We were on the road at nine o’clock and arrived at Sandringham at ten thirty just in time for morning tea. The traffic wasn’t too busy and along the way we saw all the familiar East Anglia features such as the flat landscape, expansive skies, pink-coloured thatched houses, churches, water towers and acres and acres of large pigs with their little Nissan huts. We now know where the majority of English bacon comes from! We bought tickets which allowed us to tour Sandringham house, the museum and the gardens. We went straight to the house which has been the private home of four generations of monarchs including Queen Elizabeth II.
It was surprisingly “homely” and interesting to see where the Royal Family spend their winter holidays. The older guides in each of the rooms were very friendly and knowledgeable. There was personal memorabilia such as photos and gifts to each other and jigsaws which the Queen enjoys doing for relaxation. The public are only allowed into the ground floor which incorporates a number of living areas and the dining area where the Royal Family have Christmas dinner. Henk and I moved onto the museum which is set apart from the house.
It gave a chronological account of the monarchs associated with the house and had model toy cars given to the Royal Family by car manufacturers and crafts people for use by the royal children. We had lunch at the Stable Tea Room next to the museum. We immediately realised why the tearoom got its name when we walked in as there were four tables squashed into each former stall. It was novel!
We walked around the beautiful gardens and visited the very small but beautiful Church of St Mary Magdalene which is used regularly by the Royal Family and Estate Staff.
It is the church we see at Christmas when the Family go to the Christmas service. It has an exquisite ornate silver alter and personal memorials to members of the Royal Family including the Queen Mother and George IV. We left Sandringham about two o’clock and headed north and drove along the coastline to the east and rounded the corner and headed south. The tide was out and many boats were high and dry when we stopped at Burnahm Overy Staithe.
We could have stopped at all the little villages along the way as they were very pretty with narrow streets. We had afternoon tea at Cley Next the Sea as we were keen to see the windmill on the shore. We found that Cley has not been “next the sea” for about three hundred years due to land reclamation. We also saw Apache helicopters hovering low to the ground near the windmill.
We took roads heading south avoiding the busy Norwich area and arrived back at the house just after six. We had a very good touring day. It’s our last night in the house and we were busy getting organised for our departure tomorrow morning. We aren’t sure if we will stay at Ely or Cambridge or both over the next few days. We will work that out tomorrow.
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