A Trip to Norfolk

On Easter Monday we travelled to Norfolk, looping round to collect Fay, to stay with my parents for the week.  My Dad had been gardening.

Tuesday afternoon my Husband and I walked to the church 

to see the Easter flower arrangements.

 They were beautiful!

 I wish you could smell this cross, it was heavenly.

 In the children's corner there was an Easter "garden"

 and bags of knitted toys from biblical stories.  The lion was missing from Daniel and the Lion - my Husband found him here. :)

 There were lots of snowdrops in the church yard

and in the woods.  The colder weather has meant that the snowdrops have bloomed for longer this year.

We were blessed with sunshine last week, but the wind was so cold.  We didn't spend much time outside  the next day in Norwich, but dashed from shop to shop.

 We shopped separately and then met up for lunch in Jarrolds.

 Thursday was even colder, so three of us visited Norwich Castle.  It was very busy in the Norman keep with lots of activities for children.

 There are also lots of displays - 

 both large

 and small.

 The maces and swords have belonged to the various sheriffs/mayors of Norwich.  The walrus ivory bobbin was found whilst excavating the keep floor.

Below the keep are the jail cells.

Shall I leave him here? :)

We next moved on to the Rotunda Exhibition Halls where there are artifacts from ancient history such as this 3000 year old mummy of Ankh Hor and his coffin

and the world's largest teapot which was made for The Great Exhibition of 1851 and holds 13.5 gallons of liquid.

 Most of the artifacts are of local interest, such as this hoard of 840 Iceni gold coins, circa 15AD, found at Wickham Market.  My Husband had his eye on these! :)

 A beautiful brooch found at Harford Farm.  It was buried with its owner around 700AD.

In the art gallery was this beautiful sculpture "Babes in the Wood" by John Bell.  It is one of two that he made.  Queen Victoria bought the other one.

These two art works particularly caught my eye:-

"The Poringland Oak" by John Crome, 1818-20

 and "The Poppy Flower Fairy" by Cicely Mary Barker, 1920-40.

 Taking a break - poor Jay's back was aching from all the standing around.

 Finally we looked at the natural history exhibition.  I feel sorry for these animals.

 I'd much rather look at the shells

 and fossils.

This inside of this Echinoid was crystalline.  Echinocorys scutata from the Cretaceous Period 80-90 million years ago.  What an amazing find!

 The last exhibit in the natural history section.

 It must have been a good book!! :)

 On Friday it was time to leave.  Driving back through Elveden,

 along the A11 that is being turned into a dual carriageway.

 We headed "up North" to drop Fay off, before returning home.

It was a lovely week spent with my parents and we had the chance to catch up with my BF and her family.