KL Magazine November 2012

ISSN 2044–7965

ISSUE 26 NOVEMBER 2012 PRICELESS

magazine

NORTH & WEST NORFOLK’S PREMIER LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE

COVER IMAGE

St Mary’s, Bexwell by Ian Ward

editorial 01553 601201

editor@klmagazine.co.uk

Eric Secker David Learner Holly Milston Ian Ward Kitty Leach Bel Greenwood Alex Dallas Graham Murray Christine Glass Michael Middleton

advertising 01553 601201 sales@klmagazine.co.uk

Laura Murray Grant Murray Nicky Secker-Bligh Becky Drew KL magazine cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited submissions, manuscripts and photographs. While every care is taken, prices and details are subject to change and KL magazine takes no responsibility for omissions or errors. We reserve the right to publish and edit any letters. All rights reserved.

If you’d like to order prints of any photograph featured in KL magazine, contact us at the address below. Please note this applies only to images taken by our own photographers.

I

t doesn’t seem too long at all since we were bemoaning the lack of summer, yet before you’ve even had time for a game of conkers, thoughts are already turning to Christmas. This month, we’ve been fortunate enough to speak to Lady Coke, and if you read her interview on page 16, you’ll see that preparations for Christmas at Holkham Hall started way back in January! Together with a guide to planning your festivities and a look at local Christmas tree festivals, we think this month’s magazine provides a gentle introduction to the season.

Of course, November is a time for remembrance – and you’ll find local writer Chris Coverdale is making a sterling effort to raise the awareness of the hitherto-silent Squadron of Bexwell (page 78). One of the most amazing things we’ve learned in putting this month’s magazine together is that the humble hedgehog may actually become extinct within 20 years – to find out more and meet the people doing their best to help these loveable creatures, turn to page 24.

All that and we’ve still found room for an invasion of mummies in Swaffham (page 12) and a new film about Benjamin Britten being produced in Holt (page 72)! Enjoy!

KL MAGAZINE

Contact us at KL magazine, 18 Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 1JW Tel: 01553 601201 E-mail: features@klmagazine.co.uk Web: www.klmagazine.co.uk 4

KLmagazine November 2012

Contents

NOVEMBER 2012

7 & 11 WHAT’S ON Forthcoming events in West Norfolk 12-14 ON THE SWAFFHAM MUMMY TRAIL Celebrating Norfolk’s links to Tutankhamun 16-18 THE BIG INTERVIEW Viscountess Coke of Holkham Hall 24-26 THE A&E FOR HEDGEHOGS Creating a safe haven in Fakenham 27

SUBSCRIBE TO KL MAGAZINE Make sure you get your copy every month

29

PETS Help and advice with local vet Alex Dallas

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16

30-35 FASHION It’s time to start wrapping up warm 39-45 FOOD & DRINK Recipes, reviews and recommendations 47-56 GET SET FOR CHRISTMAS A guide to planning your festivities 58

CHRISTMAS TREE FESTIVALS Fakenham and Gaywood start decorating

60-64 EXPLORER We’re off to Holt and Letheringsett

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72-74 THE RETURN OF BENJAMIN BRITTEN Tony Britten’s new film – made in Norfolk 78-80 THE SILENT SQUADRON OF BEXWELL We meet author Chris Coverdale 80-82 THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL? David Learner donates some red stuff 86

60 YEARS OF THE MOUSETRAP The original whodunit comes to Norfolk

90

WILD WEST NORFOLK Michael Middleton’s lighter view of things

E! TION TIMwor COMPETIr cha th 0 £20 nce to win See page 61 for you Centre! of vouchers at Fakenham Garden

KLmagazine November 2012

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47 5

ON SCREEN

NOVEMBER 2012

love film. love luxe.

The local cinema experience for serious movie fans

The Luxe 01945 588808

Alexandra Road Wisbech Cambridgeshire PE13 1HQ

book online:www.theluxecinema.com

NOVEMBER BOX OFFICE: (01603) 63 00 00 Tues 30 Oct - Sat 3 Nov GLYNDEBOURNE OPERA Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Dvorak's Rusalka £6.50 - £51 Mon 5 - Sat 10 Nov HAUNTING JULIA Duncan Preston, Richard O'Callaghan, Joe McFadden star in Alan Ayckbourn’s chilling ghost story £5.50 - £23 Mon 12 - Sat 17 Nov BLOOD BROTHERS Marti Pellow stars in Willy Russell’s triumphant musical £6.50 - £34

Tues 20 - Sat 24 Nov Matthew Bourne’s SLEEPING BEAUTY New production of Tchaikovsky’s glorious ballet £6.50 - £37.50 Sun 25 Nov NORFOLK SCHOOLS PROJECT Three local schools perform opera Free Tues 27 Nov VAMPIRES ROCK Great rock anthems £5.50 - £21.50 Thur 29 - Fri 30 Nov RAMBERT DANCE COMPANY World class contemporary dance £5.50 - £22.50

Book online: www.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk 6

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty

l 360 l Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2 l Skyfall l Madagascar 3 l Life of Pi l The Hobbit l The Sweeney l Argo l Flight l Rise of the Guardians

As lavish as something from the golden days of Hollywood, The Luxe Cinema is an elegantly stylish film lover’s delight. The Luxe Lounge bar sets the mood for a social drink with friends whilst the cinema itself offers luxurious and spacious leather sofas and armchairs – including a selection of Premier Sofas with waitress service! Allowing moviegoers to sit back and relax in true style, enjoying a glass of wine or a coffee whilst watching a wide programme of mainstream, arthouse and classic films. If you love film, you’ll love Luxe.

THEATRE STREET, NORWI CH NR2 1RL

KLmagazine November 2012

65 YEARS AGO: Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) gets married to Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh on 20th November 1947

November

Saturday 10th BRODOWSKI STRING QUARTET Holkham Hall (7pm) The second season of chamber music at Holkham Hall continues with the Brodowski String Quartet, who burst on to the London music scene in 2008, winning a clutch of major prizes – including Best Chamber Ensemble in the Royal Overseas League Competition. Some of the most celebrated of all string quartets make up the Brodowski’s programme – including Haydn’s last complete work for the genre and Smetana’s revolutionary ‘Tone Picture of my Life’.

Tickets £25, including a glass of wine in the Saloon during the interval and an opportunity to view some of the other state rooms at Holkham Hall.

To book or for further information, please contact 01328 713111 or visit www.holkham.co.uk.

Thursday 1st–Friday 2nd DEEPDALE CHRISTMAS MARKET Dalegate Market, Burnham Deepdale (10am–4pm) A festive weekend celebrating everything that's good about Christmas with presents, decorations, entertainment and activities – and great food and drink – from over 50 stalls – in addition to the Dalegate Market shops and cafe, For details, see www.deepdalechristmasmarket.co.uk

DON’T FORGET! Sunday, November 11th is Remembrance Sunday. Join the King’s Lynn Town Band playing at a special open air civic service at 10:40am at the Tower Gardens in King’s Lynn

Friday 2nd NATURE DETECTIVE DAY Holkham National Nature Reserve (11am–3pm) Collect your Detective’s notebook from the Wells Beach Cafe on Beach Road, Wells at any time during the day and explore the reserve to find the clues and solve the ‘crime’! Free to take part, but pay and display charge at Wells Beach car park.

For details contact Community Outreach Adviser Catherine Foreman on 07825 377652

Friday 2nd CLASSIC CLAPTON Auden Theatre, Holt (7:30pm) The World's No.1 Eric Clapton Tribute Band, featuring Mike Hall present a stunning 2-hour recreation of Clapton’s illustrious career from Cream to Derek & The Dominos and beyond.

Tickets £14. For details and to book, call the Box Office on 01263 713444.

Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th ANNUAL ART EXHIBITION The Village Meeting Place, North Runcton (10:30am–4:30pm Saturday, 10am–4pm Sunday) See the work of the talented amateur artists of the North Runcton Art Group. Paintings and art work will be for sale at very reasonable prices making ideal Christmas presents. Free admission with refreshments available for a small donation.

Tuesday 13th XMAS COOKERY EVENING AGA Shop, Holt (6:30pm) A Christmas cookery demonstration with professional demonstrator Sue Dunleavy guiding you through the preparation and cooking of Christmas dinner – with the idea to make it as easy and stress free as possible! After the demonstration, you’re invited to enjoy a lovely Christmas dinner with wine – the cost is £15 per person and booking is essential on 01263 713722

This month’s round-up of local events continues on page 11...

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ABOVE: Just outside King’s Lynn, Doubleday is packed with great ideas for children of all ages – and adults too

The green, green grass of Doubleday...

Doubleday King’s Lynn is looking forward to Christmas in Wiggenhall St Germans. David Learner met the team offering the toys that every child is hoping to receive

I

ts slogan really does say it all: Doubleday, part of the landscape for generations. It’s thirty years now since John W Doubleday Ltd took on the John Deere franchise in 1982. Six short years later the company acquired Bourne Tractors and then in 1999 took over the business of Evergreen Tractors in St Germans. The middle of next year will see the company expand into North Lincolnshire with another new site at Swineshead; the company’s geographical reach already sees it trading all the way from Sleaford to

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Thornham, on the North Norfolk Coast.

This is a family business in the true sense of the phrase. When John Doubleday started his agricultural business in Holbeach St Johns it was predominantly involved in engineering and the world of the traditional blacksmith. It’s changed out of all recognition into a multi-depot concern and all three of John’s grandchildren are actively involved. Charles runs the family farm, which is based around the head office in Holbeach St Johns, and Ian and Zoe are immersed in the John Deere side of the business. It was Zoe’s

commercial and artistic flair that has seen all the firm’s branches become more customer-friendly, to offer a warm welcome to their visitors.

Roy Pickett has seen many changes during the time he’s been with the company, notably as farm field-sizes have increased. That means machinery size has increased too; no wonder that Doubleday finds itself expanding to fill an ever-increasing demand.

“In spring it’s lawnmowers,” says Roy. “As spring gives way to summer we concentrate on tractors and combines for the agricultural side of the business,

KLmagazine November 2012

and then towards Christmas the toys rev up and take over.”

The John Deere electric ride-on tractors are the stuff of childhood dreams: two forward speeds, and reverse, accelerator and brake, adjustable seating, tipping boxes, dropdown tailgates, trailers that unhitch – there’s a higher spec than could ever be imagined in a children’s toy. They’re all but the real thing and offer the chance for imagination to take flight and to occupy endless hours of play for the fussiest of youngsters. A large selection of pedal tractors for the energetic rider are always available with lots of accessories to choose from as well.

Or for the young radio control fan there’s the Monster Treads: a fully-

functional tractor that performs tricks and spins and comes with air-inflated tyres and a rechargeable battery system. With so much to choose from this Christmas it’s a ready-made answer that once more provides a world of creative fun well into the New Year.

The year has been a fantastically busy one for Doubleday as their name change has started to be noticed across a far wider area than ever before. And while the Doubleday name is now a locally recognised and trusted one it’s worth noting that the company sells nationally and exports on a worldwide basis.

But we’re back to Christmas again.

“We’re always happy to take orders for Christmas as early as possible. If you haven’t room for a scale-model tractor it’s not an issue,” says Roy. “We’ll store it here for you, so you can pick it up as late as Friday 21st December. And the last thing you need on Christmas Day is to realise that the box of bits

needs putting together, so Doubleday now offers, for a small fee, an optional assembly service.”

In the run-up to Christmas the site at St Germans becomes an Aladdin’s Cave of colour and excitement, and eyes pop out on stalks. And that’s just the dads.

Beautifully produced models of tractors, combines and farm equipment stretch as far as the eye can see, all ready for new owners.

On 1st January 2012 the changes in the Doubleday group business reached completion: that was the day when the company officially adopted the Doubleday name. Roy and the team are proud of the role the company has played in the community for so long.

It’s a personal service he and the rest of the team offer that has kept customers returning, and that’s something that Doubleday takes very personally indeed.

DOUBLEDAY (KING’S LYNN) Lynn Road, Wiggenhall St Germans, King’s Lynn, Norfolk Tel: 01553 617666 | Web: www.doubledaygroup.co.uk

KLmagazine November 2012

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Celebrate the great outdoors with Bearts

The Hayloft will be open on Sundays December the 2nd, 9th and 16th

Huge range of our own animal and pet feeds Great selection of new and used horse boxes Big choice of new and used trailers Wide selection of new and used quad bikes Specialist collection of animal supplies The Hayloft: for all your country clothing needs

Brighton Mill, Stow Bridge, King’s Lynn PE34 3PD tel: 01366 388151 web: www.bearts.co.uk

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KLmagazine November 2012

November

Saturday 24th Wednesday 14th THE NATURAL HISTORY OF WEST NORFOLK Lynn Museum, King’s Lynn (2:30–3:30pm) An illustrated history talk by the Museum Service’s Stuart Hall about the distinctive natural history of the King's Lynn area past and present. Advanced booking essential at Lynn Museum or on 01553 775001.

Admission £2 (includes museum admission), free for Friends and Museum pass Holders.

Sunday 18th TOP SECRET LITERARY LUNCH Le Strange Arms Hotel, Hunstanton (12:30pm) Guest speaker Dame Stella Rimington will be talking about her life at M15 and her latest spy novels, followed by a 3-course lunch. Tickets £25 (proceeds to West Norfolk Mind). Menu and details on www.sigbi.org and advance bookings only – call 01553 774106 or send an e-mail to SIkingslynn@gmail.com.

CHRISTMAS CRAFT FAIR Gaywood Church Rooms, King’s Lynn (10am–3pm) A festive event in aid of the Macmillan Cancer Support. Two large halls packed with unique handmade crafts including pottery, watercolours, wood turners, cake stands, Christmas cards, cheeses and chutneys, knitwear, jewellery and much more. Plus you can enjoy the St Faith’s Carol Singers and The Cherry Marham Bell Ringers.

There’ll also be a hog roast and light refreshments, a raffle and a children’s lucky dip. Free entry and free parking. For more details contact David and Susan Bodsworth on 01553 672840.

Saturday 24th

Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th SANDRINGHAM CRAFT, FOOD AND GIFT FAIR Sandringham Park, Sandringham If you find the high street too ‘samey’ or you’re fed up paying huge car park charges, why not see what the Sandringham Christmas Craft Fair can offer for that special someone on your list? Scores of specialists will be offering a range of unique handmade gifts that’s bound to include something just right for someone you know.

Please note the Christmas Craft Fair takes place in Sandringham Park, not at the Visitor Centre. Admission £6 adults, £5.50 seniors and £2 children. Further information from www.craft-show.co.uk

WREATH MAKING WORKSHOP King’s Lynn Arts Centre (10am–1pm) Make something special this Christmas! Spend the morning creating a beautiful wreath under the expert guidance of artist Jean Mulligan. Using seasonal foliage and adding sparkling embellishments, you’ll create a stunning festive piece to hang on your door! Tickets £25 to include all materials and festive refreshments. For information contact Liz Falconbridge on 01553 779095

Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th BOOK BONANZA Sedgeford Village Hall, Sedgeford (9:30am–5pm) A great day of well-known and respected authors talking about their books followed by book signings. Refreshments available before and after the talks, and there’ll be a break for lunch.

