Holkham Hall

Whilst in the Norfolk area, a decision was made to celebrate somebody's birthday at a place called Holkham Hall. Basically a privately owned stately home, whose grounds are open on certain days to the public and the home open on even less days. If you live nearby and visit on foot, its a free day out. If you're a visitor that needs to park, eat and keep small people entertained, the costs can add up. There is however still a lot to see on a budget, because according to their website slogan, Holkham Hall is 'where making memories is a walk in the park'.

So in two vehicles we turned up nice and early in the morning. On the east side was the Woodland Play Area, featuring an aerial rope course for the minions to enjoy themselves on, whilst of course chaperoned by my mildly reluctant sister. The boys abstained, watching from the side lines, one of them I suspect still has a bit of vertical growth to do.

I'm confident they all had a bloody good time, with the safety of their harnesses, stepping on the aerial walkways, ropes, floating steps and travelling at high speeds on the flying foxes.

After the extreme sports, we split up, the energetic group walked to the lake and decided to rent a row boat, whilst we went and had lunch at the Courtyard Cafe, which actually wasn't too bad. We skipped the little museum adjacent to the cafe, mainly because of the entry fee. We decided instead to walk towards the Holkham Obelisk.

On the way to the Obelisk, we made a small deviation for some deer chilling out nearby, followed by the The Temple. Ominous Temple.

Eventually, after completing our side quests, we arrived at the monument.

Turn around and you'll see the line the monument traces back to Holkham Hall....except it doesn't, it's off, and inside, I hate it.

Pretty good day, worth one visit if you're in the area, we certainly didn't explore everything that there was to see, which included Holkham beach, which given the tide was out was a bit of a slog!