very beautiful ornate plaster ceiling in the entrance hall which caught my eye,



some very beautiful four poster beds in some of the bedrooms,





and I also admired this beautiful chandelier.


Working in the old kitchen must have involved a lot of polishing of this copperware.  I'm not sure I would have liked a job here.


After meeting back up with OH, we later explored the enormous walled garden.  I have never seen one so large before.


I liked these onion drying frames.  I'd like to make one myself at home.  Not that I really grow enough onions to merit it.



Some of the walled garden is still being restored.  I quite liked some of the signs of decay that had set in, particularly with regard to some of the glass houses.  They were very atmospheric.



Some were currently in use.



We had a lovely afternoon.  What started out as a cloudy/rainy day ended in bright sunshine, much to our delight.  Perfect weather for enjoying the grounds.  A stop off at the pub for a shandy and a bag of crisps on the way home made for a perfect afternoon out.


6 comments:

  1. That hot cross bun stamp would have been very interesting to me as well.

    The copper would have taken too much polishing for me to even think about getting a job there.

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a wonderful place to visit. Victorian kitchen, walled garden & old green houses - I'd love it !
    Interesting hot cross bun stamp.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was very interesting. The walled garden took quite a bit of walking around though. We ended up getting a free shuttle ride back to the house as we were pretty tired by the time we'd finished.

      Delete
  3. My mum was a secretary and so no surprises for my 7th birthday I was given a typewriter - a brother if I remember correctly. Those were the days - the frustration of finding the correct key....but it has paid off way hey look at me now on my laptop!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I must admit that having had a go on it yesterday, I am quite relieved in many ways, that computers have now taken over. So much easier to correct your mistakes and the spellchecker comes in very useful too.

    I do still like the type effect from a proper typewriter though and the qwerty keyboard skills are still useful and applicable, so it wasn't all in vain.

    ReplyDelete