If I didn't know better I would have thought I was tuned into an Archers ambient backing track.

It is hard to believe that we are only just at the end of February as the last few days have averaged a temperature of about 16 degrees C and the sunshine and blue skies have been a real treat. We are, of course, heading for another drought and the hose bans will soon be announced for sure. This is a shame as I have just treated myself to a new hose and I would love to be able to christen it at least once before the hose ban. In truth I had to buy a new one as I did that damn stupid thing of not putting the hose away for the winter, something that I have successfully achieved with this particular hose for well over a decade. Alas this years mistake meant that the thing split right through in at least 3 places and the remaining hose spurted out water in fine lines much like the little Brussels statue and fountain Manneken Pis. In short the hose was useless and it had to go. With temperatures dropping as low as -13 degrees only a few weeks ago it seems all the more bizarre that we are in positively balmy weather now.

So Alison and I were out in the garden and started on the new 'Cottage garden' on the outside wall of our garden (as mentioned in the last blog). I have to say it was really pleasant planting up the garden in the warm sunshine whilst the birds were singing all around and the sheep were bleating. If I didn't know better I would have thought I was tuned into an Archers ambient backing track. My last village in Sussex had its moments of bliss like this with the addition of a romantically placed steam train whistle from the Bluebell railway as a punctuation mark to the whole scene. However the Boeing 747 heading for Gatwick quickly and inevitably brought the 21st Century crashing back into our lives smashing the image of rural life to pieces. Life in Norfolk is so very much slower, sedate and relaxed. It is true that we get the odd Jet fighter play high above our heads and sometimes I think they are using our chimneys as a slalom course but this is not constant and when it does happen I'm out there loving it.

These beautifully clear skies have given us some fantastic sunsets recently, several of which I have photographed and put at the end of my last few blogs. I tend to look out for good possible sunset positions and since last year I have been waiting for the sun to drop in a very specific spot at Cley. I did not know when it would happen only that it WOULD happen because I saw the sun was north of the spot in the summer and way south of the spot in the depth of winter. Therefore, I concluded, there would be a time when, just like the 3 bears, it would be just right! I wanted to catch the sun setting just behind Cley Windmill in a position that would allow me to capture it with the tower of Blakeney Church right behind it. The only problem is that this is England and the chances of the cloud being conducive to supplying a sunset in the midst of winter for the couple of days that the sun would be in the correct position were low indeed.

A few days back I felt it in my bones that the day was right, the time had come but the day was slightly too clear of cloud and this would provide nothing worth photographing. However I set off to Cley (about 10 miles north) on the chance that it might be the right day for that 'shot' and I was rewarded with an excellent sunset that ticked all the boxes. It lasted for nearly an hour through it's different phases, and at times the colours were intense especially with the telephoto lens just capturing the heart of the sunset. The fire red sky behind the church was stunning and I admit to taking over 300 photos in that short hour! There was only one other person there and he made the mistake of giving up when the sun dropped out of view. You see many people don't realise that this is often when the sunset develops into the best show of all as the sun is now low enough to illuminate the lower clouds at an angle meaning that the sunlight is struggling through the Earth's atmosphere acting as a giant filter. It was at this point that the intensity became full on and the sky behind the church looked as though it was on fire. The next day also looked promising and so I took Alison with me and once again we were treated to a stunning show of colours with the light behind the church this time being a rich Golden colour, turning to sepia then red then pink then purple as it faded into night. Every tree, every branch, every twig and every bird in the sky was emphasized by this rich incandescent backdrop of gold. All the time in the marshes all around the Curlews and Pheasants and Moorhens called and croaked and the sky opposite the sunset was soaked with a cool gentle subtle tincture of pink, as the blushing naked night revealed herself.......

I am not, in general, a spiritual man but I once again felt at one with the universe in the same way that I do when looking up at a particularly heavy Milkyway view of our Galaxy. The soul is eased a little.

Well now my friends you have to see a few chosen photos from the 'collection' and I fully expect some Ooo's and Ahhhhh's and perhaps some doubtful "He's photo-shopped that!". Which, for the record, I haven't. I have made these smaller for the blog because most of the originals are the size of a poster and would take too long to down load. Click on the pictures to enlarge, Enjoy...