Authors taking part include Peter Stanford (the Daily Telegraph), Dr Neil Faulkner (Director of SHARP), Jim Ring, Elspeth Barker, Mary Mackie, Doreen Reed, Dr Sally Francis, Charlotte Paton, Charles Rangley-Wilson and Michael Nicholson. Used books are also for sale over the weekend. Tickets are £5 each for the morning or afternoon session. More details from Pam Goddard on 01485 579002

Sunday 25th CHRISTMAS CRACKER Hunstanton (10am–6pm) A festive, fun-packed day with marching bands, Morris dancing, Tug-of-War, carols, bell ringing, funfair rides, live music and an afternoon party for children with a fancy dress competition. Plus a special Christmas Market with gifts and goodies and plenty of festive food and drink. To end the day there’ll be a parade of lanterns before the switching on of the Christmas Lights. For more information contact amandaknight@supanet.com or telephone 01485 534481

Special ai Christmas menu available now!

Call in for full details and more information – and please book early!

SET BANQUETS FROM 19 Chapel Street, King’s Lynn PE30 1EG Tel: 01553 767013 Website: www.thethaiorchid.com ONLY £20 PER PERSON! KLmagazine November 2012

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LOCAL LIFE

PICTURES: An early painting by Howard Carter of the Egyptian Queen Ahmose (above) and the solid gold death mask of Tutankhamun (above right).

When Carter found the Pharaoh’s tomb, it was still sealed (right) after spending thousands of years hidden under the sands. Although he cut a rather dashing figure (below), Carter himself preferred his archaeology – he actually spent 10 years clearing Tutankhamun’s tomb of its contents (below right).

Not bad for a Swaffham boy!

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KLmagazine November 2012

ABOVE: Walk around Swaffham at the moment, and keep your eyes peeled for some very creative mummies (this one is in the King’s Arms)!

Why the mummies are coming to Swaffham...

Swaffham’s Howard Carter made history when he discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun. David Learner set out to unearth the man, the myth and the continuing magic of mummies

A

lthough Howard Carter was born in London in 1874, he spent most of his childhood with his aunts in Swaffham.

As the sickly offspring of Samuel and Martha Carter, it was though the drier air of Breckland would suit his more susceptible frame better than the London smogs. He was largely home-educated, but when his father (an established artist) produced a portrait of an Egyptologist, he knew his vocation.

The late Victorian era was a time of discovery for scientists and archaeologists, and the works of Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle and Henry Rider Haggard were fuelling the imaginations of dreamers right through the Empire. The mysteries hidden in Egypt’s sands were only just starting to

KLmagazine November 2012

come to light after centuries of inundation by desert winds which would swallow entire buildings in the sand to leave no sign for any future adventurer. It was as if the gods were hiding their treasures well away from prying eyes.

Using his father’s connections, Howard Carter engineered an introduction to botanist Percy Newberry, the first of many who would use Carter’s enthusiasm to force the past to give up its stories. Newberry’s work with the Egypt Exploration Fund ensured that Howard was requested to excavate the Middle Kingdom tombs at Beni Hasan under the watchful eye of Flinders Petrie, the eminent English Egyptologist.

Carter also dug at Edfu, Abu Simbel and Thebes (modern day Luxor) and in

1907 he was employed by Lord Carnarvon to supervise all his excavations. Carnarvon’s fascination with Egyptology, together with his considerable wealth, ensured that Carter’s skills were fully employed, particularly as he’d been able to demonstrate innovative ways of drawing wall reliefs, to starkly show the incredible and painstaking art that had laid unseen for more than three thousand years.

The First World War and Carnarvon’s dissatisfaction with the results he was receiving from the digs conspired to bring to an end hopes of finding anything rewarding at the site in the Valley of the Kings now designated KV62, and in 1922 he’d given Carter and his team just one more year before he’d withdraw the funding.

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ABOVE: The Carter Gallery at Swaffham Museum is a great place to start your exploration of the Mummy Trail – and the legacy of local boy Howard Carter

On 4th November, 1922 Carter found steps leading to a tomb. It would be the most complete pharaoh’s tomb ever discovered in the Valley of the Kings, and the legend of Tutankhamun was about to be born.

Carnarvon was immediately summoned and on 26th November Carter chipped away at the top lefthand corner of the tomb’s entrance with a chisel given to him by his grandmother.

When Carnarvon asked whether he could see anything, Carter’s famous reply was “Yes... wonderful things.”

It’s exactly ninety years since that legendary discovery. Now, one of Swaffham’s most famous sons will be celebrated at a host of events throughout the town during November.

On 16th November the Friends of Swaffham Museum are holding a King Tut Ball to raise funds and to highlight the work of the Friends and the Mummy Trail – which has been seen around the town since mid-October.

The idea came about as a result of the town’s links with sculptor Anthony Gormley, who recently agreed to become patron of the Swaffham Visual Arts Festival.

His “Gorms” – life-sized copies of the sculptor – provided the spur needed to inspire local people to produce mummies for a trail that would serve as a path around the town to introduce it to its local and not-so-local visitors.

“We challenged everyone to produce mummies using whatever materials they wanted,” says Kate Frances, Project Officer at the Iceni Partnership and one of those ensuring the trail’s success.

“There was no template as such, and

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they could be any size, shape or format they wanted. One has been handknitted, and someone else has used their cake-making skills to produce a mummy cake. The ingenuity has surprised all of us.”

Together with Sian Hogarth, the museum’s Education Officer, she sees the importance of linking the trail to Howard Carter to promote Swaffham as a great place to visit.

“Ironically, Carter’s work was funded

by Lord Carnarvon, whose family home was Highclere Castle,” she says.

“Downton Abbey fans will know that Highclere has been seen in all its glory in the award-winning programme. It’s a great location and even more fascinating now because of Howard Carter’s principal benefactor.”

The Swaffham Museum houses its own Carter Connection Gallery. There’s the opportunity to hear Carter reading from his diary (including that famous reference to the “wonderful things” he found in Tutankhamun’s tomb), and at the hieroglyphic station visitors are invited to create their own cartouche using Egyptian hieroglyphics.

The British Museum has loaned the Museum a wealth of objects dating back three thousand years and these are fully available to admire and explore.

For those with a hint of the showman in them there’s even the chance to dress up as an ancient Egyptian, and Sian is always available to talk about the support they offer to schools. The museum offers a Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service-trained Learning Officer, a wide range of museum loan boxes to borrow and costumed interpretation to bring the past to life.

Ninety years since that fateful day that turned Tutankhamun into a byword for adventure and turned our imaginations towards an empire that flourished, traded, voyaged and died while Britain was still asleep in its darkest of dark ages, it’s good to know that Swaffham’s place in history is equally assured.

When London’s spill found Howard Carter a home, it couldn’t possibly know that his name would resound so far and so wide and that Tutankhamun’s greatest treasure was the legacy of dreams left to all of us.

> For more about the museum, go to www.swaffhammuseum.co.uk or call 01760 721 230 > For more details and background information on the Mummy Trail, go to www.swaffhamvisualartsfestival.co.uk > Novelist James Patterson and Martin Dugard’s The Murder of King Tut is the result of the painstaking sifting of clues, X-Rays and a mountain of evidence to produce an absorbing story that’s well worth reading. It’s available in bookshops and online.

