Cromer Holiday ~ Day 10 ~ Bure Valley Railway

The last day of our holiday the weather was a bit more unsettled so the beach was out of the question really. We had talked about doing a steam train ride and settled on the narrow gauge Bure Valley line.

We all enjoyed the ride (there and back), 

but especially Chip, who thoroughly loved the tunnels!

(slideshow below)

We arrived in Wroxham around lunchtime, expecting to maybe have a pub-type lunch, but the chids were thrilled to find a McDonalds ~ the first we'd seen all holiday! So MaccyD's it was ;)

We had to decide what to do next. It was a bit chilly and a walk along the broads did not really appeal too much to any of us. The children spotted a toy shop and it did look inviting, so in we went and some of them spent their holiday/birthday pennies ~ mostly on Playmobil, but the shop really did have a massive selection of toys. It was quite lovely :D

We still had just over an hour to kill until the return train and had spotted Wroxham Minature Worlds on our walk into town. We thought we'd take a look, as Paul and the big boys love model railways. Initially we thought it was going to be a bit too expensive on top of the cost of the train ride, but actually it wasn't, because we all got in on one 'family ticket' which was for 2 adults + all their children! It's always a bargain for us when places do that, but they are few and far between. Anyway, we would highly recommend it as a place to kill an hour or so ~ the displays were incredible and it's soon to play host to the largest 00 gauge model railway layout in the world...(probably open by now). 

One display even sent me on a little trip down memory lane and had the girls ooing over the dolls of my past ~ much preferable to Barbie they agreed - more lifelike :D

A very lovely chilled out day to end our fantastic holiday. Cromer was definitely a success and has the children asking to come back... we'll see ;) 

Cromer Holiday ~ Day 6 ~ Meeting Friends.

The same week we went on holiday some good friends of ours moved down to Lowestoft, so we thought it would be fun to meet up for the day ~ on the beach ~ but sods law this was the day it BUCKETED down with rain. SO emergency plans were hatched by text and we drove to Gt Yarmouth to meet them at the Sealife Centre ~ indoors and reasonably fun for all ages! BUT it was heaving - guess everyone had the same idea - so I didn't take too many pictures.

When we had been around once (it isn't very big) we headed to KFC (the first place we found with ravenous hoards of kids!) and filled our faces :D

After that the rain had stopped and it was trying to brighten up so we headed onto the beach to throw some stones in. No-one was intending a swim, or at least no-one had brought swim wear, 

but...

And these two got thoroughly SOAKED ~ neither had spares and neither seemed to care. Mr B actually went for a swim!

After their dip in the sea, we got ice-creams and waited for the kids to dry off a little, before returning to the Sea-life Centre to visit the penguins which had missed first time around and apparently were a must!

All in all a good fun day and definitely one to be remembered :D Sad goodbyes were said, as we guess it'll be a while before we see these friends again :-( and we headed off back up the coast.

CROMER HOLIDAY ~ DAY 5 & 7 ~ CRABBING DAYS

The next couple of days were spent hunting for Crabs (mostly).

Day 5 was spent in Sheringham. The weather forecast for the day was rain at first, brightening up in the afternoon, so we planned an indoor activity first and went to Sheringham Museum (The Mo).  We anticipated only being there about an hour, but the children really enjoyed it and were determined to finish their quiz sheets (unusual for my lot). I think they consequently learnt quite a lot about fishing & Sheringham!

The forecast was quite wrong though; rain never came and it was a scorcher of a day, so I was actually quite relieved we didn't spend the entirety outside.

Following the museum we grabbed some burgers on the seafront (which were delicious) and then walked a LONG way along the promenade to where we were told we would find rock pools, once the tide went out a bit. 

The tide was right up when we got to Sheringham in the morning, going out by the time we sat on the beach, but it was still a very long wait for the tide to go far enough out to reveal the rock pools that we could see under our feet! 

By 4pm the pools were beginning to be visible. Low tide was at 5pm. When the tide was eventually low enough we did actually find some excellent crabs, but it turned quite quickly and we didn't really have long hunting before the pools were covered again! 

Not the best place in the world to crab I'd say, but Chip had a wail of a time jumping around on the rocks and at least it was cool enough on the beach to make the heat bearable! :D

Slideshow below;



Day 7 we tried again! This time crabbing off Cromer pier with long lines and fish bait. I didn't take any pictures of us working as I was too busy hauling in lines for the younger ones and keeping a close eye on Chip! We caught a few, but not as many as we had hoped to. Eventually Chip got rather bored, so I took him down onto the beach to throw stones in the sea for a bit, until the others were done, and then we got an ice-cream before heading back to camp for a chilled out evening :D


The big boys and I went over to the 'club house' where the footy was on ~ quite an entertaining match ~ and there was a Karaoke birthday party thing happening. It was rather loud, but quite funny to watch!

Family Holidays ~ Pitching and Day One @ Cromer

We pitched up in sunshine :D 

Then went out to get tea and watch the sun go down!

The story of this day and the next is told in the pictures here; http://www.tmfh.me.uk/blog/2014/7/family-holidays-day-one  

and the slideshows below ~ enjoy the pictures :D

The Weather was amazing and I had the most fun I have had in the sea in years!