AND FINALLY................


I suffered a birthday yesterday and my daughter, Claire, kindly made me my favourite cake (a date cake). Now Claire doesn't just bake, no she BAKES and we are regularly treated to delights from her sessions in the kitchen. This year she has challenged herself to make a different bake every week of the year which she is recording on her Blog "Pasture times".
Noting my recent penchant for sunset photos Claire honoured me by replicating a photo I took by painting it in food colouring on to a disc of icing on top of my birthday cake. She thinks she is no good at painting, well I beg to differ....

Thanks Claire xx

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THE HARDEST STRUGGLE OF ALL IS TO BE SOMETHING DIFFERENT FROM WHAT THE AVERAGE MAN IS. Charles M. Schwab

I was going to start by claiming that Norfolk is officially the sunniest County in England and I thought I should just quickly check my facts first. Just as well because there are at least another 3 Counties that make the same claim to fame and they are nearly all the local tourist board sites. Someone is telling little 'porky pies'!

Anyway that doesn't matter a jot, Norfolk is particularly sunny there is little need for any sun-tanning beds here (we sent them down to Essex years ago by the truck load as a humanitarian gesture). Saturday was one such day and as we awoke to sunshine we decided that it would be a good day to go and visit one of the many Snowdrop walks around these parts.
    So we headed off to an even smaller village than ourselves called Brinton just south of Holt. The village was used to film the TV series Dangerfield with Nigel Havers and has a very 'Miss Marple' look about it. The Manor House opens its grounds for common folk like us to view the drifts of snowdrops in and around their woodland. The farm yard is used as a car park and then we strolled across the road where we were welcomed at the rusty old garden gate by the owners of the manor themselves. They explained the route to take around the garden and then off we went down to the lake and around the woods.

 The woods were beautiful in the bright sunshine and in places there were carpets of white snowdrops. The place was only open from 1pm to 4pm and ever so busy with people coming to see the show of these pretty delicate little flowers. We spent about an hour there and when we got back to the village we headed for the Church because they were serving tea & cakes.

I loved the way that so many people in the village were doing their bit to make this event work and the monies were going to charity. I think that the world must be held together by the work all these little communities in the back water of beyond. They make no fuss, do not shout to the world of how much they have raised but just get on with it in a very understated way. I think the expression is 'The salt of the earth' and we should all be proud of such folk.   In the Church there were 4 or 5 people serving tea and home-made cakes. The Church was pretty full and there was something quintessentially British about the whole affair, a church full of people having tea and cakes and all of whom have only one thing in common, Snowdrops. There were no tables just pews and so we all faced the Lordly Cross on the alter whilst we munched on our chocolate cake, or Lemon Drizzle or Ginger or sponge or whatever we had chosen from their large selection, which I assume 'members of the committee' had been making over the preceding days. As I say it made me feel very 'British'.

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THE HARDEST STRUGGLE OF ALL IS TO BE SOMETHING DIFFERENT FROM WHAT THE AVERAGE MAN IS.                    Charles M. Schwab

This is my version of the motivational posters found in many offices and workplaces around the country and I plan to put it up on the wall of The Old Bakery so that my 'Staff' (Alison and Claire) will feel motivated to make our B&B that unique experience that offers a 'different' fresh approach. I say my staff, but I think they may wish to challenge that so I will say the Team to try to appease them!

Today I have been creating a new border in the garden, although it is actually outside of the garden on a 7 metre slip of land by the road....

As you can see it is pretty boring at the moment and whilst I really don't know where I think I'll find the time to do this I aim to turn it into a Cottage Garden. Today I stripped off the weed ridden turfs, dug the plot over and then shifted half a tonne of my best compost into it. As I struggled on I kept coming upon a poor Ladybird here and there that I was obviously making homeless so I went out of my way to introduce them to some of their own kind that had already made a home for themselves on the stone ornament that you see in my poster above. It started off with just 15 Ladybirds and by the time I had finished there were very nearly a village of them. I didn't huddle them together, they did that themselves but I felt I was doing a good job of match making!

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Finally I must share a description of another B&Bs bedroom that I came across tonight......

 

Bedroom 2 is a double bedded room with en-suite shower with two widows looking onto the front and side garden.  

