Winter Ramblings

A week off work to catch up with the winter maintenance at the cottages and to get the gardens in order for next spring. Also managed to find time to join Bernard Bishop the warden at the NWT's Cley Marshes reserve on his regular Wednesday morning ramble. A fascinating (but chilly) couple of hours learning about the management of the reserve. The scrapes, reed beds and grazing marshes all look so natural but a vast amount of time, effort and money is spent on the management of each habitat to ensure that they provide the perfect environment for bittern, avocet, marsh harrier, lapwing et al. During our ramble we were lucky to view marsh harrier, peregrine falcon and a ring tail hen harrier sending the assorted ducks, geese and waders into flight. Bernard Bishop will be featured on this coming Sunday's Countryfile programme. We also ended the week with a celebratory lunch at our current favourite hostelry, the Saracens Head at Wolterton, and by taking one of our favourite rambles from Upper Sheringham, through Sheringham Park down to Weybourne Station on the North Norfolk Railway. A 'Santa Special' was on the platform making a very festive scene to accompany our coffees and mince pies purchased from the station buffet. Our spring and summer bookings for 2013 are looking good but we still have plenty of availability in the new year for those tempted to enjoy a winter break in North Norfolk. Finally merry Xmas and a happy new year to all our regular (and future!) guests.

School's Out

Can't believe that almost 12 months have gone by since my last post. Time really does fly when you are having fun. We are well into our sixth season at Bridge Cottages now and despite the weather we are having another busy year. Just one week still left to let at the end of August otherwise the 'no vacancies' sign is up until late September.Lots of nice comments continue to to be made in our guestbooks and our repeat guests are accounting for 40% of our bookings this year so we must be doing something right. We had an enjoyable week off at home at the end of June when we took time to take a leisurely late evening stroll from Kelling to Salthouse on the green lane out across the marshes and then back along the beach. A solitary grey seal came to take a close look at us as we neared Kelling Beach. Stopped for a pint of something cold at the Pheasant Hotel before heading home. An ideal way to end the day if you are staying at Bridge Cottages. A little further afield but still easily reached from the cottages we also enjoyed a very long leisurely lunch at the Saracens Head at Wolterton. The pub plays on being in the middle of nowhere but if you can find it is very worthwhile. We also spent a day on the Norfolk/Suffolk border visiting the Lakenheath Fen RSPB reserve and the NWT site at Weeting Heath. A successful day's birdwatching included sightings of golden oriole, bittern and stone curlew. We also spent some while with the sun shining waching two hobbies hawking along the Little Ouse. The photo posted with this blog is the view from the small seating area that we have created in the back garden of no.3 Bridge Cottages.