We arrived at Holkham House after Google Maps took us to the back door of the estate. We then had to drive round to the front along the huge estate wall which was around 5 miles distance showing how huge this estate is.

 We arrived seeing herds of deer in the large park – many close up and not frightened of humans. 

We first went to check out the house. Outside it was quite plain and blocky.

Inside the front door was totally different!

The house is owned by the Earl of Leicester and has been passed down since the 1700s.

It was created by an Earl in waiting who was getting into trouble drinking and gambling. He was sent on the European tour to get a bit of perspective. He came back a big fan of architecture. He then came home and built this hall. The inside was a big focus – hence it’s very grand. 

 In the dining room there is a table that can be changed to many different numbers of diners. There are only a few left in the world abd this is in the best condition. It’s worth around 750,000 pounds! It is still used on special occasions. 

There were more spectacular rooms with real roman statues.  

We went downstairs and saw a film about the Holkham Pottery that was set up by one of the Earls wives. It had many signature pieces and had quite a lot of collectors. It isn’t operating any more unfortunately.

We saw the kitchen looking very spick and span. 

After lunch we saw the Holkham Stories exhibition about its history and then about its focus on the environment and how to farm to preserve the environment.

After that we walked quite a long distance to the other side of the lake to see the huge walled garden. They are working hard in here. 

It was closing time so we got back to the car seeing a lot of deer on the way. 

We did a couple of stops on the way home – Blakeney Point and over the marsh to the very shingly Cley beach. It’s amazing to see how this has formed with the marsh behind it. 

We went home for a nice curry cooked by Helen – another spice pack recipe and very good.