KLmagazine November 2012

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KLmagazine November 2012

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hysiotherapy can help with a wide range of injuries and conditions, including back and neck pain, repetitive strain injuries, joint pain and arthritis, muscle injuries, post surgery rehabilitation and sports injuries. Your first visit to our physiotherapy team will involve a full assessment of your condition so we can develop a treatment programme specifically designed for you. We offer a wide range of therapies that are often used in combination in a treatment programme. We offer a number of treatments including:

MASSAGE THERAPY: Includes techniques to improve the range of joint movement and reduces pain EXERCISE: To increase mobility and muscle strength and reduce symptoms TRACTION: Helpful in relieving pain in the neck or lower back ELECTROTHERAPY: The use of electrical energy (such as TENS) to reduce inflammation and rehabilitate muscles ACUPUNCTURE: Involves the painless insertion of tiny needles to alleviate pain in many conditions SPORTS MASSAGE: Very helpful for relieving knots, spasms and muscle pain.

CASE STUDY: Our physiotherapy team recently treated a young gymnast who had fallen badly on her neck whilst performing back flips in training. Though any fracture had been ruled out by her GP, she had been suffering for weeks with a stiff, painful neck and was in training for an important gymnastic competition.

As a young athlete she was very reluctant to take a break from training and this was making her condition worse. Following a full examination and assessment, we were able to create a program of treatment, to allow her to still compete in the competition. Her full treatment program included sports massage, ultrasound and some gentle mobilising techniques along with rehabilitation exercises for her to continue with at home.

Following a few visits to see us the patient fully recovered in a short period of time and was able to compete very successfully at the competition.

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PERSONALITY

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KLmagazine November 2012

THE BIG INTERVIEW

Lady Coke of Holkham Hall As Holkham Hall prepares for its second Christmas opening, Viscountess Coke talks to KL magazine about the challenges of organising such large-scale festivities...

KL MAGAZINE: How will Holkham at Christmas be different in 2012?

LADY COKE: Last year was our first Christmas opening. It’s been something I’ve been longing to do for years, and I’ve been storing up ideas for quite a while, so there’s no shortage of inspiration for something different for 2012.

Every year we’ll focus on a traditional Christmas, as we want to be different from some of the more commercial Christmas offerings around. We love to use real greenery, candles and Christmas trees, and we make sure that everything we use to decorate reflects the old fashioned Christmases of story books.

This year, we have had a beautiful Father Christmas outfit made from some of the old brocade curtains, as we weren’t happy with the Father Christmas outfits available to buy. We’re continuing the Victorian theme with a home-made gingerbread house, and

KLmagazine November 2012

we’ll also be welcoming some real reindeer to the stables courtyard.

Children can come and stroke them while they take a rest from the Christmas deliveries!

We also have Christmas theatre productions this year, which will be very special as the hall will be decorated in all its splendour, with mulled wine and mince pies during the interval. There are a few more surprises too – but we don’t want to give it all away!

KL MAGAZINE: Of all these celebrations, what are you most looking forward to?

LADY COKE: I love the moment when the decorating is all finished and I am lighting the last candle prior to visitors arriving for that first Christmas weekend.

I love to stand behind the scenes and listen to people’s comments, and watch the children’s faces as they come round the hall and meet Father Christmas to

receive their presents.

I find the whole process very fulfilling creatively, and I enjoy seeing all the ideas of myself and the team coming to fruition.

KL MAGAZINE: How many people will be involved in decorating the hall?

LADY COKE: That’s a hard question – as many as I can persuade to help me with the physical decorating, as well as invaluable help from the local volunteers and Fakenham Flower Club.

People from most departments become involved. The gardeners have to cut vast amounts of greenery for both weekends, as much needs replacing during the week.

The hall team have to go up cherry pickers and ladders to hang decorations from the giant 18ft Christmas tree as well as other decorations all over the hall.

Maria, our lovely cook, helps produce Christmas food for the displays in the

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“We have to be incredibly organised and we start working on Christmas in January...

I’m always overflowing with too many ideas, and we have to work hard to plan what is achievable, both in terms of budget and manpower...” dining room, my nanny gets roped in to help wrap presents for the trees and I always enlist my children too, as they understand how much work there is to do and they love to be involved.

I’ll try to persuade my eldest to dress up as a Christmas elf this year to help Father Christmas with the presents.

I also get wonderful, creative help and inspiration from the events team here. We do quite a lot of research and visit many other houses who are well known for their Christmas offerings to see what’s out there. It’s so important to take the time to do this as one can learn an awful lot.

KL MAGAZINE: What’s been the greatest challenge in organising such a large event?

LADY COKE: Budget, as always, is the enemy of creativity! I’m always overflowing with too many ideas, and we have to work hard to plan what is achievable, both in terms of budget and manpower.

We have to be incredibly organised and we start working on Christmas in January. This year we visited Christmas World in Frankfurt to get inspiration and have been working solidly on it ever since. The secret is in immaculate and detailed planning and trying to get as much as possible done in advance.

The problem here is that the hall is often being used for various events and concerts and this hinders us from getting on with the decorating.

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KL MAGAZINE: What part does Holkham at Christmas play in the local community and economy?

LADY COKE: As last year, we’ll be involving local schools by inviting their choirs and music groups to be a part of the carol singing and entertainment in the Marble Hall.

Local artisans and businesses are invited to participate in the Victorian Market, which is a great opportunity for them. We hope that by organising a large event in the area, it proves to be of benefit to local businesses in bringing visitors to the area out of season.

We also invite local schoolchildren to be creative and make things for our Christmas display. Last year it was snowflakes, and this year they’ll be invited to make gingerbread men to tie in with our gingerbread house theme.

KL MAGAZINE: How does all this activity impact on your family life?

LADY COKE: It’s an incredibly busy time of year but the children are as excited about Christmas as I’ve always been. I think my enthusiasm for decorating has rubbed off on them too!

They all know where to find me during the run-up to the Christmas opening and they all play their part in putting forward ideas and helping. There are lots of visitors for the Holkham Christmas, but their enthusiasm and appreciation for all our efforts more than makes up for any disruption!

KL MAGAZINE: How do you usually spend Christmas?

LADY COKE: We have an invasion of family for Christmas and an enormous 36lb Christmas turkey to feed us all.

We open stockings incredibly early, go to church and then have a late Christmas lunch followed by us all watching the Queen’s Christmas speech.

The afternoon is usually spent taking the four dogs out for a walk on the beach and then perhaps watching a James Bond film in the evening.

My husband’s family tradition is to have turkey sandwiches with mango chutney in the evening, so he always goes to make a big plate of sandwiches!

KL MAGAZINE: What’s the best Christmas present you’ve ever received?

LADY COKE: I think it’s probably the red velvet dressing gown from my husband. These big houses don’t have the most efficient heating systems, and I can wrap myself up in it in the morning when I go down to make coffee and let the dogs out.

KL MAGAZINE: After all this, what do you intend doing on Boxing Day? LADY COKE: Walks on the beach, enjoying presents, playing games such as Charades and Racing Demon – and trying to persuade the children to start writing their thank you letters!

KLmagazine November 2012

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New glass - print studio in Norfolk Our Sandringham s store is now 2 year d an me co old – al celebrate with speci ! res offers at both sto e Reading Rooms Holkham Village (Opposite Adnams) Norfolk NR23 1RG Tel: 01328 712120

www.saltglassstudios.co.uk - Contemporary glass, print, sculpture and design - Courses year round in glass and printmaking - Open Studio December - glass demonstrations Contact SALT for more information and course bookings info@saltglassstudios.co.uk - 01328 738873 Back Lane, Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, PE31 8HL

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KLmagazine November 2012

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KLmagazine November 2012

Green: the colour of now at ECOnomy Windows With its rebrand now complete ECOnomy Windows is flying high.

Business manager Jim McClure spoke to David Learner about how present thinking is impacting on new technology in our homes...

T

he vans are green. The words are green. Even Jim McClure’s tie is green. I’m getting a message.

ECOnomy Windows is greener than a green thing and it’s all down to the company’s commitment to the environment and their promise to their customers.

It was all so different 25 years ago.

