Thursday morning we drove to Blickling Estate, a National Trust property about a 20 minute drive from West Runton. Mentioned in the Doomesday Book, Blickling Estate is believed to have been the birthplace of Anne Bolyen, the future wife of King Henry VIII.

During the second world war, RAF crew were billeted here whilst its owner, Lord Lothian, was part of Winston Churchill’s circle of influence.

In the 1740s, Sir John Hobart converted the Long Gallery into an impressive library after being bequethed a vast book collection by renowned scholar Sir Richard Ellys.

Philip Kerr, the 11th Marquess of Lothian was a part of the history of the National Trust as he was a driving force behind the National Trust Act of 1937 and the creation of the Country Houses Scheme. This enabled large mansion houses to be transferred to the trust in lieu of death duties, preserving some of the UK’s most beautiful buildings.

We took a tour of the inside of the mansion…

And afterwards walked around the lovely gardens and lake.

On Friday we took the train to Hoveton and Wroxham (from the station at West Runton) and travelled on the heritage line, the Bure Valley line. This nine mile railway line, which is narrow gauge, runs along an old branch line which was a part of the Beeching cuts.

Being around a 1:3 scale, this narrow gauge railway allowed the creation of a long distance footpath running alongside the line between the towns of Wroxham and Aylsham.

It was another pleasant evening and we dined again at the Village Inn, West Runton.

Saturday morning we drove the two hours to Peterborough for the highlight of this trip…