East Anglia England

Travelled:156km

Stay: The Ship Inn Surfleet near Spalding, pub car park free if having a meal and drink £34. N52.8470, W0.0993

Visited: Ely, Oxburgh Hall (NT) near Swaffham, Peckover House (NT) Wisbech

It was another busy day visiting and driving through minor ie narrow roads through the English country side. But first we entertained ourselves, over our morning coffee, watching the Newmarket race horses being taken out for their 6am training. 

We then stopped off at Tesco to fill up on diesel at £1.34pl. ( the conversion to Aussie dollars is scary $2.50+). Our first stop for the morning was Ely, named after the eels in the river Ouse! As we approached the Ely Cathedral dominated over the marchy Fens countryside. 

 We managed to park in the street and walked up to the the cathedral that took 286 years to complete starting in 1083.

We took a few photos from the entrance but balked at the £20pp entrance fee. It did have a beautiful painted timber ceiling and an octagon tower and lantern with stain glass windows and angel doors that open to look down into the cathedral. We had a chat to the maintenance man outside who shared a few interesting facts about the building. 

On our walk around town we came across Oliver Cromwell’s house ( lived here for 10 years). It is a museum telling the story of his life as he was one of Britain’s most remarkable figures as Lord Protector. 

We continued are walk through the grounds of the cathedral, now a park, down to the river and the back to Bluey. 

We then drove towards Swaffman to Oxburgh Hall, a National Trust property (£11.60pp). It’s a stunning moated manor house built by Sir Bedingfeld in 1482 and is still lived in by his descendants today. The 6th Baronet transformed the buildings and gardens from 1829 and his son finished the works of what we see today. 

Being Catholics the family were persecuted for many years. From the Queens’s chamber a Preists’ hiding hole was built in the drop toilet shaft! 

After our visit we crossed the countryside once more to Wisbech to have a look at another National Trust property of Peckover House (£8.20pp). This was a merchants house in town, built in 1722. The Peckover family owned it for the last 150 years before it was owned by the NT. The family were Quakers but made their money from banking. They were extensive travellers which was reflected in their significant library collection. They also gave a lot back to the community with schools, hospitals and supporting the poor. 

The gardens where also a delight to walk around in. 

The day was getting on and we picked out a pub stop at the Bluebell Inn, unfortunately it was the one night a month they host a rally with over 150 vehicles and have a minimal menu. They however allowed us to use the services for free and we declined to pay £17.50 for a pitch in the camping area. We continued on the the next pub, the Riverside, which was also next to the main road, so we continued 1mile on to the Ship Inn. We asked to stay and enjoyed a meal and spent a peaceful night.