Having had two days off the grand houses of England we were back on the trail. Having checked the National Trust handbook there seems to be slim pickings in Norfolk. There are a couple of places near here though. The nearest is Felbrigg Hall, about 3 miles south of Cromer. You will be surprised to know that the place is not connected with the Vernon family.
The house had been owned by the Windham family. There wasn't anything particularly memorable about the family except for William Windham the fourth, who was nicknamed 'Mad Windham'. He had a penchant for dressing in uniform, once dressing in police uniform and rounding up dubious women after closing time! and he posed as a train guard blowing his whistle on the platform at random times! Sounds good honest fun to me. He also spent all the family money whilst the rest of the family tried to get him declared as a lunatic.
The Hall's walled garden was spectacular. We had our picnic lunch in a sheltered spot and I ate a tomato and an apple that I 'found' attached to the plant in the garden. Janice helped me eat the tomato.....very ripe and flavoursome.
Despite the sunshine it was quite windy and cool. We cycled back to the van mid afternoon.
Later we needed to call at The Vernons Arms at South Repps village for sustenance. The landlord wasn't sure of the Vernon history but speculated that a Vernon daughter married into one of the local big families called Suffield?? On our arrival back at the van I checked the Vernon family tree we had seen at Suffield Hall. We found that Georgiana Vernon married Edward, 3rd Lord Suffield in 1809. He loved her so much that he named a pub after her!!
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