This morning we got up and packed up the room before checking out, piling everything into the car and heading off just before 9:30. It was supposed to be just over an hour’s drive to Sandringham Estate but between traffic and Google taking us an utterly ridiculous route, we ended up getting there just after 11:10. We parked the car, registered it for free parking at the gatehouse and luckily were still able to use our 11am entry tickets to the estate. We’d been a little nervous about the masses of people streaming out of and around the car park, but when we entered the gates it was totally quiet. When we read the little brochure we’d picked up at the car-park-registration-booth, we realised that the ‘Country Park’ surrounding the Estate is free to enter and has popular playgrounds and walking trails, so that explained all the people. We had a lovely calm walk around the gardens, moving from the Woodland walk along a tree-lined walkway up to the main house. We hadn’t paid for entry into the house (mainly because it was sold out for the day when I looked), but we were able to admire it from the outside, which was all I really needed anyway. We looped around the house and then made our way to the Stables, which we recognised from The Crown – and which had a cute little teahouse. There was no more seating left when we got there so we got a takeaway coffee and a bit of cake and walked until we found a spot to sit by a little stream. It was beautiful and quiet, and we had a lovely view above us of the trees and clouds, despite the crazy wind continuing from yesterday. When we continued our walk we followed the path along the stream and down to the ‘Dell’, a little lake with a view over to the house. From there the path took you back to the main gatehouse and the exit. I’d initially been tempted to do a walk in the Country Park, but there were just so many people around that we decided to give it a miss and press on.

Our next stop, after some very wiggly roads, was Castle Acre. This tiny town is the site of the ruins of a castle, a priory, a gate and also apparently had a great pub, according to the ‘Good Pubs Guide’. We got there at just after 1, and our English Heritage tickets weren’t until 3pm so we headed to the pub for some lunch. I had a simple but delicious jacket potato and Peter had a garlic prawn pizza (very unfair!). The food was good, but the surroundings of the pub were definitely the draw – we were sitting right next to an ancient old fireplace that was the width of the lower floor, and when you walked through to the toilets the back room was an old ancient-beamed roof with another enormous bricked fireplace. It was gorgeous! After eating our lunch we headed over to the Castle Acre Castle site. This was English Heritage as well, but free and open to the public. There were a few people around but it was easy to dodge them, luckily. The castle was amazing, with a great view from the road over the back of the dirt ditch and mound, with the castle walls at the top. Once we’d followed a little path down the opposite side of the ditch and crossed the bridge to enter the castle, we followed a path around the walls. This path explored the space within the castle but also had fantastic views over the surrounding area, including the earthworks that still remain of the outline of the Great Hall below, the Chapel and other walls. Very cool! We had a great explore, reading about how it was transformed from a country house to a fortified castle in the 1100s, before making our way back into town.

Back in town we checked out the Bailey Gate, which used to be the fortified entry to the town, and then walked back along the road towards the Priory. We got there just before 3 but they didn’t mind and let us in. The weather was still looking very ominous so we made our way down to the ruins quite quickly. This priory was better set up than Binham, with more information points set up around the grounds. Unfortunately it did have construction works going on though, so there were construction fences up and we couldn’t get very good photos without including them. It was a beautiful building though, with the original 11^th – 12^th century nave and then the 15^th century additions of the Prior’s housing. Apparently this monastery had originally housed 24 monks but this rose to 35ish at its height just before the dissolution of the monasteries. We followed the designated path around, reading the plaques about the different parts of the building, including a ‘modern’ double-level latrine block set over a stream, fish ponds, and extra buildings out the back that housed barns, malthouses and breweries (much to Peter’s excitement). It was very cool and amazingly well preserved for how old it was – as most things have been around Norfolk.

As the dark clouds began to roll in and we finished the loop around the monastery, we made our way back to the car through the old gatehouse and a small exhibition about the Castle Acre community prior to the monastery being dissolved. Back in the car again, we headed off for the hour-long drive to Cambridge. I had an audiobook going (just started listening to The Beekeeper of Aleppo) and Peter fell asleep at one point, so the time passed fairly quickly and we easily found our way to our flat for the night, which very conveniently had a carpark out the back. We parked the car, took our stuff upstairs and then headed back out to walk into the city. It was only a 10 minute walk into the city centre, where we bee-lined for BrewDog so Peter could get his Cambridge stamp. Despite a line at the door we managed to quickly get a table and tried a couple of sour beers in the hour that we had it. Once he had got his stamp and we were finished, we headed just down the street to a place called Pint Shop that was a specialty beer pub, but also had a restaurant upstairs. We were seated at the window looking over the Cambridge Market Square street, and chose a few quirky beers while we waited for our food to come. I had a few sours while Peter tried a maple syrup and banana chocolate stout, all of which were fantastic. Unfortunately the pork ribs we’d intended sharing (with some whitebait) had chilli all over them – we’d asked for no chipotle on the whitebait but forgot about the ribs! This worked well for me though, as I got to eat them all. It was a very meaty evening though as I was also having pork belly for my main, which was delicious, while Peter had a steak. We’d been hesitant to eat there as we’d read some bad reviews on Google, but actually it was great in the end! The selection of beers definitely helped too. When we’d finished dinner it was getting dark so we went for a walk through the market square before making our way back along the main road. Neither of us could believe how many young people were all dressed up and heading out as if they were going to clubs (which are not open) – they must all be just going to bars, but the street was packed! It was quite anxiety-inducing having to walk on the road and dodge traffic just to try and maintain the social distancing that we’re supposed to be doing. Finally we made our way down the quieter side streets back to our street, where we headed for a final pint of the evening at the tiny pub that is across the road from the apartment! Too novel not too, and it’s Saturday night after all. Luckily this little pub was a local establishment and was pretty much empty. We sat out the back and enjoyed the novelty before heading over to the apartment and to bed.