o'er hill and dale telling their tale
Jul. 13th, 2022 02:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pensnestWell. Last of the Camplet/Camp Sparklet/Camp Glint visitors departed here at 0705 on Monday morning. We had a lovely week!
nopseud and R, and turlough, and ephemera arrived late afternoon on Monday. ***So*** good to see them after so long—particularly since turlough and nopseud and R had missed Camp in 2019 for various unfortunate reasons. We had Pimms (with mint from my new herb garden) and ate, drank and were merry. ephemera brought sparkly mugs (!!) for us and delightful dragon earrings for me.
They were much interested by the developments in the back garden, which was beginning to have a pool. Update: it now has a pool, and there is water in it. One of the landscapers says he'll probably be sitting in it next week, when the temperature is likely to go up to 34(!!!**)
Sable was Not Happy about this development—first there are Men in her garden, then there are People in her house when the Men have gone home! But she did, very cautiously, condescend to bat a paw at the laser pointer when cajoled sufficiently, and has not actually run away from home.
Anyway. We went to the seaside first, and as anyone following my Instagram will know, I took my Nsync figures with me. They were a bit oversized for the model village, which was very pretty indeed, well gardened, detailed, and with a sense of humour. And a villainous population and very active police force! Everywhere you look someone is being detained for some minor crime or other (well, we saw no corpses). We played the crazy golf, very badly, and I purchased a knee-high metal dragon. After lunch was the Water Garden, an unexpectedly grown-up feature for a seaside town,tranquil and lovely. Great Yarmouth has a lot more going for it than the seaside, so we shall have to visit again.
Wednesday was Norwich day. I dispatched my Beast withnopseud, R and ephemera to visit Strangers' Hall, which is a pretty cool local museum. Meanwhile turlough and I went to Morrisons (for gluten-free crumpets, not because it is fascinating for tourists) and Hobbycraft, and thence to the Norfolk Yarn shop where, happily, turlough bought quite a lot of yarn so my 'yarn-must-be-purchased' sensibilities were satisfied without me spending anything. Then, the Assembly Rooms for our Wizard of Oz-themed afternoon tea. We were joined by my Nsync puppets again, and the whole thing was very charming. Though the savoury layer of the tea stack was tastier than the cakes, albeit less pretty. The others went back to Strangers Hall, which takes more than a morning, and turlough and I went to the Plantation Garden, stopping off briefly in a nice little local artist-run gallery. The Garden is Victorian and delectable. Beast had chorus on Wednesday evening so he ate early, but the rest of us enjoyed rather too much curry from Dhaba at 15, which was seriously good.
I had discovered that there was a guided tour of the East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden offered on the Thursday of our camplet, and we went for it and were not disappointed. It's a truly beautiful place, not just a lovely garden, but full of character. The owner who conducted the tour was a *real* gardener, loves to have a try, is obviously able to charm seeds and cuttings out of anyone, and grows a lot of stuff that "won't grow in Norfolk". He's someone who can talk to you about a plant, and lean down to touch the plant, and say "It doesn't feel hardy". This is master-level gardening. He talked about how conditions have changed over the past ten, twenty years so that plants that weren't really hardy back then are now perfectly well able to survive now. Anyway. It was fascinating, and followed by an excellent lunch, after which we explored the gardens for the rest of the afternoon. If you have the chance to visit, go!
Friday saw us heading to Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk. Anglo Saxon burial mounds and things that came out of them, plus some exhibits from the Staffordshire Hoard (a bunch of incredibly precious stuff that was buried one day for reasons unclear and dug up quite by chance several centuries later). The workmanship is astonishing. Filigree-fine knotwork, tiny garnets, gold. Just astonishing.
Sadly,ephemera had to leave on Friday evening. Saturday I hadn't made a specific plan for, and we eventually drove off to Wroxham, where we looked round a gallery, had (more) fish and chips, and did a boat tour of some Broads which was rather lovely. There were a *lot* of boats out there. I was amazed to discover that almost all the Broads are man-made, by Vikings. They dug out the peat a long time ago, and so the lakes are all pretty shallow. Lakes that have been dug out by geology are usually rather deeper.
After breakfasting at one of the pubs down the road—which, it turned out, had a gorgeous river view from around the back—nopseud and R headed home. turlough and I spent most of the afternoon knitting and chatting, very restful. She was going to treat us to dinner at Wagamama's, but the car refused to start so we had it delivered (and booked a taxi for the following morning).
All of the above completely fails to capture the fun of doing touristy stuff with this particular group of people! Whether we're being serious or silly, someone always has something to say.
In short, Camplet!
Also, I miss Camp.
Meanwhile, it continues to sun. Just after I finished my watering last night there were some hopeful drops from the sky, but it was just teasing. More over-thirty temps forecast for next week, groan. Sable and I shall melt together.
nopseud and R, and turlough, and ephemera arrived late afternoon on Monday. ***So*** good to see them after so long—particularly since turlough and nopseud and R had missed Camp in 2019 for various unfortunate reasons. We had Pimms (with mint from my new herb garden) and ate, drank and were merry. ephemera brought sparkly mugs (!!) for us and delightful dragon earrings for me.They were much interested by the developments in the back garden, which was beginning to have a pool. Update: it now has a pool, and there is water in it. One of the landscapers says he'll probably be sitting in it next week, when the temperature is likely to go up to 34(!!!**)
Sable was Not Happy about this development—first there are Men in her garden, then there are People in her house when the Men have gone home! But she did, very cautiously, condescend to bat a paw at the laser pointer when cajoled sufficiently, and has not actually run away from home.