I just can't compete with that level of service!

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But it's the teeth underneath that give me such grief when I chew on the beef

 No pain, No gain.

I have fillings and drilling's and caps and crowns,

I have an extremist Hygienist who works like a 'machinist',

My Dentist dispenses menaces and distresses....    with expenses!

I dribble and spittle then gargle a little then beg for acquittal....

But it's the teeth underneath that give me such grief when I chew on the beef

So with disbelief I'm underneath this thief from my own mischief desperately seeking relief.

I promise myself no more ice cream or cake, or Cadbury's Flake, or sugary bakes,

all lies, of course, 'cause I'm well apprenticed my sweet tooth taking me right back to the DENTIST!

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Sad but true I'm afraid. As I mentioned in yesterdays blog I received a bit of facial bling last week and to obtain this exquisite bit of jewellery he had to take a 'cast' of my chompers. Any of you that have had this nasty experience can probably still remember the weird and unnatural feel of the goo that they stick in your mouth as it oozes through every gap in your teeth. Anyway I was just walking away from the Dentist when he slipped a small parcel into my hand somewhat in the sly way that Corporal Jones would slip Captain Manwaring half a pound of sausages in Dad's Army. "You never know but you might need these some day". he suggested. So as I walk out of the Dentist I take a look at the offering in the bag and was a little surprised to see an impression of my very own teeth smiling right back at me, for he had given me the two plaster of paris mouldings of my teeth.

People are full of surprises. Most often what I think is odd they clearly don't and in the normality of their behaviour it makes for an even bigger shock when I am shown something that surprises me.  For example I used to have a customer in one store that would always talk about his beloved Mother. He was well into his 60's and I knew that she had died several years before I had met him. It was his 'thing' to tell me about the good times he had with her and how things had deteriorated as the years went on. One day he pulled me to one side and asked if I would like to see a photo of his mother. "Yes of course, I'd love to", I lied and he pulls a reasonably large photograph out of an envelope and passes it to me. Now every thing looked quite normal on first glance and then, all of a sudden, it didn't. I don't know how I knew but I just did, perhaps there were subliminal clues in the photo, she was sitting in "her favourite armchair" he explained and I'm thinking she's dead, "She loved that chair" he clarified and I thought he is showing me a photo of his dead mother, actually dead in the photo! "Of course that is exactly as I found her...." and he went on to confirm that he took this photo whilst he was waiting for the ambulance. To him this was quite normal but it just didn't seem right to me.

Anyway I headed off home with my newly acquired two sets of plaster cast teeth, a genuine heir loom that I could give to my Daughter as soon as I got home. Apparently I am "Freaky" and she wanted to know "What's wrong with you? Why are You YOU?" I thought she would be pleased to have a little bit of me when I was gone. I explained that she could probably ask for the gold back too but this just sent her off again "You are weird, just go away you freak" she admonished me.

So instead I have mounted them on a plaque which is ironic because my real teeth have plaque mounted on them. Then I put that in a frame and have mounted it on the bathroom wall somewhat in the fashion of that which a hunter would do with a Deer's head in the living room. It is both avant-garde and useful too as I can see where to brush at a glance.....

But is it Art?

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Now to the stuff about The Old Bakery, not a lot to say really other than I spent most of Friday tidying the garage and feeling a lot better for it. I still can't park a car in there but I reckon that very few garages across the country actually use their garages for parking cars in them, there's just too much junk in the world.

Percy, the pheasant is still feeding in the garden most days and the snow has finally gone so hopefully I can get out there and do some gardening now. Oh having spoken to a long term resident, his family have lived in the village for 3 generations, I have discovered that the village received mains sewers in the 1980's and that they could all connect up to it if they wanted. It appears that The Old Bakery's previous owner did NOT want to pay the connection costs hence that is why we are still on the smallest septic tank in England. That said I just have to pay £150 a year whilst they are paying £800 a year and to add insult to injury the liquids from my septic tank are (quite legally) running off into their gardens! It's a topsy turvy world isn't it!

To end the blog, guess what.... Yep another sunset, taken about a week ago. Actually the sun had gone behind a cloud and left this very plain but beautiful tinge to the sky. This was taken about 2 miles from our village.

