Tuesday 20 January 2015

In a fortnight where there was a little too much upsetting news for my liking (ageing parents...), the one thing that has kept me cheerful is our holiday cottage, that I mentioned in my last post.

As I've mentioned on this blog before, B. lives in a house that he built himself, in the same grounds as his father who lives in a big farmhouse behind B's house. This farmhouse has several barns and outbuildings, in various states of disrepair. One of them in particular always looked like a perfect candidate for converting into a holiday cottage. I used to joke about it, then my jokes became a bit more serious and one day B. agreed that it might be fun.

The renovation started 5 years ago and B. worked on it in his spare time, the holiday cottage competing for attention with skiing, tractors and motorbikes! We never really knew when it would be finished, often it would be 'next Easter' and that Easter would come and go and still we wouldn't be done. But there wasn't any real rush.

Cat helping out

After B. built pretty much everything himself single-handedly (my contribution being the occasional sweeping of the floor or, more likely, tidying up the kitchen in his own house or running another load of laundry so he could concentrate on this building), we are now at the point of furnishing, as you can tell from the last couple of photos. It's not quite finished yet - we are now having heated discussions about pieces of furniture and every day the post arrives with several parcels containing glassware, duvet covers, bath mats and everything else you need to run a home. Last weekend the sofas and the white goods arrived, and it's looking more and more that we can take paying guests from Easter - yes, this Easter!

There is still a lot to do, but I've started thinking about creating a website and marketing the holiday let in order to make it profitable. It is a steep learning curve but I'm very much looking forward to having people there, enjoying a holiday in a cottage that we think is very cosy!

A few details: it's a 2 bedroom cottage which sleeps 4. Downstairs is all open plan with a kitchen with woodburner cooker and induction hob on one side, and living room with woodburner on the other side. The back doors open onto a patio/seating area that is completely private and overlooks a large field with hedges.
Upstairs are two bedrooms, one main bedroom with double bed and one smaller bedroom with two single beds. Bathroom with bath/shower over bath/basin/toilet/bidet. Bedding/towels/logs/electricity included. The cottage is situated about 2 miles outside Pulham St. Mary, which has a village shop and a community centre with a cafe, open 6 days a week. The next village along, Pulham Market, has two pubs. The market town Diss is a 20 minutes drive away, Norwich half an hour, Cambridge is 80 minutes and the coast about 40 minutes. There are lots of public footpaths near the cottage and of course when you come back, you can warm up by the woodburner or have a barbecue on the patio!

The website should be up and running very soon, but in the meantime you can start to follow us on Twitter (@oldhorsestable) for updates... (and some more photos of furnishing in progress are here https://www.flickr.com/photos/38243956@N00/sets/72157627375567336)

Maybe see you there sometime?

Wednesday 14 January 2015

I still do bike rides, at least once a week. Every Sunday morning B. has race training at the dry ski slope in Norwich, and I come along and cycle for almost 3 hours. Getting up at 7.30am on a Sunday morning isn't always easy, but then when I ride out of the ski club into the fresh air, I feel quite smug at being out there so early.

Of course, the location and time limit my range a little bit - always starting from the same location means you always explore the same area, and I have to be back by the end of the morning, even though B. doesn't complain about a few extra runs if I'm late. Oddly enough, most Sundays I seem to be able to find something new - a little country lane I hadn't spotted before or had always wanted to go down but had never made the time for, a church or nice building I haven't seen previously - and I've also developed the knack of being back just when race training is finished and all cleared up.

Last Sunday was my first bike ride of this year. During the week I keep a close eye on the weather forecast - I can cope with most weather conditions but relentless rain is not one of them. I'm very fortunate in that most weeks, the weather is kind enough for me to go out. I sometimes get the odd shower, but lycra dries very quickly (and by now, I have a big sports bag full of tops and leggings!). This week it was windy - very windy - very icy windy! I thought beforehand that it was warmer so only wore my leggings, not my thermal leggings underneath, and boy, were my legs cold at the end. I only warmed up properly once we were visiting B's dad in hospital that afternoon.

Anyway, on to some photos.

St. Remigius at Dunston

First snowdrops!

St. Mary's at Swardeston. The father of Edith Cavell was rector here, and she is mentioned on the war memorial. Last Summer I had a proper look inside the church, where there is lots of information about her. A very sad story.
The lychgate was built and donated by a member of the congregation in memory of his wife at the end of the 19th century. I don't know why but I do like this lychgate - maybe because of how it came to be, because of how good it still looks more than a 100 years later, of because of its honest simplicity.

St. Peter's at Swainsthorpe, sadly locked, but with a bonus cat...

St. Edmund at Caistor St. Edmund. I've cycled past this church many times and you can also see it when you drive along the A140, the main road for us into and out of Norwich. Considering its location (at the edge of a Roman town), I had expected a bit more of it, but I found it slightly disappointing. It probably didn't help that every time I stood still, I noticed how cold I was, as this was towards the end of the bike ride!

Every church has something unique though, and this one's no different. Most porches have corbels and they're often angels facing outwards. This one has a bishop and a king, and unusually they face each other.