Economy Windows was all about finding the best product at the lowest price. Several years ago, however, the company’s new policy – saving you money year after year – was formulated to show that modern technology was being applied to their range of products.

Now it’s become a byword for everything that’s unique about the ECOnomy Windows offering, and it’s the single item that Jim’s most satisfied with. ”We underline what we do by installing the most efficient products,” he says. “Energy costs are so much higher now pro rata – we’ve just got one chance to get it right. We owe that to our customers. Always have done.”

Jim is in his element and takes time to explain why the science of what ECOnomy Windows does has a lasting effect on the customer.

“Back in the eighties firms offered lifetime guarantees on their products.

NEW CONSERVATORY SHOW SITE AND E DISTRIBUTION CENTR

That was taken at face value, of course, but then pinking became an issue.”

Pinking wasn’t a phrase I’d heard before, so I asked Jim to explain.

“Pinking, where that brand new white product would literally turn pink after a couple of years, probably came about as a result of a bad batch of additives or polymers. It’s never really been explained, but it caused ructions and led the industry to ensure that it wouldn’t happen again.”

New thinking was needed but environmental issues had to be taken on board as well, to ensure that recyclable material (known as regrind) was used in new products. It was evident it wasn’t best practice to use it where the visible surface was facing everything the British weather could throw at it, so virgin polymers are used now where there’s contact with the elements.

“Some of the other window profiles carry regrind in the whole of the window and exposed surfaces,” says Jim, “whereas our product takes the regrind well away from exposed surfaces.”

“Green is here to

stay,” he says. “Energy saving isn’t just a phrase, it’s what we’ve continued to stand by for a quarter of a century. For us it means we can recycle almost every element of what we’ve produced for the customer: the glass, the uPVC, the timber products. We’re aiming for fifty per cent recycling, and we firmly believe it to be achievable.”

As we start to wind up our discussion Jim starts to tell me of a brand new ECOnomy Windows product, just around the corner, something that really will change the way we look at saving energy. But he won’t be drawn: “You’ll have to wait,” he says. And there I was, thinking I was going to get a scoop.

Jim smiles. Maybe I will, and maybe KL magazine will be the first place his satisfied customers will hear about it.

CONSERVATORY SHOW PARK Elm High Road, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire PE14 0DG Tel: 01945 588988 Web: www.economywindows.com E-mail: mail@economy-windows.co.uk

LOCAL LIFE

24

KLmagazine November 2012

ABOVE: Vicki Rider with two orphaned Hedgehogs that have found a home at the Hedgehog Hospital – one that Gregory (opposite) always enjoys exploring, despite his blindness.

Vicki’s mission to save our hedgehogs...

One of our best-loved garden creatures is in dire need of help.

Tabitha Christie meets Fakenham’s Vicki Rider, whose story of spiky salvation is a lesson to us all

T

here’s a very famous blonde living in Vicki Rider’s shed.

Her name is Marilyn, and she’s named after iconic, tragic screen idol Marilyn Monroe. But this Marilyn is a little shy – and some would say she’s a little prickly. This Marilyn is a blonde hedgehog, which is quite unusual for one of her kind. In some ways, she’s also very lucky because she’s currently being cared for at the Hedgehog Hospital, based in Fakenham.

Marilyn isn’t alone. There are large kitchen storage boxes complete with heat mats to keep the hedgehogs warm all over the garage and built-on shed, and 30 hedgehogs are receiving

KLmagazine November 2012

treatment and recuperating (the maximum Vicki can take in is 40).

They snuggle in shredded paper nests or lay under brightly coloured handknitted woollen squares.

“They lose their body heat very quickly,” says Vicki. “It’s vital to keep them warm – as soon as they get cold flies can lay eggs on them and they get what is called fly-blown.”

Vicki is presented with all kind of horrific hedgehog injuries to treat, but maybe one of the worst is maggot infestations (especially on baby hedgehogs) where flies attack the soft tissue around the eyes. Most hedgehogs brought to her have been injured on the roads or (increasingly)

have been strimmed. Strimming causes terrible damage to hedgehogs’ heads and backs, and as far as Vicki is concerned it’s completely unnecessary.

“A lot of it is where people don’t take the trouble to check before strimming,” she explains. “Hedgehogs are usually curled up in a ball but they look up and it’s the top of their head that gets strimmed.”

This year in particular, 60% of hedgehog casualties have been poisoned with slug pellets or garden chemicals and there’s no antidote to save them.

Hedgehogs have suffered a catastrophic decline. There used to be around 30 million in the UK in the

25

1950s but this would set up a number has fourth hospital, dropped to around accepting 1 million today. hedgehogs from There is a genuine West and North risk the hedgehog Norfolk and even could be extinct Suffolk. It didn’t within 15-20 years if take her a moment measures aren’t to agree. taken to protect A large brown them from hedgehog called accidental death on Hardy pushes his the roads, garden nose out of his nest slaughter, the use of of paper. He was a pesticides on crops, road accident and in the garden – victim brought in by particularly slug a young man who pellets which wouldn’t leave him dissolve the internal on the side of the organs of a road and still comes hedgehog when back to visit. they’ve snacked on “Part of his face contaminated slugs. was damaged, one It would be a eye was gone and terrible loss if this he was bleeding ABOVE: The Hedgehog Hospital is currently home to around 30 hedgehogs in need of extraordinaryout of his ears,” says care – including the blonde Marilyn and Jet (below), an extremely rare albino hedgehog looking creature, a Vicki. “But he’s favourite among healed up fine!” people to keep an eye on the young for children’s writers and illustrators, were Out in the garden, a young juvenile a couple of hours, and if the mother to be found only in the pages of books has emerged from behind a bush. Vicki doesn’t reappear then bring them in.

by A.A. Milne and Beatrix Potter. picks him up as if they’re on first name The risks of the babies getting cold are As far as Vicki is concerned there terms – and like it or not, he’s destined too high.” needs to be increased awareness to for some flea-dusting and a good meal This year’s astonishing rain levels has help them to survive. of cat biscuits. been a disaster for many They are actually a gardener’s pesthedgehog young – controlling friend, but too many they’ve either died gardeners use products which kill them. because of flooded nests Hedgehogs are roamers. They can or suffered from cold and travel up to two miles a night and need damp and been attacked to have ways in and out of gardens. The by flies. fashion for slabbing and decking There’s no such thing gardens has only added to a as a holiday for Vicki or hedgehog’s problems. her husband, John.

Every year, the charity releases Caring for the around 200-250 fully recuperated hedgehogs is a full-time, hedgehogs into the wild or into the full-year job. Vicki first large gardens of willing volunteers. got involved ten years Those Vicki isn’t so sure about are ago after going on an released into her own garden. Some open day to the charity in with leg amputations or respiratory Erpingham. problems will never be able to leave.

Vicki was asked if she “They can’t hibernate and every now and again they have to have a course of antibiotics,” says Vicki. “We don’t put The charity is currently collecting any to sleep unless we really have to.” postage stamps and wool for It’s been a hard year for baby fundraising and the knitting of hedgehogs, and Vicki has two in an those all-important hedgehog incubator in her house. Both would blankets. To learn more about easily fit into the palm of one hand. volunteering to have a hedgehog These two little orphans were lucky to released into your garden and be found and brought in.

“Hedgehogs aren’t brilliant mothers,” caring for them, see the AFA says Vicki, “and they won’t always go Hedgehog Rescue website or call back for their young. We usually advise Vicki on 01328 863324

26

KLmagazine November 2012

ERVICE S N O I T P I R C S B SU

E! L B A L I A V A W O N

Now you never have to miss a copy!

Have KL magazine delivered to your door every month!