Oh, by the way, NO of course I haven't mounted my teeth on a plaque in the bathroom! That would just be too weird, even for me.

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All I could say to her was.... "Ugg" whilst offering up, in an uncontrollable way, a little gift of a string of dribble.

Today I think I just doubled how much I am worth.

This afternoon I had to break away from being the maintenance guy as I had appointments with my Dentist, the Vet and the Doctor. By the way whilst it is true that I suffer from many varied, interesting and quite harmless ailments (see my previous blog) the visit to the Vet was regarding the cat and not me. It was indeed nice to be visiting a Doctor in a non-emergency setting and made a pleasant change. Claire thinks that if you could get 'Air-Miles' for how often you visit the casualty Dept then I would have been able to get to Hong Kong and back!

This is a little unfair, I feel, as most of my visits, well if not most then the majority were in relation to a spell of dislocated jaw incidents. I say a 'spell' but the spell did go on for many years averaging about twice a year and there are still occasions now when it has been very close to re-occurring. You see I had a nasty head on car crash and my head took quite a hit against the side of my car as it spun 180 degrees in the road. Several smashed teeth were testament to the fact that my jaw took one hell of a whack and it was not long after that the jaw dislocations started. Most of my family can recall the first time with some clarity as we were playing Scrabble. My son was just about to place a seven letter word on the board and I started a yawn that resulted in one side of my jaw dropping out of position, preventing me from closing it. I had no idea what was happening as my power of speech simply stopped and I entered a world of "Ugg" language in which the only word I could utter was "Ugg" immediately putting me back several millennia in the communications front. My family gathered around the scrabble board were just as flummoxed by this strange behaviour of mine putting it down to me being, well just me I suppose. Then there was a secondary spasm and 'Pop' the other side of the jaw came undone which, I think, was when they realised something was really wrong, that and me desperately writhing around on the sofa trying to shut my jaw in some pain. 

Now my wife enters from the kitchen having heard much of a cur-fuddle and takes one look at my face which I was holding with both hands either side giving a pretty good impersonation of  Edvard Munch's The Scream.....

 My grotesque disposition had the none to helpful effect of making her wretch and off she went into the hall to continue with her wretching. Being the only other adult in the building I have to say that this did nothing to aid my confidence that there would be a quick and swift resolution to this strange affair. I lay there with my Daughter looking on aghast, my wife about to blow chunks in the hall and my son tenaciously insisting that he puts down his first ever 7 letter word to ensure he got the bonus 50 points! The only person who seemed to keep her calm was my God-Daughter, whom was staying with us, although she appeared more interested in how 'cool' it all was.

Eventually Alison managed to compose herself and took me off to hospital where a rather strong nurse used all her body weight to re-locate the thing. It does take some muscle and a knowledge of exactly which directions to pull then push the jaw to get it back again.


Out-patient appointments were made, doctors seen and by luck our nearest hospital was the Queen Victoria in East Grinstead which was where the ground breaking achievements were made in World War II re-constructing Spitfire Pilots faces after crashes As a result they have the best Maxillofacial Dept in the country. In short their the people! They told me to come in to the Department next time it happens so they can X-Ray the jaw whilst it is in its dislocated position. Sounded like a good plan at the time, only when it actually happened I turn up to a heaving waiting room with an imposing appointments secretary between me and the Doctors and all I could say to her was.... "Ugg" whilst offering up, in an uncontrollable way, a little gift of a string of dribble. 
For all intensive purposes I appeared to be someone with certain 'special needs' and no 'owner'. I had never played charades up to this point in my life but I firmly believe that it was this incident alone that has enabled me to swiftly knock off a charade of Captain Corelli's Mandolin or Stanley Gibbons Commonwealth and British Empire Stamps catalogue, which is a tough book to do I can tell you! Eventually having made myself understood with the help of a pen and some scraps of post it pads I was taken in for X-rays, not that it achieved much as my jaw continued to dislocate for many more years.


Twice my jaw dislocated even as I yawned at the crack of dawn on my way to work in the car. The most notable of these was on a dark wet and windy winters morning at about 6am. The weather was foul, great gusts of wind throwing rain around as if by the bucket loads and to add to the misery great flashes of lighting fully illuminating the sky followed by chest rumbling thunder claps. AND THEN POP WENT MY JAW and I had to turn off my path to work and head for the hospital instead.


