The end not quite in sight

[muninnhuginn]

of the Summer hols, that is

In a spirit of activity and broadening the mind, we have, over the last couple of weeks gone to:

• The Butterfly and Wildlife Park at Long Sutton followed by some time on the beach just down the coast from Hunstanton
• Sutton Hoo and Orford Castle
• Oxburgh Hall and the Iceni Village at Cockley Cley
• Clumber Park, en route for The Lakes
• Drigg Beach
• Dalemain House
• Clumber Park, returning home
• Milton Maize Maze.

Now it's back to reality, waiting for a plumber, buying Neem, booking swimming lessons....

Still, we've nearly finished a gansey for Looby Loo.

Comments

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

What a cool summer :-)

[muninnhuginn]

Well, having not booked a holiday away, it really was about time to explore East Anglia. It meant too many miles in the car, which is neither pleasant in the heat nor exactly environmentally sound (true of the trip up to Cumbria too).

It's been most fascinating getting to know the eastern coast a little better, having only really cared about the north west before--and invading vikings. The Saxon sites we've seen have been wonderful. Looby Loo loves the Sutton Hoo helmet: we're not quite certain why as sge's not the most militaristic of children.

I think that _is_ the complete list tho': I've been too tired, and needed to cram housework into the evenings, to write things up properly as we went along. There'll be pictures sometime. I've four rolls of film to take to be developed.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

You still get lots of brownie points saved up from not flying anywhere, and it's a lot harder to do these things by public transport with small child. I'm doing 'holidays at home by public transport' myself, and it's fun but not glamorous enough for most people...

I've always loved the Sutton Hoo helmet, and D will tell you how much I hate e.g. 'first person shooter' computer games. The helmet seems to me to have ... personality.

[muninnhuginn]

There's always more to see locally if you decide to make a holiday at home than you might expect. Well I think so--but then I've generally lived in "nice" places! I've still not explored all of Cambridge's museums for a start. And whilst I find Cambridgeshire itself dire, Norfolk, Suffolk and even the northern fringes of Essex are fabulous. Then there's the Great Wen, which I've always avoided as much as possible. Small children are a good excuse for exploring.

And yes, the Suton Hoo helmet is superb.

The mug I bought--for me--shows it (from a photo) with the line of the ridge down to the nose picked out in gold on black. It gives the impression of being three dimensional. With the empty black eyeholes it's also rather spooky.

Sutton Hoo helmet

[armb.livejournal.com]

wings_of_wax has (or had) a paper model of the helmet from a previous visit with Nana, but we still haven't taken the boys. Must get round to it sometime. This summer seems to have been mostly trips to Wales for us (well, for Alice and the boys, I was there last week, but not the first couple of trips (except for one weekend when I went over in the Ka to fix the Audi exhaust)).

Re: Sutton Hoo helmet

[muninnhuginn]

They do have a good programme of children's activities over the summer: Looby Loo spent a happy afternoon making a long boat and a kite allowing M and I to wander off (individually--the workshops require that a parent stays) around the site.