Anyway. We went to the seaside first, and as anyone following my Instagram will know, I took my Nsync figures with me. They were a bit oversized for the model village, which was very pretty indeed, well gardened, detailed, and with a sense of humour. And a villainous population and very active police force! Everywhere you look someone is being detained for some minor crime or other (well, we saw no corpses). We played the crazy golf, very badly, and I purchased a knee-high metal dragon. After lunch was the Water Garden, an unexpectedly grown-up feature for a seaside town,tranquil and lovely. Great Yarmouth has a lot more going for it than the seaside, so we shall have to visit again.
Wednesday was Norwich day. I dispatched my Beast with
nopseud, R and ephemera to visit Strangers' Hall, which is a pretty cool local museum. Meanwhile turlough and I went to Morrisons (for gluten-free crumpets, not because it is fascinating for tourists) and Hobbycraft, and thence to the Norfolk Yarn shop where, happily, turlough bought quite a lot of yarn so my 'yarn-must-be-purchased' sensibilities were satisfied without me spending anything. Then, the Assembly Rooms for our Wizard of Oz-themed afternoon tea. We were joined by my Nsync puppets again, and the whole thing was very charming. Though the savoury layer of the tea stack was tastier than the cakes, albeit less pretty. The others went back to Strangers Hall, which takes more than a morning, and turlough and I went to the Plantation Garden, stopping off briefly in a nice little local artist-run gallery. The Garden is Victorian and delectable. Beast had chorus on Wednesday evening so he ate early, but the rest of us enjoyed rather too much curry from Dhaba at 15, which was seriously good.I had discovered that there was a guided tour of the East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden offered on the Thursday of our camplet, and we went for it and were not disappointed. It's a truly beautiful place, not just a lovely garden, but full of character. The owner who conducted the tour was a *real* gardener, loves to have a try, is obviously able to charm seeds and cuttings out of anyone, and grows a lot of stuff that "won't grow in Norfolk". He's someone who can talk to you about a plant, and lean down to touch the plant, and say "It doesn't feel hardy". This is master-level gardening. He talked about how conditions have changed over the past ten, twenty years so that plants that weren't really hardy back then are now perfectly well able to survive now. Anyway. It was fascinating, and followed by an excellent lunch, after which we explored the gardens for the rest of the afternoon. If you have the chance to visit, go!
Friday saw us heading to Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk. Anglo Saxon burial mounds and things that came out of them, plus some exhibits from the Staffordshire Hoard (a bunch of incredibly precious stuff that was buried one day for reasons unclear and dug up quite by chance several centuries later). The workmanship is astonishing. Filigree-fine knotwork, tiny garnets, gold. Just astonishing.
Sadly,
ephemera had to leave on Friday evening. Saturday I hadn't made a specific plan for, and we eventually drove off to Wroxham, where we looked round a gallery, had (more) fish and chips, and did a boat tour of some Broads which was rather lovely. There were a *lot* of boats out there. I was amazed to discover that almost all the Broads are man-made, by Vikings. They dug out the peat a long time ago, and so the lakes are all pretty shallow. Lakes that have been dug out by geology are usually rather deeper.After breakfasting at one of the pubs down the road—which, it turned out, had a gorgeous river view from around the back—
nopseud and R headed home. turlough and I spent most of the afternoon knitting and chatting, very restful. She was going to treat us to dinner at Wagamama's, but the car refused to start so we had it delivered (and booked a taxi for the following morning).All of the above completely fails to capture the fun of doing touristy stuff with this particular group of people! Whether we're being serious or silly, someone always has something to say.
In short, Camplet!
Also, I miss Camp.
Meanwhile, it continues to sun. Just after I finished my watering last night there were some hopeful drops from the sky, but it was just teasing. More over-thirty temps forecast for next week, groan. Sable and I shall melt together.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-13 06:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-15 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-14 06:01 am (UTC)Where are you going to put your knee-high dragon?
no subject
Date: 2022-07-15 03:03 pm (UTC)Dragon, who *might* be called Horatio but isn't quite, is at present living on the patio surveying the rest of the garden. Not sure if he will stay there.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-16 05:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-14 02:44 pm (UTC)I enjoyed your photos on Insta, and you've filled in the bigger picture beautifully.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-15 03:04 pm (UTC)Heh, someone from chorus who follows my Insta was *very* puzzled by my boys.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-16 05:04 pm (UTC)I hope Sable has recovered from the ordeal of having us in the house :-)
I loved everything we did but I have to confess that the visit to East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden was the high point of the week for me. Such a fantastic garden!
no subject
Date: 2022-07-16 06:17 pm (UTC)The Old Vicarage Garden looks wonderful in Turlough's pictures -- the sort of thing I aspire to and will never reach. People who really love gardening, the knowledge and expertise just keeps accruing, and they're so wonderful to talk to.
And knitting! Hooray for yarn and knitting and people!
no subject
Date: 2022-07-17 04:33 pm (UTC)If I ever make my way back to Norwich (long time since I was at Uni there), I shall definitely visit.