Felbrigg Park

View across meadows to Felbrigg Hall 

Felbrigg Church

After rain in the night we woke to clear skies and warm sunshine.

Van-Man walked Lottie out of the site straight onto Ickborough Hill which was covered in gorse. He turned one corner on the gorse hedged path and Lottie found herself face to face with a large horned goat. Years ago she would have taken on the fearsome fellow but intimidated by his superior size she followed Van-Man who by passed the beast. We had a lazy breakfast then headed off to Felbrigg Park estate which was a National Trust property a few miles from the camp site.

We parked under a shady oak tree and walked to the welcome vehicle where we received information and a map of the estate. As the temperature was supposed to get hotter we decided to walk to the church then around the lake leaving the woods for shade this afternoon.

the lake

Lottie was disappointed to be kept on the lead across the field to the church even though there did not appear to be any livestock in it.

We enjoyed looking around the church and then continued into the next field on our way to the lake. Here the farmer had just fed his sheep and was now feeding the cows in the field beyond.

 Felbrigg Hall 

The large flock of sheep, probably over fifty of them, all started walking towards us.

A couple of walkers passed us as Lottie had found an interesting bush to sniff, but the sheep parted and flowed around the couple without stopping.

Sessile Oak

“This will be interesting,” Van-Man said. 



She stared at them overwhelmed by their numbers then barked as the first few sheep reached us. Van-Man grasped Lottie’s collar but they ambled past unconcerned. As she drew level a large ewe glared at Lottie who stopped barking and gazed back wide eyed. She quietly walked through the flock as if stunned by their size and assurance. We didn't take pictures of this as we were too busy trying to keep Lottie calm and moving quietly on. 

At the gate into the next field cows gathered around the farmer.

“Is there another way through by passing the cows,” I asked.

“There’s a gate over there,” the farmer pointed along the fence. “But you don’t need to worry about my cows; they’re good ‘uns.”

I think our Lurcher is worried,” I replied. “We’ll go around them.”

Sessile Oak roots

We soon reached the lake after our detour and Lottie was let off the lead. She trotted to the water but the bank was sheer sided. However as we approached the woods she found a narrow track which she followed though the bushes. Soon she appeared paddling in the lake shallows.

She struggled out and became coated in mud on the steep sided bank. 

walking back to the Hall

As we followed the lake through the woods she found a better place to cool off shedding the sticky mud. We then followed the track through the woods back past the hall to our van where Lottie sunned herself while we ate.

After lunch we walked the opposite way through the woods to the ice house. All we could see was its entrance and slight mound of earth.

We take ice for granted now with freezers but when the ice house was made it was a luxury to keep ice from winter to cool things down in the summer heat.
We then headed down one side of the victory walk, a v shape amongst the trees planted to celebrate war ending.

just sniffing around

standing tall

 We passed the hall again and wandered towards the lake looking for the Sessile Oak. We found the tree with its hollow trunk then wandered back tall specimen trees.

inside the hollow tree

After another rest with Lottie claiming her place on the grass we headed to Cromer looking for a supermarket where we could buy milk and were fortunate to find one with a large car park without height barriers before returning to camp.