Frog or Toad?

Today we went to Oxburgh Hall (National Trust) and then on to Gooderstone Water Gardens where we saw this little fellow. Pretty sure it is a frog and not a toad, but I am hopeless! 

See https://www.gooderstonewatergardens.co.uk/

Both places are in Norfolk, UK.

Holme next the Sea

When on holiday last week at Holme next the Sea in Norfolk we had glorious weather. Most mornings we did a walk before breakfast.

Church blog updated

https://eachurches.blogspot.com/ has been updated to include Holme next the Sea in north Norfolk, which we visited last week.

North Norfolk

Yesterday we drove up to North Norfolk. We ate at "The Old Reading Room" in Kelling. This is a simple place run by real locals and serving simple, no nonsense food.

Later we went to the coast for a short walk where we saw these hardy fishermen.

East Anglian Churches - blog updated

Last week we called at delightful Aylsham in north Norfolk on our way to Blickling (NT). We visited the church there and I have updated our East Anglian Churches blog.

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/

East Anglian Churches - blog updated

We actually visited Wiveton Church in North Norfolk a couple of weeks ago,  but I have only today updated the blog to reflect our visit.

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/.

East Anglian Churches blog updated

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ . Today we visited Wymondham Abbey in Norfolk. I have updated our blog to include this visit.

North Norfolk

Before I had my brain bleed, my wife and I made a point of going out "somewhere different" mid-week, usually on a Wednesday. Today we restarted doing this again and we went to lovely North Norfolk. There was actually a thin covering of snow up there although we have had no snow here so far. It was a lovely bright, but very cold, day.

We stopped at Castle Acre on the way but our usual coffee stops were closed so we went on Kelling where the old school is a tea room and bookshop. We have been there many times, but not since before my illness. I managed a tomato soup, 2 egg sandwiches  and an unthickened coffee and we bought a book and some chutney.

It was so good to be back doing our "old" things again.

Family history

Many years ago my brother, my father and I set out to research our Lapthorn family history in South Devon. In those days there was no Internet so the research was done by looking through transcripts of parish records and reading gravestones. We managed to get right back to the mid 1500s and even found some other, unconnected, records in the same parishes back to 1428. Luckily our family stayed within an area of around ten miles although back in the 1700s some moved to the Southampton area and established a successful sail making business (Ratsey and Lapthorn) who made some sails for very famous yachts.

At the moment my wife is doing the same sort of research using on-line resources and is already back to 1686. We've found out some branches of her family come from nearby Norfolk where her ancestors were farm labourers before they moved to the industrial north when work on the land was hard and the agricultural  depression was at its height. So, today we took a trip to some of the places in Norfolk where her ancestors hailed from.  We saw and touched the very font in which our grandson's great, great, great, great, great grandfather was christened in a lonely Norfolk church way back in 1797. My wife was visibly moved to "connect" to her forefathers in this way.

Isn't it amazing to think that each and every one of us is here because of a series of encounters stretching back to the beginning of time. If just one of these encounters had not occurred then each one of us would not be here. Our very existence is precious and truly wonderful.