Adventure 2 of Euro Trip #LillyMayTakesOnEurope

The next stop on my journey is England to visit my family. My cousin Louise is a former tour guide for the city of Norwich, Norfolk in England, so we visited a lovely place called the Blickling Estate.

Just a little bit of history of the property:

Blicking Estate was built in the 15th century, and was in the possession of Sir John Fastolf of Caister from 1380–1459. Sir John made a fortune in the Hundred Years' War.

Many years later, the property was in the possession of the Boleyn family. Thomas Boleyn, later known as Earl of Wiltshire, and his wife Elizabeth lived there between 1499 and 1505. Although the exact birth dates of their children are unknown, they had three children Mary in about 1500, Anne in about 1501, and George in about 1504. The house of Blickling Estate seen today was built on the ruins of the old Boleyn property in the reign of James I, by Sir Henry Hobart.

After the death of Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian (the last private owner of Blickling) in December 1940, the Blickling estate passed into the care of the National Trust as part of his bequest. Now it is a museum and is looked after by the National Trust to keep it in proper working order.

There is sooo much more history on this property, and if you're interested in learning more please visit their website at www.BlicklingEstate.org.uk

This is the walkway view from the street and as you can see it is magnificent! The landscape is perfectly manicured and the sky was party cloudy; such a beautiful day. I could just stare at this for hours!

I literally had to wait 10 minutes for people to clear the walkway to take this shot haha. This place was crawling with people, and you can understand why. This house, no not a house, MANSION! This mansion may be old but has so much character.

Just outside the estate there is a cafe next to the carpark, and this is the peak-a-boo view you get from the cafe. From this angle you can't tell how massive this house is by size, but just count the chimneys. FUN FACT: in the olden days they could tell how rich you were by how many chimneys you had in your home. If you can afford to heat your house with many fireplaces you were considered rich. What a different mind set right?!  No one cared about your $1,000 belt, but they cared if you could heat your home. I think I like those materialistic values better than valuing someone from apparel or the car they drive. Food for thought... 

MAN OH MAN WHAT I WOULD COOK IN THIS KITCHEN! Those of you who know me, know that I LOVE to cook. This vintage style kitchen would totally suit my needs! I absolutely love this style and would be happy to have this in my home personally. Funny how people purposely make things look old in their homes now, when back then all they wanted was for things to look new... hmmmm, some more food for thought...

My fascination with stairs are real! This spiral stair case goes up four stories and was used only by the help to keep them out of sight from guests. How rude! *Stephanie Tanner Voice* <-- if you don't know that reference we can't be friends.

This bench is at the bottom of the helper's stairway. Not really sure why it was there, but was too beautiful not to take a snapshot of it. Every detail says a story, I wonder what stories this bench would tell us if it could talk...

This photo was taken from Anne's room (the middle child of the Boylen Family). The National Trust has done such a fine job preserving the artifacts inside the home, they are in pristine condition. The colors are vibrant but soft at the same time, I just love these pieces. I wish I could have a mirror like that in my home, it is just so beautiful.

This is a side view from the garden. Again, can you see how many chimneys are on this side of the house alone?! O.O

The skies worked with me this day and did not rain, THANK GOD! That made for a perfect picture day. :D

If you look the right way you can see that the whole world is a garden 🌸🌥

Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart 💞 -Pooh Bear

This is the little Doric Temple Folly, built about 1728 that is located behind the garden.  

Here I am standing in the mote that now has been filled and turned into a small garden. If you're short enough (like me) or don't mind getting down and dirty, you can go under all the bridges to play an epic game of freeze tag. Not to toot my own horn but... I won ;)

I am always interested in learning about things, either new or old. Spent the entire day here with my family and we all really enjoyed ourselves. They have a proper bar and restaurant onsite as well as a cafe for coffee or tea. The cafe does make homemade ice-cream that is safe to say, was by far the best ice cream I have had. I had a raspberry swirl (raspberry and vanilla ice-cream) and nothing compares to it. Mmmmm, I wish I could have some right now! haha Anyways, if you like history, or even like exploring antiques or gardens this place has it all. It even has a beautiful lake in the back of the estate that has the most amazing views. I would suggest that you wear comfortable shoes though, there is a lot of walking involved. Get that cardio in! Oh! Before I forget, if you ever do visit the estate, try and find the secret doors around the house! I won't tell you how many there are, but they are very cleverly hidden. Keep those eyes peeled!

See you on my next adventure!