Royal Sandringham – 2022

We travel to the delightful seaside resort of Southwold. This town, at the mouth of the river Blythe, is set within the Suffolk Heath and Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is a pleasure to visit at any time of the year. The town was mentioned in the Doomsday Book, and its rich heritage makes it a charming place to explore and have lunch.

Being such an ancient town there is a huge amount of history. The place was home to a number or Puritans who emigrated to the new colonies in America. The town has a number of open spaces and greens, which you would think was the result of very early, progressive, town planning, but is actually the result of a fire in 1659, which destroyed a substantial part of the town and from which a number of areas were never rebuilt.

Just offshore, the battle of Sole Bay was fought in 1682 when the English were, curiously, allied with the French against the Dutch. It was a violent and indecisive clash and the beaches bore witness to the many dead who were washed up there.

Travelling onwards, we will reach the resort of Cromer. Perched on the very edge of the north Norfolk coast, it is famous for its tasty crabs, wide open beaches and a traditional pier, and is awash with small, local, independent shops. As you would expect of a seaside town rich in its fishing heritage, it has a lighthouse and a proud tradition of RNLI service.

Cromer is a little younger than Southwold and is therefore not mentioned in the Doomsday book. However, its name is thought to derive from either a north country word meaning a gap in the cliffs, or possibly a direct lift from a Danish place name.

In the Victorian era, Cromer became well known as a tourist location, and despite suffering several air attacks during the last war, has retained its charm and beauty.

Just offshore, Cromer is able to lay claim to possessing Europe’s largest chalk reef, the ‘Cromer Shoal Chalk Beds’, which is now a maritime conservation zone.

After a couple of hours to explore here, we will wind our way onwards to our hotel for the night, the Best Western Knights Hill Hotel and Spa, just on the outskirts of Kings Lynn. Here we will enjoy the best of this hotel on a dinner, bed and breakfast basis. It has a pool, too, so don’t forget your swimming costume!

We visit the highlight of our excursion: Sandringham itself!

As we are staying relatively close to the house, and it opens mid-morning, we will have a leisurely start before our coach drops us just on opening time, so we have the maximum time to explore.

This Grade 2 listed building is owned by Her Majesty The Queen and was originally purchased by Queen Victoria in 1862 for the Prince of Wales and his new bride Princess Alexandria, who found the countryside reminiscent of her Danish homeland.

Along with Balmoral, it is not part of The Crown Estate, and is – in fact – the personal property of The Queen. Her father, George VI, died at Sandringham, and The Queen marks this occasion privately, in the house, with her family each year.

An interesting fact is that on the death of the Queen’s grandfather, George V, the property passed to his direct heir, and new monarch, Edward VIII. The property was subsequently bought privately by his brother, George VI, after Edward’s abdication.

After another pleasant night in the hotel, we begin our leisurely journey home, hopefully passing through Thorpeness, and travelling down the coast to stop at Aldeburgh to explore.

Aldeburgh was once a Tudor port and was granted Borough status by none other than Henry VIII in 1529. It was also home to the composer Benjamin Britten.

We will be here around lunchtime, and a point of note is that there are two family-run fish and chip shops, which are reputed to be amongst the best in the country. One is The Aldeburgh Fish and Chip Shop, but we are aware that the queue here can be quite long, with people buying drinks from the pub next door while they wait!