The weather on Sunday 9th April was perfect for a day by the sea. Temperatures soared to well over 20 degrees and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
A wonderful day for the beach and also for one of our favourite places in the town - North Lodge Park. With the grandchildren in tow we had an early morning walk along the cliff top into town and then back along Overstrand Road, before driving to Lidl on the Holt Road to stock up on groceries.
It was only 10 am but the traffic was already building up and it was something of a crawl. The supermarket opens at 10 am on Sundays and, shortly after that time, the car park is already heaving. Managed to get a space but it was difficult to get out due to some amazingly inept driving. Goodness knows how many shunts there are during a year.
With the groceries safely stowed away, it was time to go to the cafe in North Lodge Park for coffee and cake. The cafe is run by volunteers and the cakes are excellent. Over Easter the volunteers have organised an Easter egg hunt primarily aimed at children.
Strangely some of the clues are difficult and others just plain confusing - even to the people marking the answers. Not that it matters because all the youngsters get a chocolate egg anyway. I'm not even sure how many we got wrong but it certainly was rather confusing and tough for a four year old and two year old. Our favourite clue surrounded a western pointing sign that lead to something divine. We found the signpost in the park but the only indication to the west that we could find was "toilet". So we put that as our answer. The real answer should have been the parish church which not only didn't seem to be signposted but was also not in the park! It did make us laugh though.
I did find one of the clues rather poignant. It referred to the person commemorated on a seat with the date 1993. It turned out to be Tom Bolton who I remember well from my time as a young reporter on the North Norfolk News. Tom was the owner of the Cliftonville Hotel and I believe a top local angler. Brought the past back to light once again.
The interesting thing about the park is the work being undertaken by the Friends Group who have established the cafe, a very picturesque garden and many other improvements. The park is still a mixture of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly however with a nasty concrete area and a shelter that seems to be decaying at a speedy rate. I understand there are plans to renovate the shelter. There has also been local controversy over a move to turn part of the park into a car park.
The couple of photos above were taken an the beach and show a boat being brought ashore by a tractor. Also one of the grandchildren and wife Anne.
A wonderful day for the beach and also for one of our favourite places in the town - North Lodge Park. With the grandchildren in tow we had an early morning walk along the cliff top into town and then back along Overstrand Road, before driving to Lidl on the Holt Road to stock up on groceries.
It was only 10 am but the traffic was already building up and it was something of a crawl. The supermarket opens at 10 am on Sundays and, shortly after that time, the car park is already heaving. Managed to get a space but it was difficult to get out due to some amazingly inept driving. Goodness knows how many shunts there are during a year.
With the groceries safely stowed away, it was time to go to the cafe in North Lodge Park for coffee and cake. The cafe is run by volunteers and the cakes are excellent. Over Easter the volunteers have organised an Easter egg hunt primarily aimed at children.
Strangely some of the clues are difficult and others just plain confusing - even to the people marking the answers. Not that it matters because all the youngsters get a chocolate egg anyway. I'm not even sure how many we got wrong but it certainly was rather confusing and tough for a four year old and two year old. Our favourite clue surrounded a western pointing sign that lead to something divine. We found the signpost in the park but the only indication to the west that we could find was "toilet". So we put that as our answer. The real answer should have been the parish church which not only didn't seem to be signposted but was also not in the park! It did make us laugh though.
I did find one of the clues rather poignant. It referred to the person commemorated on a seat with the date 1993. It turned out to be Tom Bolton who I remember well from my time as a young reporter on the North Norfolk News. Tom was the owner of the Cliftonville Hotel and I believe a top local angler. Brought the past back to light once again.
The interesting thing about the park is the work being undertaken by the Friends Group who have established the cafe, a very picturesque garden and many other improvements. The park is still a mixture of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly however with a nasty concrete area and a shelter that seems to be decaying at a speedy rate. I understand there are plans to renovate the shelter. There has also been local controversy over a move to turn part of the park into a car park.
The couple of photos above were taken an the beach and show a boat being brought ashore by a tractor. Also one of the grandchildren and wife Anne.