Sandringham 3-8 Dec 20

 Lockdown 2 finished on the 2nd December allowing us to get away in our 2nd home to remain socially-distanced outside of our prime residence's four walls. We didn't want to travel too far to maintain the spirit of Tier 2 of the covid rules, so we headed off to Sandringham for a few nights. 

Not a soul around at Sandringham

The journey was awful. It chucked it down all the way - and continued to chuck it down once we arrived. There were very few other campers on the site and we were able to have a vast area all to ourselves, so we settled down and watched the rain.

On Friday it continued to rain. Then it turned to sleet, and then to heavy snow. Everything turned white, so we wrapped up well and went for a 5 mile walk to Sandringham house and back. The house itself, and the gorgeous church, were closed, but we had a bimble around the gift shop then wandered back. On our return the snow turned back to rain and it continued to rain heavily well into the evening so we didn't bother queuing for fish and chips, cooking in the van instead.

Narnia?

The Sandringham war memorial in the snow

Saturday it was quite nice weather-wise, so after a bit of a lie-in we had a short walk into West Newton before heading back for a bit of admin and to watch the women's rugby. West Newton is a lovely little village with just the one butcher's shop - but that is by appointment to HM the Queen!

West Newton Church

Sandringham Primary School

Sandringham Caravan Club Site

On Sunday we went for another 4.5 mile walk along the scenic drive, stopping for hot chocolate at the visitor centre. It was foggy, but quite busy out, with a number of people enjoying a walk around the grounds. In the afternoon we watched a turgid England v France game and an absolutely brilliant Gloucester v Harlequins game.

Lovely view from the viewpoint

Monday dawned very cold (-1 degrees) and foggy. We ramped up the heating and wrote Christmas cards whilst eating mince pies. The fog remained all day and it struggled to get above freezing, so we stayed in the warm and had one of those delightful days where you do nothing and don't feel at all guilty about doing it! That said we had a little walk around the site and then queued up for delicious fish and chips from the van that arrived on site.

The chip van

Tuesday, again in thick fog, we breakfasted then had a leisurely drive back the relatively short distance home.