Hunstanton & District News

By Stella Gooch
Photos by Stella Gooch

Salvation Army tambourinists entertain at Hunstanton’s Bandstand

The fantastic weather was a welcome addition to a great Bank Holiday line up in West Norfolk.  Activities were on throughout the county and the visitors came in their droves to make the most of the glorious sunshine and enjoy the wonders of West Norfolk.

The Keep Britain Tidy campaign awarded Hunstanton’s main beach a Seaside Award to join the many awards this beach, popular with families and kite surfers, has clocked up over the years.  This bank holiday weekend saw many visitors to Hunstanton and one of the events I took in over the weekend was the soothing sounds of the Salvation Army as I soaked up the sun on Hunstanton’s green in front of the bandstand whilst the children played on the beach.

Sheep shearing at Bircham Windmill’s Country Day 2013

I also popped along to Bircham Windmill’s Country Day and was amazed to see what one small family-run business had arranged to entertain the thronging visitors.  A lot of hard work had clearly gone into creating this wonderful day and the organisers should be gratified that this much loved West Norfolk attraction (not far from Hunstanton or Sandringham) was inundated with visitors for what must be one of their main events of the year.

Bircham Windmill was alive with stalls and activities throughout the day.  The children ran and jumped through half a dozen “jumps” as part of the children’s show jumping whilst their families cheered them on.  Some had several goes to see if they could beat their own times.  Following an informative narrative about the nature of horse dressage by Mr Wagg, Libby and her rider, Lucy Price (sister to owner Elly Chalmers), engaged and interacted with the crowds over a leisurely stroll around the crowds.  Eager children and parents waited to meet Lily and give her a pat.

Cody wins Pedigree category

Dog lovers had a ball watching the light hearted Fun Dog Show with a range of different categories to compete in including The Waggiest Tail and the Pedigree categories.  Children tested their knowledge of common wild flowers by identifying a dozen varieties (although as they day wore on some specimens were wilting with the heat and were not so easy to recognise!).

Dressage with Libby

Age old country crafts were in abundance and I very much enjoyed talking to the chaps on the pole lathe woodturning stall who were very keen to sell their handcrafted wares.  The lace makers were demonstrating their skilled craft and were turning out some beautiful lace items as they talked to the visitors.  The pottery lady was also producing some creative gift items made out of clay.  This involved more than just using the potter’s wheel as she had to cut tiny pieces of clay to mould on to the body of a tiny cat as part of the pot I saw her make.

Lots of young children enjoyed countless pony rides and cliimed on the tractor and landrovers in a safe environment.  Plants, jams, preserves, Norfolk produced honey were all in evidence and the usual sheep milking carried on as part of the day’s line up.

Sheep racing at Bircham Windmill Country Day 2013

The morning sheep racing was a lot of fun.  This activity attracted a lot of interest and proper steeple chase hurdles from Fakenham Racecourse were set up to create a fantastic sheep race course!  In all there were 4 sheep  competing complete with jockeys on!  ‘Squiffy’ was the favourite ridden by ‘The Mad Scottish Baker’.  All runners ran reasonably well for the first race, but wouldnt’ go at all for the second race, so Elly Chalmers had to run ahead with a bucket of feed to encourage them.  Elly said:”Its a good job I have had as much practise as the sheep!”

The sheep shearer was interesting to watch as well.  Amazing how he kept the sheep still enough to do the job without causing a serious injury!  The sheep  were kept on the move around the windmill grounds for the racing and for the milking so several times throught the day a few sheep were loose through the crowd.  This naturally caused a little excitement particularly when the four sheep racers went two either side of one lady who was taken by surprise!  There was no harm in it though as the sheep were shooed in the direction they needed to go.

The windmill museum was alive with interested eyes and the bakery and tearooms were filled to the brim with more visitors enjoying afternoon tea in the garden.

What an exceedingly wonderful day out for the family it was.

Children’s show jumping!

Stained glass crafts

Pottery demo

Wood turning