The highlight for me was the church graffiti - which you find very often - but this one, they think, represents Norwich Cathedral. It certainly looks like the cathedral!

20 miles in total - a bit shorter than usual because of the strong wind. We warmed up with a hot chocolate at the club house and then went on to Hughes Electrical to buy a fridge/freezer, dishwasher and washer/dryer for our almost-finished holiday let - but that's a blog post for later this week!

Monday 13 January

Catching up on 100 happy days:

 Day 2 - a reduction in my electricity bill - the 19 pounds per year made me laugh

 Day 3 - my yoga DVD. 14yo found this DVD in a charity shop a few months ago. The first few times I did the exercises, I couldn't walk for a couple of days. Now I can twist myself in knots I didn't even know existed and can almost put my hands flat on the floor with straight legs (and I have long legs!). Above all, I really enjoy yoga.

 Day 4 - Bury St. Edmunds cathedral in the afternoon sunshine

Day 5 - Norwich cathedral in the early morning frost and sunshine

Tuesday 16 April

This last Sunday was my last bike ride in and around Norwich for a little while. B's ski race training is moving to Friday nights from this week, as in the summer the race team takes part in regular races which are usually held on Sundays. Although I'm looking forward to having a bit of a lie-in on Sunday mornings again, I'm also going to miss being up early and spending several hours in the fresh air while the rest of the world is still waking up. I had also only just discovered Norwich itself. It's only for the summer though, because the ski club's timetable changes back again in October.

This Sunday I wanted to make the most of my last bike ride. The rides I enjoy the best, tend to involve water, so I decided to try and follow the Yare westwards, having discovered on an old map that there was a riverwalk part of the way, past the UEA campus, up north to meet the Wensum and follow this river eastbound back to the ski club, where the Yare and the Wensum join. It involved a lot of stops and consulting of the map, getting lost on several occasions and some moderate swearing as I found on my return that my phone had stopped tracking my route about halfway through, probably when a call came through. But, it was still a good route with several little gems discovered, and one that I'll definitely return to in the future.

Some photos:

The brickwork of an old railway bridge

This is one of the most unusual little churches I've ever seen on my bike rides. It's All Saints Church in Keswick, which is just south of Norwich (yes, also in the Lake District!). At first I thought perhaps the middle part had been damaged by a fire in the past, but when I later looked the church up on the excellent Norfolk churches site, I found it had just fallen into ruin after Britain changed to Anglicanism and there were far too many churches in Norfolk. It was restored in the late 19th century and the round apse is actually from the 1950s. Unfortunately it was closed, quite unusual for a Norfolk rural church. I would have enjoyed having a look inside.

(on the left of this window is a rather ugly concrete wall, which is why the angle on this photo is a little odd!)

A last look back at the church sitting isolated on top of the hill. Quite a special find.

By now I have cycled miles through the middle of the city, getting lost several times over and with no sign of the river, but a little further down from the church I finally find it back and along with it a fabulous old mill building. Another isolated location, must be lovely to live here.

I cycle on along a bridleway and come to a railway crossing

 

There were extensive instructions on how to cross - check the light, open both gates, check the light again, cross quickly, check the light, close both gates. While I was reading, a train came rushing past and you realise how fast these metal monsters are. I have to admit to having slight jelly legs when crossing!

I now follow the river for a long stretch along a public footpath, very muddy in places due to the rain we'd had overnight. I'm not really an off-roader, despite my bike being a mountain-bike - I prefer little quiet country lanes. At the end of the path I come to a large 'broad' opposite the University of East Anglia campus. It is very busy here with dog walkers, joggers and families with young children. It is interesting to see the campus but I'm glad to get away from the crowds again.

Another off-road stretch. B. and I think these are parts of an old bridge.

When I come to the Watton road, I decided to leave the Yare behind and aim north towards the Wensum, as it is time to start heading towards the ski club again. 

A last look at the river Yare and a little building in the park that I've just cycled through.

Trying to find the right route, I end up in a little close with student accommodation. I giggle to myself as I think 'anybody here will just think I'm a student' only to immediately realise that really, my student days are long over and I am more the same age as the lecturers... A few miles on I have to climb quite a steep hill in the city center, and an elderly lady on the pavement who sees me puffing calls out 'my, you must be fit!' which made me smile again.

This is the first bridge over the Wensum. One of the things I have enjoyed about Norwich is finding all the different bridges.

This one is part of a cycle path which has been made along an old railway line. It is also National Cycle Route number 1, which I know is quite scenic and passes the ski club, so I follow its sign from here on.
As time is pressing, I don't stop for any more photos. I get back to the ski club just as B is coming out and we have our usual moccha up in the bar. As I said, my phone stopped tracking my route around the point where I started heading eastwards again, but I did about 20 miles.

Before B started skiing, I used to cycle a lot at weekends with his house as starting point. The drawback of my bike rides on Sunday mornings has been having to keep an eye on the time, and I'm quite looking forward to doing longer rides in South Norfolk again. Nothing much can beat keeping fit in the fresh air while you're discovering your neighbourhood!