KL magazine has always been enormously successful, and by popular demand we’re now introducing a subscription service – which means you won’t even have to leave your home, as your very own copy posted direct to your door!

For £25, you can receive the next six issues of KL magazine, and £48 you can receive every issue for the next 12 months.

Please note that we can only deliver to UK postal addresses.

So, to make sure of your copy of KL magazine, please contact us on 01553 601201 – and thanks again for all your feedback!

To subscribe and for more details, please call 01553 601201 KLmagazine November 2012

27

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Christmas stock available in early November

Late appointments available on Thursday and Friday

4 High Street, Long Sutton PE12 9DB | Tel: 01406 366789 Open: Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat 9am-4pm | Closed on Wednesdays

KLmagazine November 2012

PETS

AnimalMatters Our monthly look at the issues concerning you and your pets with Alex Dallas of the London Road Veterinary Centre...

Be safe – and be seen!

The clocks have changed and it suddenly seems so dark. We still need to walk the dog though – so how about some highly fashionable hi-vis wear for your pooch?

There’s a wide range of styles and sizes and although at first they may look a bit daft there really is an excellent safety benefit for safely getting through these dark nights.

And don’t let the cat feel left out – there are reflective collars for them that could just be little life savers!

Quality of Life...

O

ne of the Dallas cats, Tango, is starting to show her age, becoming thin and frail. It’s the dilemma all pet owners dread – when is it right to decide to part with this old friend? Just when Tango appears tired and poorly, she’s the first one to the food and scoffs the lot. Next she’s out and about patrolling her territory and giving the younger cats a quick biff on the back of the head!

So although she looks very frail, she still appears active and happy. I face this predicament with clients every working day at the surgery. When do you decide that the quality of life is no longer adequate for the animal and it’s time to plan to part?

Over the years I’ve come up with a set of guidelines to help clarify if quality of life is being met. These are three simple questions which must all be answered positively; otherwise there’s a real danger that quality has been lost.

Firstly, is the animal enjoying its food?

The cat that’s just licking the jelly from

the wet food or the dog that refuses even the most favourite treats isn’t content. Food is a great pleasure to our pets and if that’s gone, then quality of life too has suffered.

Secondly, is the pet interacting with their owner? When you come in, does the dog look up and wag its tail? Does the cat still come to sit on your lap? Or are they increasingly distant from the normal behaviours you expect?

Finally, they need to be able to ‘potter about’ – I’m not expecting elderly pets to go on long walks, but they should be able to get themselves outside and simply potter about and just get from room to room. The dog that’s off its legs or the cat just lying about day after day has again lost quality in life.

By asking these questions and answering them honestly I’ve seen people be able to reach a decision, to carry on or to part, whichever is right for their pet.

Now I have to apply my own guidelines for Tango, who thankfully is still ticking all those boxes.

Your pets Although he was the smallest pup in the litter, Sherman the French bulldog looks pretty mighty in his new tracksuit! Thanks to Wendy Bontoft of South Wootton for the picture. Don’t forget to keep sending me pictures of your pets to Animal Matters at KL magazine, 18 Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 1JW or you can e-mail them to editor@klmagazine.co.uk

LONDON ROAD 25 London Road, King’s Lynn t: 01553 773168 e: info@lrvc.co.uk HOLLIES Paradise Road, Downham Market t: 01366 386655 e: hollies@holliesvetclinic.co.uk KLmagazine November 2012

29

fashion Hat (£24), Scarf (£24) & Gloves (£15) by Dents EVERYTHING OUTDOORS | Holkham 01328 712120

From head to toe, our local boutiques have those chilly winter days covered – from must-have hats and lush scarves to funky footwear and beautiful boots. Just because you’re wrapped up warm doesn’t mean you have to compromise on looking great...

Wellies by Isle Jacobsen (ÂŁ110) NELLE-DK | Thornham 07990 593750

Purple Bag by Ted Baker (£129) Gloves by Dents (£39.95) Scarf by Johnstons (£75) Hat by Stetson (£69.95) GODDARDS | King's Lynn 01553 772382

00

KLmagazine September 2012

Yew Boots by Kanyon (£139) EVERYTHING OUTDOORS | Sandringham 01485 298082

100% lambswool scarf (£25), gloves (£13) and hat (£20) in Blackberry colourway CHRISTOPHER WILLIAM COUNTRY | Creake Abbey 01328 738983

CW

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for all your country pursuits

Purveyors of fine country wares

Nestled in the heart of North Norfolk, our warm and welcoming shop houses a fantastic range of men’s and ladies country clothing, shooting wear, footwear, accessories, gifts and much more.

Now available: a fabulous collection of great gift ideas for Christmas!

Aigle | Bisley | Falke | Gurteen | House of Cheviot Hucklecote | Laksen | Loake | Magee | Musto | Toggi

Creake Abbey, North Creake, Fakenham NR21 9LF Telephone: 01328 738983 Web: www.christopherwilliamcountry.co.uk

dresses shirts knitwear scarves footwear outwear

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Nelle

e Old Applestore, Drove Orchards ornham, Norfolk PE36 6LS t: 07990 593750 e: email@nelle-dk.co.uk

KLmagazine November 2012

w: www.nelle-dk.co.uk

SCHÖFFEL | DUBARRY MUSTO | LE CHAMEAU CHRYSALIS | HUCKLECOTE TOGGI | DEERHUNTER SEELAND | HARKILA

Also stocking Guns, Ammunition and shooting accessories Heath Farm, Great Massingham, King’s Lynn PE32 2HD www.lingscountrygoods.co.uk | www.mortonatv.com telephone: 01485 520828

Morton ATV all terrain and utility terrain vehicles

Tel 01760 722661 Fax 01760 722551 Email info@daseaman.co.uk 18 Plowright Place, Swaffham, Norfolk PE37 7LQ

www.daseaman.org.uk 33

Boots by Abarca (ÂŁ250) LINGS COUNTRY GOODS | Great Massingham 01485 520828 00

KLmagazine November 2012

The style, elegance, and sophistication of Goddards Buying Christmas gifts for him and her and them can all be achieved in a single visit. David Learner finds a warm welcome and free parking on Wellesley Street in King’s Lynn ...

G

ary Tillott has just introduced me to Anatomic Gel. Brazilian style and South American chic set out to impress me in the shoe department but he warns me about trying them. “Once they’re on, you’ll buy them,” he says.

Gary and I are here to talk about Christmas gifts and the myriad range at Goddards.

From Ralph Lauren it’s the gift-boxed socks in multi-purpose colour ways for every occasion and from Hugo Boss it’s the sophistication of leather wallets and leather wash bags. Ted Baker: fragrances for him and her, and the scents and sense of Christmas to

complement perfectly the designer’s handbags and purses.

It’s Hugo Boss and Ibex for belts; a choice of styles and colours to suit any … well, suit. It used to be that belts were somehow seen as the poorer younger brother of the fashion world: something you knew existed but didn’t care to talk about, let alone give someone. Those days are gone and the smell of leather on Christmas Day is as welcome as the aroma of the perfectly cooked turkey. And let’s face it, only one of those will fit easily into a Christmas stocking.

Toiletries, always welcome, always luxurious, are provided by Nougat; the ever classic Barbour accessories include scarfs, hats and handbags; a dazzling range of costume jewellery is set out to please and delight. Going home for Christmas is going home to Goddards.

Weekender bags by Gianni Conti look and feel wonderful, and

lastly Dents have been making gloves since 1777. Almost 250 years. Doesn’t that say that you care? I think so.

More than just a place to shop Goddard’s is a venue where the coffee’s always on and Christmas buying is a heaven on earth. Happy Goddards, everyone!

