In 2019, I was lucky enough to have a great many wonderful day trips and experiences. I took plenty of photographs and hours of video, but most of them never saw the light of day, and certainly never made their way on to this blog.
I briefly considered scrapping all of that material, accepting that the moment had passed and finding something new to write about. I eventually decided against that for three reasons:
- I had such a good time during these trips and days out that it seems a real shame not to share, seeing as that is kind of what this blog is all about.
- There is a real possibility that there won’t be that many experiences to share in 2020, as we’re currently saving every penny for a “big” holiday we have planned (more on that later!) and..
- One of the main reasons I write this blog is so that I can look back at the things we’ve done. These days are certainly ones I’ll want to remember for a long time, so I think that it’s important that they get immortalised on the blog.
And so we begin on the great blog catch-up with a lovely day trip to East Ruston Vicarage Gardens.
In August 2019, when I asked Mr M what he would like to do for his birthday, he replied that he would really like to take and “adults only” trip to East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens in Norfolk. We’d visited once before, but it was a few years ago and having two small children in tow meant we really didn’t get to have a proper look around the place.
You may remember from an earlier blog post that we’d attempted the whole “Norfolk and back in a day” thing before, and it hadn’t exactly been plain sailing. Never one to be deterred by previous disasters, we decided to give it another go. On one bright, sunny August morning we hopped in the car and headed down the long, winding road to Norfolk,
The journey to Norfolk was (thankfully) very straight-forward and we reached our destination just before lunchtime. After buying our entry tickets to the Gardens, (a bargain at just £10 per adult), we decided to stop for a spot of lunch before having a look around.
The last time we visited we didn’t try out the Tea Room, but I am SOOOO glad we did this time around. We both chose a slice of quiches, with a side salad and some homemade coleslaw. It was absolutely delicious, really fresh and filling.
East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens is a privately owned garden which covers approximately 32 acres. It is split into over 20 different sections, all with a different theme and style. There is a guide book available if you want to follow a set route and ensure you cover everything, however Mr M and I quite enjoy getting lost in the wilderness and never knowing what we’ll find around the next corner.
My favourite section of the Gardens is definitely the exotic garden with its beautiful raised ponds and fountain. There is a stunning pergola where you can sit looking over the ponds and honestly I could sit there with a cup of tea and a good book for hours!
We wandered around the gardens for about four hours and I’m still pretty sure we didn’t see everything the gardens had to offer. Sadly we couldn’t stay much longer as we had plans to head to a National Trust property on the same day, but we have already decided to go back this year and spend the whole day there to really make the most of the experience.
East Ruston Gardens is such a beautiful, relaxing place to spend a day. I’d love to visit at different times of the year to see how the Gardens change with the season.
The journey home was also blissfully uneventful and we managed to get home even earlier than expected, leaving enough time for a cheeky birthday kebab! The perfect ending to the perfect day out.
So, there we are, one post caught up, only about 200 left to write.
See you again soon.
