Another Day in Paradise

Yep, you guessed it. Another blog in which Kelly toots her British horn.


It's another beautiful day in England! The temperature is in the low 70s, and there's not a cloud to be seen.


Caleb and I took another walk down to the town center and explored a few new places. We found Castle Hill. It's an ancient groundwork. Essentially, it's a huge, 80 foot man-made hill surrounded by large man-made banks and ditches that was built by two groups between 500 BC and 1070 AD. There used to be a timber castle on top of the mound, but it's no longer there. You can climb to the top of the hill, but I opted not to with a napping Caleb in tow. It's surrounded by a flat meadow, which would be another ideal place for picnics!



We then walked down past the old Gaol House (Jail). It's now two private houses, but it served as the town's prison for many years. You can still see a plaque with a carving of manacles hanging on above the doors.


Then we strolled down Nun's Bridge (which, by the way, is not a pedestrian-friendly portion of the trail. The bridge is barely big enough for cars to pass through, let alone a pedestrian to walk along side the cars!) There is a sign after you cross Nun's Bridge that says that particular road is one of the oldest in Britian. I didn't know this until today, but Thetford used to be the 6th largest city in England!

After crossing the bridge, there is a pedestrial path that strolls along the river. This is such a beautiful and peaceful walk. I've walked portions of the path before, but never this section. It was a perfect day for a sunny stroll. Caleb continued to nap through our walk, but I still snapped a few pictures of him along the way. The path eventually leads you back to the town center.

On the way out of the town center, we stopped in the Ancient House Museum. This is something I've always wanted to do and never have. It's an old home that now houses a museum of all things Thetford- and Norfolk-related. It's not very big, but I enjoyed it all the same. I watched four short videos about the house itself, the town of Thetford, Thomas Paine (who was born in Thetford) and the Maharaja Duleep Singh. We saw various tools, coins, and household items from Thetford's past. By this point, Caleb was getting hungry, so we kind of rushed through the musem. It's a small museum, though, so I don't think we missed much.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love this town? We really lucked out. We kind of rushed into picking a house and didn't really know much about the town or the area. We really could have ended up anywhere, and I feel so fortunate that we landed in Thetford. It's such a cute town with so much to see and explore. I really wish I had done more exploring last year with the dogs. It's just too difficult to manage two excitable dogs and an infant. But last year I really stuck to the area around my neighborhood and didn't venture outside of that and the town center much.

Two and half more years left to explore the rest of Thetford and the rest of England. I can't wait to share all of this with someone. Come and visit me!! SOON!! :)