Ted has perfected the art of stowing away so that he can experience a grand adventure

The Original Old Rectory dates back to the mid 18th Century and served nearby Crostwick Church (one of the oldest churches in Norfolk). Now privately owned the Solomon family have transformed the Rectory into a beautiful Country House Hotel. Set within 3.5 acres of landscaped gardens The Old Rectory Hotel is ideally situated to enjoy the best that Norfolk has to offer.

Because the main dining area was being set up for a wedding later in the day, our final breakfast in the Old Vicarage took place in a more cosy dining area.

We loaded the car then headed off for King’s Lynn where we were going to stay for the remainder of our holiday. We had programmed the SatNav to include way marker destinations along our route.  After a while it became clear that the SatNav was not leading us to our first planned location, Horsey Thatched Church. By the time we realised the error it was not really feasible to backtrack. We had also missed out the coastal road that Mr C had been keen to drive along. This was a shame but we have it all to look forward to when we are next in the area.

We carried on towards Cromer taking in a couple of churches along the way; Trimingham with its 15th century rood screen and St Botolph’s Church in Trunch with its early 16th font canopy. We parked in Cromer and walked along the seafront before heading into town in search of a crab sandwich.

Cromer was absolutely heaving with people and a stark contrast to the tranquil setting of the Old Vicarage in Crostwick. Mr C noticed a place called Hot Rocks that advertised their seafood was brought in by their own fishing boat. The menu offered crab sandwiches so we took a seat inside and when they arrived the crab sandwiches were totally delicious.

After we had lunched, we returned to the car via the seafront before heading to Wells-Next-The-Sea which was even more crowded than Cromer so we decided not to stop and headed straight to King’s Lynn where we checked into the Bank House Hotel and unloaded the car before walking into town for refreshments and a quick visit to King’s Lynn Minster. Because of flooding earlier in the week we were unable to see some of the Minster’s treasures but we enjoyed what we could see.

Now it was time to freshen up in the hotel before dinner. We dined in the hotel restaurant where the food was delicious and the staff attentive. We had a nightcap in the bar and found it a refreshing change that the bar to stayed open for its advertised hours.

Breakfast was excellent quality with standard ‘Full English’ and other cooked options on offer. There were cereals and toast but no continental options. After breakfast Mr C readdressed sorting out the windscreen repair. This involved a lengthy 30 minute online chat procedure where a five minute phone call would have achieved the same result with a lot less stress. Sadly a phone conversation is not an option. The reason that Autoglass had not phoned back on the previous day was due to the booking showing up for Monday 22nd August rather than Monday 15th August. Autoglass offer a 3-hour callout window which didn’t fit with our itinerary meant we had to book the car into the Norwich repair centre in a couple of days time.

With that loose end out of the way we were able to set off for our destination of the day, Sandringham. We enjoyed a walk around the gardens and visited the Fire Engine house before having lunch in the stable tearooms. I was plagued by wasps buzzing around my head causing me to stand up to eat my lunch so it was not an entirely relaxing experience. Afterwards, we visited the formal garden before entering the house ahead of our timed slot. The house is lovely and homely. Paddington was sitting at the tea table waiting for the Queen to arrive, although her handbag was rather neatly placed on the table with her emergency marmalade sandwich ‘for later’.

Before leaving Sandringham Estate we took time to visit Sandringham church before enjoying a refreshing drink and visiting the shop even though the skies were darkening and threatening rain. As we neared the car park the heavens opened and there was a torrential downpour. Mr C left me in a sheltered place whilst he dashed to fetch the car and bring it closer. My inner child caused me to laugh as I got soaked dashing the short distance to the car in torrential rain. The rain was so heavy that it ran off the fields onto the roads causing them to flood. Luckily we were following a bus that displaced the standing water off the road leaving the road relatively water free for us. Eventually we emerged from under the rain cloud to see the water evaporating off the warm fields.

Back at the hotel, Mr C struggled to find a restaurant for what would be his birthday meal, eventually settling on The Ivy in Norwich.  The food was delicious, although mine went cold quite quickly due to the fierce air-conditioning blowing in my direction. The waitress was excellent and kept our wine in a cooler rather risk it warming up on the table. Mr C was treated to a mini birthday cake profiterole which was a nice surprise for him; he had wanted to order profiteroles for dessert but they were only served in a pyramid for four people.

To round off the day, we had a nightcap on the hotel terrace which was quieter than it had been the previous evening. We were accompanied by another couple who had taken chairs and placed them next to the window to their room to keep an eye (or ear) on their young  girls who were sleeping inside.

We were able to set off early because our bags we had packed the day before and dined with family, leaving us with very few last minute jobs to do. As we were leaving Telford we heard a loud noise on the car windscreen, a lorry had kicked up a stone.

We stopped at Corley services for a break and a refreshing drink, then continued on our journey stopping again at Cambridge services where we purchased sandwiches and a drink from M&S. Mr C chose to eat his outside in the humid, hot sunshine whilst I retreated to the relative coolness of the car. Whilst travelling between the two service stations Mr C noticed a crack in the windscreen leading from the point where that stone had impacted.

We arrived at our hotel, The Old Rectory, Crostwick before the check in time. We sat deliberating whether to go into Norwich and what to do about the windscreen. As we did so I could see the crack slowly growing. We decided to check in early, then Mr C started the painful process of trying to book an appointment slot with Autoglass. The site doesn’t give an option to phone up, a painful online process has to be endured. The room was rather hot so I went outside to explore the hotel garden, taking advantage of one of the benches. This allowed Mr C to relax after the annoying process, although he didn’t get a phone call he expected from Autoglass confirming the appointment.

After all the excitement, we chose to have a relaxing drink on the hotel terrace before freshening up for dinner in the hotel. The food was good and honest rather than ‘fine dining’. Comfortably replete we returned to the terrace to enjoy the cool night air. There was a large party already there, which we learned was a birthday gathering for a 96 year old lady. We got chatting to her and one of her sons as they passed by our table. She is quite a character and enjoys the fact that she is the same age as The Queen.