I decided to go exploring this weekend.

I still have a few more months left on my Young Persons National Trust membership– it’s only £25 for the year if you’re between 13-25 years old and definitely worth the money. Unfortunately once you’re over 25 it jumps quite steeply to £53, so I don’t think I’ll be renewing it.

Anyway, I thought I should make the most of it while I’m still young enough (!) so yesterday I set off for Felbrigg Hall on the North Norfolk coast.

The house is just outside Cromer and is set in 520 acres of woods and parkland. It doesn’t cost anything to go for a walk through the woods (apart from car parking) so I’d highly recommend it if you fancy an autumnal stroll 🙂 There’s a cafe and tearoom so you can warm up with a coffee when you get back!

I decided to follow the Red Trail through the Great Wood, which in itself covers 380 acres- there are several different waymarked trails through the park, of different lengths so you can walk as far or as long as you like. The Red Trail was supposedly about 3.3km long, although I took a few detours along the way- nothing says you have to follow the same trail the whole way!

I was hoping for some colourful photos of red and gold autumn leaves, but the trees were still quite green. I did however take lots of pictures and had a lovely stroll…

I found lots of prickly seed cases from horse chestnut trees but no conkers, or at least, only really tiny ones.

 

There were some impressive fungi in amongst the trees too.

My favourite area of the walk was the “Victory V Path” up from the lower parkland into the woods- the arching trees created a tunnel to walk through, with a blanket of crunchy leaves underfoot!

 

 

 

It was a fine and sunny, chilly day- the woods were muddy but nothing my boots couldn’t handle!

And in most places the path was clear and dry…

I didn’t see any wildlife, apart from lots of people walking their dogs, and a few birds. Oh and this spiders web, though no sign of Mr Spider…

After walking through the park I decided to take a look around the walled gardens- you have to pay to visit these if you’re not a member. They had a sculpture exhibition on this weekend, with some weird and wonderful creations amidst the flowerbeds…

The gardens were still really colourful and beautiful despite summer being over.

 

 

 

 

Within the gardens are herb borders, fruit and vegetable patches and community allotments. These were created as part of an initiative to encourage people to grow their own food, and locals can plant their own choice of produce, and have National Trust gardeners look after it when they’re not able to.

Most of the fruits and vegetables grown in the garden are used by the kitchens at Felbrigg Hall, and much of it ends up in their Carriages Brasserie Restaurant.

They have beehives in the Orchard as well, and one of the few octagonal working dovecotes in the country, dating back to the early 1750s.

I love the reflection in this photo.

Check out the fish in the pond!

It was really fun exploring- and even though I went alone, that was just fine. Sometimes you need a day to yourself, and I actually think that I often prefer to do things on my own and not worry about holding people up while I take ten millions photos of leaves 🙂

Hope you had a great weekend!

Beki x