GODDARDS 1 Wellesley Street King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 1QD Tel: 01553 772382 | Web: www.goddardsonline.co.uk

KLmagazine November 2012

35

ABOVE: The interior of Mrs Jones in Holt – celebrating a third birthday, a new website and their very own brand of clothing

Me and Mrs Jones, we got a thing going on...

There’s cause for triple celebration in Holt. David Learner checks in to Mrs Jones and discovers a heck of a party in progress...

N

ell and Claire work together as a double act, their words tumbling over each other like champagne as they join in unison to tell me why they’re raising their glasses to their customers.

First, it’s their birthday! Mrs Jones opened its doors on Holt’s Fish Hill three years ago and the time has swept by like silk. The current array of luxurious clothing and designer labels is a spot removed from their original intentions.

“We’d planned that the shop should

36

be a lifestyle store, selling household items alongside clothes,” says Claire (or was it Nell?) “But a great Christmas crept into a cooler new year and we looked again at the space, and how best we could use it.”

The resulting change would transform it into Holt’s premier fashion destination, offering a sparkling array of jackets, shoes, jeans and accessories for an age range that starts youngish and doesn’t know the meaning of the word oldish.

Second, there’s a brand new website to talk about. The feel of 100%

cashmere can only be experienced by going into the Holt shop and touching the stunning range of knitwear that’s currently available in raspberry, black, grey and grape. V-neck, swing jumper, slouchy cowl neck or ballerina jumper, the experience is a memorable one.

“Ladies shop at night more,” says Nell (or was it Claire?) “Interruptions during the day are hard to ignore – at night there’s more room to breathe, and to enjoy browsing.”

Third, and this is the top, the Coliseum, the Louvre Museum, Mrs Jones is now a brand as well.

KLmagazine November 2012

“We were so proud when we saw it on the labels,” says NellnClaire. “Mrs Jones. That’s us.” To be truthful it really does look good and sits well with so many more labels in the shop – jeans are from Nobody, Paige and J Brand, pumps are by Pretty Ballerina, boots come from Ugg, bags are by Anya Hindmarch.

And the pair are finding new designers all the time to suit an audience that’s come from far and wide.

“Nothing too trendy though,” they say. “We choose items that are timeless and we’re passionate about supporting great design. As a destination store for the iPad generation we know that we’ve got to be worth the journey. We want our customers to feel at home and to know that they’ve had great personal service.”

Equipment, See by Chloe, D Exterior, Majestic – you’ll find them all vying for space. And there’s the unexpected too: the most delicate and ornate range of 18ct gold jewellery by Annina Vogel sparkles like the sun, and every piece is unique.

“Annina supplies Liberty and Selfridges. It’s fantasy and spectacle rolled into one.” And when you see Annina Vogel’s pieces adorning Helena Bonham-Carter, Jodie Foster or Nigella Lawson it’s easy to understand why her cluster and conversation necklaces, stud rings and charms, each one individually designed for its owner, have turned heads on catwalks and red carpets across the world.

Although there’s a Scottish connection that binds ClairenNell they’ve both come to love North Norfolk and share many years in the area. The Holt shop is a perfect location for their ambitions and for them to be able to show their zest for design, their love of good clothes and accessories together with their highest ideals for customer service. And when their customers have found them (and yes, if you stay long enough you really will hear Mrs Jones washing over you from the shop’s gentle musical soundtrack, handpicked to enhance the shopping experience) they know they’ll be back.

It’s that sort of shop; no pressure, no problem, no worries.

Three cheers for Mrs Jones! Third birthday, brand new website and their very own label. It doesn’t come much better than that.

MRS JONES 7 Fish Hill, Holt, Norfolk NR25 6BD Tel: 01263 715935 | Web: www.mrsjones.co.uk

KLmagazine November 2012

37

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Family butchers and local produce We’re now taking Christmas orders for our seasonal poultry, locally-reared beef and pork, and famous home-made pork pies. Plus! Don’t forget our bakery, award-winning deli and selection of wines!

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4 Wales Court, Downham Market PE38 9JZ Tel: 01366 388 377 Web: www.goddardsofnorfolk.co.uk

38

KLmagazine November 2012

FOOD & DRINK

Talking turkey

ABOVE: As far as James Rutland is concerned, it’s not Christmas without a Norfolk turkey

There really is nothing like a turkey for Christmas – especially if it comes from Norfolk. David Learner meets local butcher James Rutland to discover more...

I

t wouldn’t be Christmas without Norfolk. By Christmas Eve, almost 300 plumptious turkeys will have flown out of M&M Rutland in Melton Constable to homes across Norfolk and well beyond. While the traditional white is always popular for its big meat-to-bone ratio, it’s the free-range Norfolk Black that has stolen James Rutland’s heart.

“They’re slow growing,” he says, “with a more gamey flavour. They’re not as plump as the Bronze but the quality of meat is delicious with a real depth to it.

It’s the superstar of the turkey world.”

Foraging is essential for the growth of the bird, and the suppliers that M&M Rutland have been using for the past 30 years share the same high standards, using only top quality feed and a lot of cosseting.

James Rutland’s own love of

KLmagazine November 2012

Christmas extends to a homemade bread sauce (traditionally made by his Dad for the family meal on Christmas Day) and M&M Rutland will happily offer a range of accompaniments to complete the setting – pigs in blankets, scrumptious stuffings created from chestnut, ginger, cranberries, and alltime-favourite sausage meat.

The giblets will accompany the bird which has been rough plucked and hung for eight to ten days before being dressed and prepared for the customer.

“Giblet gravy,” says James, and admittedly he’s salivating a bit now.

“The giblets include the heart, liver and neck – and they really can’t be substituted by a packet of gravy powder.”

And while there’s duck, or goose, chicken or beef nothing really says turkey like Christmas.

1 2 3

Turkeys have walked the earth for 10 million years. And walking is probably the right word for it.

The domesticated turkey originated in Mexico in the 16th century – it was decided not to call it a Mexico.

Turkeys were introduced into Britain in 1526 by William Strickland from Yorkshire. He sold them for 2d (a little under 1p). He did not sell them with Yorkshire pudding. Missed a trick.

It’s suggested the turkey may have acquired its name from its call: turkturk-turk.

An average turkey has around 5,500 feathers and weighs around twelve pounds (5.5kg in new money).

You can hear a turkey a mile away, especially if it’s being eaten by a noisy diner.

A wild turkey can live as long as five years, if they can run that fast.

Before the turkey appeared, Christmas fare traditionally included swan, pheasant and peacock. These weren’t famous for running fast either.

87% of people in the UK enjoy a turkey at Christmas, after which nobody runs at all.

At the last Heaviest Turkey Competition held in the UK, the winner tipped the scales at a whopping 86lbs (39kg). It walked, but not a lot.

4 5 6 7 8

9 10

39

FOOD & DRINK INGREDIENTS Tiramisu 6 egg yolks 4 egg whites 175g sugar 350g mascarpone cheese 125ml fresh cream 3 cups of strong coffee (cooled) 120ml marsala wine 90ml Kahlua 48 sponge fingers Dark chocolate for grating as garnish Strawberries 12 strawberries, cut in half 1/3 cup marsala wine 1 tbsp sugar

The expert guide to making a perfect

Tiramisu Prep: 33 minutes Cook: 10 minutes (and three hours to set) Serve: 8

CHEF’S NOTES

RECIPE: Paul Hegeman PHOTO: Jason Hamilton

nt you ’s available at almost every restaura Tiramisu is one of those dishes that int. ppo disa n ofte availability means it can visit – but this same widespread -andtried this find ’ll you k lime – and I thin Fortunately, when it’s good it’s sub es, stick dish sic clas to es com it n whe in that tested recipe is perfect. Proof aga es! niqu tech sic clas with m x 33cm are or rectangular dish about 20c For this recipe, you’ll need a squ the k brea ly simp , ings serv al e individu (8x13 inches). If you’d rather mak p 5) and smaller sizes before soaking (ste ly iate ropr app into ers fing sponge ls. vidual glasses or bow prepare in the same way but in indi

40

METHOD Tiramisu 1 Add the egg yolks and half the sugar to mixer bowl and whisk on high speed until light and creamy (about two minutes).