It was the same hospital as above but being out of hours all I could do would be to get to the Accident and emergency Department. Eventually I pulled up into the car park near the entrance to the A&E I elected to just put my heavy rain coat over my head and shoulders as it was just a short run to the door. The Lightning and Thunder flashed overhead as the rain whipped across the entrance door, I gave the door a firm shoulder as I was in a rush to get in and was thoroughly winded as it refused to budge. I tried the other door of the pair, nothing, they were both locked. There was a sign. There is always a sign isn't there. I remember at the time of the cuts in Maggie Thatchers days someone had put signs up all around the hospital stating 
;
"We regret to announce that the Light at the End of the tunnel has been switched off due to economic restraints"


This sign simply explained that the A&E Dept is open for business and instructed me to ring the bell, which I obediently did. Then again after a minute, and again and again. Nothing.  So after about 3 minutes waiting in the pouring rain I felt I owed it to myself to start banging on the door in a polite way with the palm of my left hand as my right was trying to relieve the pressure on my aching jaw.


Now hopefully you can picture the scene, I am hunched over in the pouring rain with my right hand grasping a 'scream' like jaw, my left banging hard on the old Victorian Oak door with my coat over my head and shoulders like a cloak whilst in the blackness of night rain whiplashes me and the door and all of this being accompanied by flashes of lightning and cracks of thunder. Finally the nurse arrives at the port hole style window and takes a peek through only to see this vision straight out of a Count Dracula movie. She tentatively asks what it is I need and all she gets back by way of a reply is "Ugg, Ugg, Ugg"! Followed by another dramatic flash of lightning illuminating my twisted, grotesque jaw line.........




So Today I have been to the Dentist who has doubled my worth by adding to my assets to the value of one gold crown, that's the tooth cap not the pre-decimal coin called a 'Crown'. I now look like one of the baddies on James bond, or a bouncer and when I have my photograph taken there will be a golden starlight twinkle from my toothy smile:)

Then I went to the Vets for the cats Thyroid  pills and finally ending up at the Doctors for some ear drops as I have gained an infection from when we went to Center Parcs a few weeks back.


To be honest I can't be sure that it is an infection and my belief is that it is another bloody Ladybird that has crawled into my ear to hibernate! 
















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I must have been out on the marshes for at least 3 hours but I had no idea of time, I didn't care, it just did not matter.

They are absolutely everywhere. Amongst the pea-sticks, in the flaking bark on the vine branches, under drain covers, in the garden store, on garden ornaments and in all sorts of unexpected places within the house including the linen basket! There were hundreds of Ladybirds in and around The Old Bakery during the summer and now there are hundreds hibernating everywhere.
I was pruning a climbing rose bush when it suddenly started to rain Ladybirds on me. 20 or more cascaded on to my head, they had tucked themselves into the twists of the rose branches. I had to make some repairs to the windows in the annex and there was even one under a window stay.
Having taken to making our own preserves many of which are from foraged produce I am wondering if there is a recipe for Ladybird Jam. Now you see I couldn't help myself and I just broke away to tap into Google "Ladybird recipes"....11 million hits! Wow, pretty impressive until I drilled down to find most of them are to do with cakes in the shape of a ladybird. Then I got a little excited when I read a hit entitled "Ladybird cookery books" only to find that they are cookery books printed by the Ladybird publishers, you know the guys that did the Janet and John books.

This is Janet.
This is John.
See Janet cook.
See John help Janet cook.
Janet and John are cooking.
Five Ladybirds.
Five Ladybirds in a bowl.
Five Ladybirds trying to get out of the bowl.
See how the Ladybirds struggle.
John is boiling some water.
See how the water bubbles.
Janet is holding the bowl of Ladybirds.
See how Janet tips the bowl.....

But actually now I think about it were Janet and John from Ladybird books or was that Peter and Jane?

