Katie And Dive Do Blickling Hall - Pt.2

Come and join us as we promenade around the gardens of Blickling Hall.

This is the formal garden, filled with topiary and little hedge maze-lets in which to carry out secret dalliances.

One wonders what this little fellow has witnessed over the centuries; Henry the Eighth chasing (and catching) both Mary and Anne Boleyn, for starters.

The formal garden has a spiffy fountain in it. A good place to start our walk.

As we head out of the formal area toward the massive arboretum the garden gets less formal and more "English".
Peonies and wisteria. Yummy.

We kinda like it here.

Further out from the house we enter rhododendron country. A hundred acres of specimen trees underplanted with rhododendrons and azaleas. Late May is the perfect time to visit if you want to catch these guys in bloom.

Of course, wearing an appropriate colour is essential.

There are all manner of secret gardens and glades here, plus this chic little pavilion.

Somewhere nice and cool to sit while the sun bakes the lawns.
Out beyond the arboretum is the main park; miles of meadows and woods and the huge lake. We'll visit that another day; maybe in the autumn.

But for today, we've other places to visit so we'll wander back through the trees to the house.

And bid beautiful Blickling toodle-pip for now.

Katie And Dive Do Blickling Hall - Pt.1

So anyhoo … There I was, dreaming away …

Yup … In the dream I was living with Katie in a pretty little rose-covered cottage, deep in the heart of Norfolk.

And of course I had big wood … er

Hokay Time to wake up.
Here we are approaching Blickling Hall.

While Katie was visiting I was determined to do all I could to make her fall in love with Norfolk so what better place to take her than the most beautiful house in England?
Blickling Hall was built (or rather remodelled from an older house) by Anne Boleyn's dad as a lure to persuade Henry the Eighth to pop round for tea and take a look at his lovely daughters.

This is where Henry Tudor and Mary Boleyn courted and disported in the 1520s, during his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, though as soon as Anne was old enough the dirty monarch dumped Mary and traded her in for her younger sister.

And now Katie wants it : "This is my house!"
Looks like I'm getting stuck with the housework. Hey ho.

Welcome to my humble abode, peasants.

Blickling Hall is currently the home of the National Trust and regrettably, we are not allowed to take photos inside, though that just gives you the excuse to go see it for yourself.
It's worth it; believe me.

Once you've marvelled at the inside (I WANT that library), there's a pretty spiffy park and gardens to wander around. The park is free and open all year; I'll often drive up here for a wander around the lake on a weekend (and a pint at the lovely pub).

But what's good enough for Anne Boleyn is good enough for Katie (other than the sleeping with royalty and getting beheaded bit).
This is Anne Boleyn's croquet lawn and the sign says:
"Please feel free to use the croquet set".

This one's for Cynthia, who is a pretty hot croquet player back in California.
Come on over and we'll challenge you to a match here at "Katie's House".

I'm rubbish at croquet but it's a nice place to spend a lazy afternoon, getting slaughtered by Katie.

Merciless!

To the victor, the spoils. A nice sit down by the lake.

Next time we'll take a look around the gardens.
Care to join us?