It was my birthday recently and I always book for us to go somewhere for a little explore. I haven't been along the Norfolk coastline before and I yearn for the seaside all summer long, as we are so far inland in Bucks. Just recently my blogging pals have been going away with Canopy And Stars, their photos are always fabulous and atmospheric so I decided to check it out for myself. This company hand picks special places, with an Eco ethos and only certain kinds of accommodation. If you look at the website you will be spoilt for choice, and if, like me, you have never really loved the idea of conventional camping, this could be for you.
Our Yurt at Burlingham was super cute, a proper bed, carpet,sofa, a wood burner inside, and all the cutlery and crockery you would need. They even supplied his and hers crocs for wandering around outside. The Yurt is solar powered and has lights and a chandelier. At night we lit it up with tea lights and listened to the radio. We lit fires in the pit, cooked on the little barbecue and made tea with an old fashioned whistling kettle. We did cheat a little and bought some ready made salad bits from M&S to go with our grilled haloumi and sausages.
Situated at the bottom of a long garden, in woods where you could forage for your own fuel, we even had some visitors like squirrels and pheasants. It is also quite common for deer to come and have a nosey around. The loo/shower is in a little red shepherds hut, with hot water and a composting toilet, although we were encouraged to pee outside (as these composting loos don't like too much liquid) which we embraced whole heartedly!
My birthday always falls at the time of the Perseides meteor shower, and I desperately wanted to go somewhere with no light pollution to watch it ever night. When we went to bed on the first night there was cloud cover but something woke me at 3am so I went outside and the sky was clear and full of stars, after a few minutes I saw a shooting star so I woke up the OH (who wasn't too pleased) and we sat and watched the sky counting all the shooting stars we saw. It was truly magical.
Our host Chris has left us a map of how to find a beach where there is a seal colony. Horsey was incredible, dunes and empty sands stretched for miles and as we walked along the dune path we could see the seals heads bobbing in the surf.
As wildlife rescuers we are always most interested in seeing different animals in their natural habitat. I had never seen Seals before and didn't even realise we had them in the UK (other than in zoos). I believe that sometimes they come to the shoreline but we were happy watching them play on a sand bank not far away. The year of wild was truly notching up some beautiful memories.
Keen to get back to our yurt with some food for the bbq we did pop along to Hemsby and Great Yarmouth just to see what it was like. Not for me I'm afraid with it's amusement arcades and fun fair rides.
We relaxed during the evenings by the fireside, I took my crochet so I could make more blankets for the '60 Million Trebles' charity project. I styled our table with some of the lovely things I had bought the day before at Lincoln Antiques Fair. My new linen smock, Ian's jumper and the loaned crocs were pulled into my Yurt outfit for camp fire and foraging.
I can't wait to do this again, I took to it like a duck to water, or should I say a seal to water. Now looking forward to the Shepherds Hut in Sussex later this month. Variety is the spice of life, so unless you live in a Yurt I would say to give it a go, it is quite romantic. If you find it hard to sit still for too long then maybe take some knitting or other activity. My OH wished he had taken his drum sticks and practice pad as he was missing having something to do with his hands. Such a shame he forgot them ...
The link for this yurt is
http://www.canopyandstars.co.uk/britain/england/norfolk/burlingham-hall/burlingham-yurt