Anyhow, a bit of catch up about The Old Bakery. Whilst we are advertising the Cottage, and have already had our first booking (Yippee), there has been an extensive list of snagging items that I have had to put right. These vary from tiling in the kitchen to boarding up under the staircase. The most odd task was to create a method to prevent the bed's headboards from snapping. You see the walls in the cottage are at a devilish angle leaning outwards so much so that by the time the wall has reached the ceiling it has moved out from true by about 10 inches. The headboard for the bed relies on the fact that the board uses the wall as a support and as the wall is about 5 inches away from the headboard it leaves a very strong possibility that the supporting struts would snap if any weight was put upon them. I couldn't fix a batten onto the wall because under the thin scree of plaster it is totally flint and also these are two beds that come together as one to give a choice of bed configurations so the headboards would need to move with the beds. So my solution (as you can see) was to attach a kind of leg which I made from scrap wood, the ends of a baluster and two rubber door stops. All very Blue Peter I know but it does the job, holding the headboard firm when pushed against the wall but enabling the bed to be moved to a slightly different location with ease. I reckon I could be up for a British Design Award this year!

Everything we do we try to do on the cheap but without compromising the look of the place. This staircase was exposed underneath and as a result had a lot of rough wood and exposed sharp screws etc.
So we needed to block it in. I did this for just £15. I had to buy two pieces of white hardboard to cover the main gap but to hide the nails I used two bits of architrave from a load that I bought really cheaply at the auction last year. I bought about 20 strips plus another 30 strips of normal battens for a total of just £16. Well the two pieces of architrave that I ended up using as a trim here would have cost alone nearly £4 each.
The Auction has been closed for many months as a result of the auctioneer (and owner) being in an extremely serious road accident. We understand that he is now making a good recovery and that they hope to have the Auction rooms up and running by Easter. We wish James Beck well.
So Claire and I have had withdrawal symptoms as a result of losing our weekly 'fix' of the auction.
I have also used my 'bargain' architrave to create skirting boards in the cottage shower room and I still have loads left!



Last year, of course, we were not open for business until the summer but we still managed to get a large amount of bookings. Well more bookings have already started especially for the big Christmas spectacular at Thursford. However we have had to turn quite a lot of bookings down because they were for two couples and we have only got the one room. We tend to pass them onto our neighbour who also has a B&B but has several rooms. We do have a room which needs to be renovated with stud walls to be taken back down and an en-suite created. At the moment it is the worst room in the house, but it could be really good so I have asked my friendly builder to have a look and give me a rough cost. However I think I will probably have to earn the money this year to afford the work next year. I guess one step at a time eh!

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Last weekend I was given the choice of shopping with the family in Norwich or spending the day up on the marshes at Cley. EASY. It wasn't warm but the sun was bright (actually the night before I had to drive to Kings Lynn and on the way back the temperature dropped to -11c, brrrrr) and so off I plodded to Cley.
There are three really big bird hides there and I had them to myself for the best part of the day and it was bliss. The lakes immediately in front of the hides were frozen so there were few birds there but this meant I got to see the shyer birds like the Water Rail, a Snipe and what I think was a Dunlin. I sat in pleasant solitude, just Myself and my camera watching the world go by at a true slow Norfolk pace. Time was irrelevant and it is only now that I look back that I realise I must have been out on the marshes for at least 3 hours but I had no idea of time, I didn't care, it just did not matter.

Lapwing

The icy lakes slid under patches of snow and gleamed a blue hue reflecting the clarity of the sky above. The air was fresh and full of oxygen, clean oh so very very clean. I could see miles across the marshes to the hills that led to Sheringham and in the distance two Marsh Harriers (a male and a female) kept me entertained as they played in the sky, dive bombing each other with an intimacy normally more associated with spring.
The Marsh was quiet with just the Lapwings calling out as they flew across my view.

Every now and again the peace was interrupted by the slowly ever increasing raucous cries of hundreds upon hundreds of geese flying in from another spot on the marsh. These shows were simply spectacular with numbers of geese that I have never encountered before drifting at first in the distance like a swarm of wasps then as they got nearer and nearer their cries crescendoed into a cacophony that overwhelmed the entire area. The numbers really were astounding. So here are some photos from that day which I hope give some feel for the glorious marshlands of Norfolk's North coast.

