Norfolk notes - Holkham Hall
Holkham Hall is a large stately home. You don't get to own, and hold on to, a stately home these days unless you know a thing or two about business and it appears that they have finally got wise to people parking and having a picnic, enjoying the grounds and the view and even the benches, all for free.
So they have introduced a parking fee, cheekily redeemable at their shop or cafe. This means that having stumped up for parking you feel compelled to get value for money by blowing even more cash on coffee. Not this chap, I had my flask tea and was bloody well going to enjoy the view sitting on the...the bastards have removed the benches! There's nowhere to sit. Well, apart from in the rental car, obviously, putting down the middle seats to form a table and essentially having quite a passable dining experience.
But my plan next time is to turn up with the full pic nic rig. Chairs, folding table, hot and cold dishes, butler, the works. Well worth a couple of quid.
Actually I shouldn't gripe as they've reduced the cost of parking on the beach. The problem is that Holkham Beach is now the home of what can only be described as quite a lot of marshy type weed near the shore. And because it's probably protected or endangered then they can't just get rid of the stuff. So you have to detour around or squelch through it to get to the pristine beach...or walk from Wells, as we did one day.
One unlucky tourist wasn't walking anywhere. While we strolled a coastguard 4x4 retrieved a woman who had twisted her ankle. What surprised me was how precious the driver of the emergency vehicle was about getting his truck up the beach.
Maybe the beach buggers suspensions as efficiently as it does ankles, or maybe it was a new truck but you would rather hope that he would scream along the surf line and do one of those handbreak turn stops that shower onlookers with sand. The whole experience was like an incredibly crap version of Baywatch.
So they have introduced a parking fee, cheekily redeemable at their shop or cafe. This means that having stumped up for parking you feel compelled to get value for money by blowing even more cash on coffee. Not this chap, I had my flask tea and was bloody well going to enjoy the view sitting on the...the bastards have removed the benches! There's nowhere to sit. Well, apart from in the rental car, obviously, putting down the middle seats to form a table and essentially having quite a passable dining experience.
But my plan next time is to turn up with the full pic nic rig. Chairs, folding table, hot and cold dishes, butler, the works. Well worth a couple of quid.
Actually I shouldn't gripe as they've reduced the cost of parking on the beach. The problem is that Holkham Beach is now the home of what can only be described as quite a lot of marshy type weed near the shore. And because it's probably protected or endangered then they can't just get rid of the stuff. So you have to detour around or squelch through it to get to the pristine beach...or walk from Wells, as we did one day.
One unlucky tourist wasn't walking anywhere. While we strolled a coastguard 4x4 retrieved a woman who had twisted her ankle. What surprised me was how precious the driver of the emergency vehicle was about getting his truck up the beach.
Maybe the beach buggers suspensions as efficiently as it does ankles, or maybe it was a new truck but you would rather hope that he would scream along the surf line and do one of those handbreak turn stops that shower onlookers with sand. The whole experience was like an incredibly crap version of Baywatch.
Labels: Holkham Hall, Norfolk, Parking, Pic nics
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