Monmouth

Dean Forest Railway

We headed to Norchard station today for a ride on one of their steam services which was hauled by a Pannier Tank marked up in British Railways black and looking very smart. After a bite to eat in their cafe we were just having a mooch around the book shop carriage when someone mentioned something about a fire and, sure enough, dry bracken on a large section of banking was ablaze! We soo heard sirens and a couple of appliances turned up and crews dampened things down. Good job too!

Wymondham Abbey

Wymondham Abbey, in Norfolk, is a Norman church that has its origins in 1107 as a monastic church. Much of the stone was shipped from Normandy, in France. The central tower is a late 14th century replacement and the church was enlarged in the mid 1400s when a hammer beam roof with carved life sized angels was added. The dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII resulted in the demolition of monastic buildings but the stone was re-used and parts of the church further enlarged in the mid 1500s.

Inside the church can be found an impressive organ dating form 1793, the aforementioned carved angels and a more recent gilded altar screen which was dedicated in 1921 as a war memorial.

In 2016 following a fund raising campaign a new extension was built to house historic displays and information boards as well as provide vestries and a refreshment area.

Despite visiting Norfolk more times that I can remember over the years the Abbey had previously escaped my notice but we called in on Christmas Eve to finally catch up on what we were missing.

Desert Rats

The Desert Rats was the nickname of the 7th Armoured division of the British Army. Formed in 1938 the unit spent nearly all of WWII overseas, initially in North Africa but then France and Germany. The one time the unit returned to the UK it was based in Thetford Forest in Norfolk. A memorial has been erected in the unit's honour and their camp is now a walking trail with information boards detailing life within the camp. Not much else is there to see other than the outlines of Nissen hut bases between the trees and a fenced off private museum.