Cley Windmill and Morston Church across the reed beds

A wall of Brent Geese

Dunlin

Wigeon on ice

Even more Brent Geese

Wigeon ducks and Gulls spooked by a Marsh Harrier

A Water Rail feeding on a large dead fish

More Wigeon flying in front of the three hides across the frozen lake

Just as I was about to leave I heard the distinct sound of another flock of geese approaching and I stood and watched this collection of geese fly over the brow of a hill. The area of sky that they occupied was just vast and I started to take photos catching the advance guard at first....

There are over 600 Geese in this photo, nearer 660 actually, which is incredible and then I zoomed out to the next photo.....

The first photo covers just the tip of this picture (approximately the first 20%) I have absolutely no idea how many geese there are in this picture but it is probably around 2,500 ~ 3,000 don't forget that there are still more on the left off camera! All of these geese flew in a massive spiral over a field as if they were all agreeing on a spot to land before finally descending on the ploughed field. It was an incredible sight, simply incredible.

So that is what I prefer to do against shopping... Anytime!

I'll end once again with another classic sunset taken this week just a few hundred yards down our street. This strange weather is really chucking up some superb sunsets. I LOVE IT!

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Let it snow, Let it snow, let it snow....

We love The Old Bakery in the snow and actually Norfolk in the snow generally. Norfolk has the quaint little villages and rural life you'd expect of such a County but it also has its share of untamed wild and fairly remote countryside too. Both of these aspects are thoroughly enhanced by the fall of snow and so today's blog is given over to a small gallery of snowy pictures. I start with some more unusual birds that I have seen (and photographed) in my garden, which I know are not that rare, but I've not seen in any of my gardens before.

Redpoll

This Mealy Redpoll came and fed on the Niger seeds that I put out for the Gold Finches. This is yet another bird that I can add to my first time sightings list which is ever growing since we have moved to Norfolk.
The Fieldfare below is another bird that I have only seen since I have been in Norfolk. I have however seen quite a lot of them now and this one came into my garden to join all the other birds that are snacking on the food that I have put out for them. At times the garden is full of Finches, Tits, Blackbirds, Thrushes, Doves, and of course my favourite Percy the Pheasant all of whom are desperately feeding on the seeds and apples (that we collected from the wild in Autumn).

Fieldfare

Percy with his poorly leg (I think he is still roosting at night in the Yew tree at the back of the garden)

If you look carefully at this photo you can see the imprint of Percy's wings in the snow.

The Old Bakery

Chaos as the Panic buying starts in the village shop.

In search of a hill in Norfolk!

Alison and I saw a field full of geese which we estimated to be about 600 in number. A little later they took off in three separate waves of about 200~300 at a time. There were so many on this wave that I could not fit them all into the shot but as I count them now there are at least 300 in just this one picture. It is an amazing sight to witness.

Claire and I went to the coast today and were stunned at how inhospitable and remote it appeared. This beach goes on for 4 miles like this. Oh and yes those two dots in the distance are two people going for a wintery walk!

Cley Beach.

So there you have it a snap shot of a snowy day in North Norfolk. Tomorrow the rains will probably come and, like the spider, it'll all be washed away but for the moment we are far, far away from the problems it wreaks on Motorways and Airports and are simply enjoying the hear and now.

Finally I am ending with a another sunset shot. There have been so many good sunsets this year and I took this literally on the outskirts of our village. I know that it looks like I have tampered with the picture, but as Alison is my witness, this is the photo as I took it. I really love sunsets and this is one of my favourites....

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I guess the big news this week is that once again my Father has come up trumps and updated our web-site to include our cottage which after much consideration we have chosen to call "The Bakehouse".

He made it! Hooraaar!! Safe for another summer. Whom?  Well Percy of course. Our visiting Pheasant.

Despite my removal of the mirror in the garden he has continued to visit us most days but gets a lot less, shall we say, flustered as he no longer gets all excited at seeing his own reflection. You may ask how do we know that it is always Percy that visits us? Well, I'm glad you asked me that, yes well done you. Percy suffers from an injured right leg and walks around with a limp, in fact the Pheasant does a pretty good impersonation of Long John Silver, without the Parrot of course. That would just look stupid!
It is, was, open season for shooting pheasants so the way I saw it we had two options, a)we keep feeding him so he was safe and protected in our friendly walled garden haven in which he could enjoy the company of many other birds in a scene of harmony and tranquillity, relaxed and reassured of his safety in this tiny idyllic sanctuary.   Or...
b) We shot him and had a game casserole.

