Sandringham

6th May - Monday

The Orangerie

 Ely Cathedral

 Canal

 Canal the other way

 Sandringham House

 The Entrance

 The Stables

 Shooting Brake - will hold 250 brace of birds and is ventilated, of course

 Give me a home among the gum trees ...

 Watch out, Goldfinger

 One's estate car must have a luncheon table

 Just in case

 The dead head room

 A pleasant holiday house

 Buddha in the garden

 R.I.P. Corgis

 The lake

 From the other end

 Some male bonding

 A visit to church

 A pair of squirrels

 West Suffolk architecture

Pheasant in a field

After breakfast in the orangerie, we did a quick pack, said a very prolonged farewell to the lady of the manor, left our little shoebox of a room and headed for Sandringham. The morning was clear and warm, with the temperature sitting on 18 degrees by 9.30 am. The first part of our journey skirted Ely and its immense cathedral, seen from some distance away. We then followed a canal for some way, with many boats pulled into the bank (no one actually seemed to be moving!). We did find a parking bay and made the big mistake of stopping for a photo – we than had to get back into the traffic!


The traffic flowed smoothly until we reached the first roundabout on the Kings Lynn ring road – this is when we met all the traffic going to the beach for the bank holiday. We spent some time parked in the middle of the road, along with all the other cars, before proceeding slowly towards Sandringham, hoping fervently that all the other cars were going in a different direction.

The Sandringham Estate was easy to find, with the road winding through some lovely woods before ending up in quite a big car park (to say the least!) hidden in the woods. Then it was a short walk through the large picnic grounds at the visitors’ centre before we entered the grounds of Sandringham House. With such perfect weather, it was a joy to stroll to the main entrance, the very entrance that the Queen uses when in residence. We were allowed walk through the entrance hall, saloon, small drawing room, main drawing room (where the Queen takes afternoon tea every day at 4.00 pm), the dining room (breakfast is served at 8.00 am sharp and dinner at 8.00 pm), the gun room (so many Purdy guns!) and we finished in the ballroom which contained a photographic exhibition of the Queen’s reign.

Back outside and off to the royal stables, which are now the tea rooms and museum. After making use of the royal throne and having lunch (Cat even found a gum tree to climb), we toured the very extensive museum. It quickly became apparent that Cat can’t read, because he was found in the back seat of Prince Charles’ Aston Martin toy car, an exact replica of the James Bond Aston Martin. The museum also contained many vehicles belonging to the Royal Family, most of them no longer in use.

The remainder of our time was spent strolling around the grounds and taking many photos. One particularly beautiful area was around the lake, looking back towards the house. We walked down the driveway with the Royals use on Christmas Day to visit the church just outside the entrance gate. Not quite sure which side of the church the Queen would sit, the opportunity was taken to have a quick seat in both pews! Finally a visit to the gift shop (what else!) and a queue for an icecream, before returning to the car and heading off down some country lanes on our way to the little village of Ingoldisthorpe and Pencob House B & B. Most of the countryside had been planted out with grain, along with some canola – and we were amazed at how many pheasants live in the district (obviously not pheasant season at the moment!). A large number of the buildings were constructed from a very distinctive stone, probably from the stony fields.

Our B & B is very nice – such a lovely, sunny room with plenty of space, even free sherry in the guest lounge room. The suitcase may have to be re-organised tonight to make way for the souvenir tea towels!