Well I'm not that hard and so we elected to encourage his stay with us and at present he still pops up most days. Not a word of thanks I might add! But there you are that's Long John Silver impersonators for you!
Most car journeys around here are like a game of dodge the Pheasant, honestly they are a bloody hazard! Of course the general understanding of the law is that you are not allowed to pick up an animal if you were the one that run it over and killed it. My Mum was having a driving lesson years (and years) ago when her driving instructor made her do an emergency stop right in the middle of the countryside. She did so and he promptly jumps out (which can't be good for your nerves when your instructor bails out) and runs back a few yards where he picked up a dead Pheasant and then stuffed it in the boot of the car. Quite legal but not sure how appropriate. Oh and when I say he stuffed it in the boot of the car I mean placed it there not that he used breadcrumbs, sage etc, etc....l

This reminds me of one of my favourite incidents that anyone has recounted to me. I was told this by a colleague whom I have never known tell a lie or indeed a tall story so I give it full credibility. He was driving along when all of a sudden this deer flys out of the hedgerow and wallop, he knocks it down dead! Obviously a bit shaken (him not the deer, it was dead) he checks it out and then that little devil on his shoulder intervened and the thought of haunches of venison and sausages and casseroles came to prominence in his mind and he decided to take it home. Now he didn't have the biggest car but then this was not the biggest deer and he sized everything up and realised that the best position to place the beast would be in the front passenger seat. He then spent several awkward minutes, ever conscious that someone may see him at any minute, trying to manipulate this creature into a seat clearly not designed for the said purpose. Eventually he succeeded in placing the thing in an upright position so actually it was sitting up much like a human with its head up against the head rest. He then got in himself and started to drive off.  I understand that he had only gone a short distance before he detected a slight movement from the deer and as he was driving along he slowly turned to look at the deer and as if looking into a mirror the deer did the self same thing towards him. Their eyes met, there was a moment of calm surreal disbelief from both of them as the deer tried to assimilate what an earth was going on, then all hell was let loose as the deer kicked off, my friend slammed on the breaks and desperately struggled to reach the passenger door handle through the intense kicking of the petrified deer. It must have been a sight to have seen, a Keystone Cops moment if you will, and after some considerable kerfuffle the deer was set free bouncing off into the countryside with a "You'll neve believe what just happened to me...." story that he'll probably never get to tell.

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Last weekend the kitchen lights decided to play up. I'd switch them on then after 20 seconds they would flicker and after another 5 seconds they would all go out completely. Having checked everything that I was qualified to check I reluctantly had to call out the electrician. No trip switches tripped and the symptom was the same each time, further more just the different light fittings within the kitchen were effected the rest of the same 'ring' carried on working fine. Once again the age of the property and maze of hidden wires made the electricians job a real challenge. Finally after an hour of testing and checking spurious electrical connection boxes he eventually found a burnt wire in a shaving point in the cloakroom off the dining hall. The last place that I would have looked!  Apparently all shaving points run of the light rings. I did not know that.

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I guess the big news this week is that once again my Father has come up trumps and updated our web-site to include our cottage which after much consideration we have chosen to call "The Bakehouse". This is because David, whose farm is two houses along from us, could remember the building when it was used to house the ovens for the bakery. He can show me exactly where they were positioned. Also one of our old photographs shows the bakers shop which was part of the same building, we can still see the space for the shop window and door in the garage and the shops shelves are also still there.

Have a look at the site......

www.theoldbakerynorfolk.co.uk/

You'll find the cottage under the accommodation tab. We are also on a Cottages web-site which has given us quite a lot of customers already for our B&B so we are hoping that the cottage will work just as well. However we are quite prepared to add on to other sites if need be but they all charge a lot more because they mainly take a 20% cut which seems to me quite a chunk.

www.norfolk-holiday-cottages.co.uk/cottage/the-bakehouse.html

 Remember tell your friends, we're now in the holiday cottage business!

A wintery sunset ahead of warnings of snow...............








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