2 Add the mascarpone cheese and mix on medium speed, until just combined, then add the cream and whisk for approximately two minutes until thick and creamy. Transfer to a large bowl and whisk. Clean the mixing bowl .

3 Pour the egg whites into the clean mixing bowl and whisk on high speed until soft peaks (about one minute).

Continue whisking, and slowly add the remaining sugar one tablespoon at a time. Continue whisking until stiff peaks (about one minute) 4 Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold half the egg whites into the cream mixture in the large bowl. Once they’re combined, fold through the remaining egg whites.

5 Add the marsala and Kahlua to the coffee, and soak the sponge fingers in the coffee mix one at a time for a few seconds – drain and arrange in the dish.

6 Once one layer of biscuits is completed, spread on an even layer of the cream mixture, and then place another layer of soaked biscuits on the cream before topping with a final layer of the cream. Smooth and garnish with some freshly-grated chocolate, and then set in the fridge for at least three hours.

Strawberries 1 Dissolve the sugar in the marsala in a saucepan over a low flame and bring to the boil.

2 Add the strawberries, and once they’re vibrant and bright red, strain them and allow to cool.

3 Return the liquid to the stove, reduce until syrupy, add the strawberries and serve with the tiramisu.

KLmagazine November 2012

Christmas Parties Choice of Menus from: £16.95 or £21.95 per person A choice of menus are available however we request that only one menu be used for the whole party booking.

Christmas Day Lunch The Crown Hotel, Ship Hotel, Crown Inn & Kings Head 5 Course Traditional Menu starting with Sparkles & Canapés £75.00 per adult / £20.00 per child (up to 12yrs) The White Hart 4 course Christmas Menu £39.95 per adult / £15.00 per child (up to 12yrs)

New Years Eve The Crown Hotel, Ship Hotel, Crown Inn 6 Course Menu starting with Sparkles & Canapés Entertainment & Dancing New Year Toast £79.95 per person The White Hart 4 Course Menu Entertainment & Dancing £39.95 per person The King’s Head Available for exclusive hire Please ask for more details

CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR 2012

Friends & Family Tailor Made Package The Crown Inn Pick parts from either the Christmas or New Years Eve packages to suit your individual needs and requirements.

Tel: Ϭϭϰϴϱ ϱϮϴϬϰϴപപŝŶĨŽΛĨůLJŝŶŐŬŝǁŝŝŶŶƐ͘ĐŽ͘ƵŬപപǁǁǁ͘ĨůLJŝŶŐŬŝǁŝŝŶŶƐ͘ĐŽ͘ƵŬ

പപ പപ DESIGNER CONTEMPORARY AND TRADITIONAL KITCHENS

Professionals such as builders, developers and interior designers regularly choose Style Kitchens to give their projects maximum impact. For personal service that’s second to none, the highest quality at an affordable price, there’s nothing quite like a Style kitchen. Designed by experts specially for you and your home.

9 High Street, King’s Lynn t: 01553 767519 w: www.stylek.co.uk

KLmagazine November 2012

41

FOOD & DRINK

RestaurantReview

On the recommendation of several readers, and with an appetite suitably whetted, David Learner visits The Berney Arms at Barton Bendish...

A

rriving in Barton Bendish when it’s dark means you need to trust your SatNav. Off the beaten track, the lights of the Berney Arms are welcome and it was a real surprise to find a bursting car park on a Wednesday evening.

Sweeping trees, paths and borders are all lit with subtlety. The entrance lobby gives a view of what to expect: décor, finish and ambience are all designed with care. The bar area is smallish – but given that the Arms is here to offer food, the fact that more space is given over to room for tables is as it should be, and those tables (comfortable, low and setteed in the bar area) give way to more opulent and decorous ones in several rooms leading past the kitchen and out into unexpected areas. That means there’s a detachment between diners. Could there be more cosiness?

There’s a very inexpensive table d’hote menu offering a set menu with plenty of local choice. A la carte found Jane a Pan Seared Mackerel Fillet with Apple and Sultana compote to start and Smoked Haddock and Prawn Gratin with a Norfolk Dapple crust for myself.

Both were cooked to precision; the 42

Norfolk Dapple was a cheese new to me and its delicate but vibrant flavour brought out the best in the haddock and prawn. A crumbled cracker topping was a first too.

Of the eight main courses on offer there was a single vegetarian option. As a main dish Jane opted for the Surf and Turf Ribeye Steak with Chilli, Ginger, and Lime King Prawns served with sweet potato wedges. Although the ribeye was replaced with a sirloin, it was cooked with panache and the balancing flavours worked splendidly in a luscious dish.

I chose the Chinese braised Pork Belly with New Potatoes, Pak Choi and a dark Plum Sauce. It crackled and melted and its tastes blended effortlessly. Modestly steamed seasonal vegetables were served on the side.

Jane’s sticky toffee pudding rounded off her meal superbly and the glass of Merlot I chose for the Berney Arms’ house selection was a good one but possibly a little warm. It was good to see a selection of Norfolk cheeses made available.

For style, content and pleasure the Berney Arms scores high; its clientele appeared to be a regular one and the welcome is as warm as any you’ll find.

It’s also good to know that the Arms offers five rooms to enable an overnight stay between Downham Market and Swaffham.

For visitors to either, or indeed further afield, it means that an excellent meal can be accompanied by somewhere calm to rest in the blanket darkness of a Norfolk night.

FOOD

9

SERVICE

VALUE

9 9 10 10 10

THE BERNEY ARMS Church Road, Barton Bendish, Norfolk PE33 9GF Tel: 01366 347995 Web: www.theberneyarms.co.uk

KLmagazine November 2012

CafeReview T

ucked alongside the village green and shopping heart of Burnham Market, Lucy’s quaint exterior hides a secret – as far as I’m concerned it’s one of best tea rooms in Norfolk.

We arrived on a blustery Sunday in October en-route to Burnham Overy Staithe for a bracing walk, and were met with smiles and a friendly welcome. Lucy’s is comfortable, light and airy, there’s plenty of seating upstairs, and the walls are hung with local art (which is available to buy).

We were given a drinks menu and told that on Sundays, the sandwich and soup options are listed on a board, with the large range of delicious cakes and scones temptingly displayed nearby.

During the week, the menu offers a wider choice including breakfasts and Ploughman’s – and there’s usually a special too.

You’ll notice before you order that Lucy’s is a cash-only tearoom, which didn’t present us with a problem and it’s helpfully prominent on the menus.

I decided on a fruit scone cream tea, while my walking companion opted for a cheese sandwich and coffee.

A simple cheese sandwich might not

appear too exciting, but Lucy’s could offer a masterclass in making one. It was generously filled, the cheese had just the right strength, and the bread was simply outstanding – as though it had been taken from the oven a few minutes earlier.

It comes as no suprise to learn that all cakes, scones and bread are baked on the premises, and you can certainly taste the difference.

My fruit scone was lovely, being fresh, sweet and genuinely tasty – with proper clotted cream, and a good helping of rich, locally-made raspberry jam.

My friend was so impressed with the sandwich they decided to try a slice of the coffee and walnut cake (and asked for two forks). The sizeable piece of cake was delightfully fresh, with a real coffee taste and a generous helping of walnuts. The good news for home bakers is that if you’d like to try some of the recipes for yourself, you’ll find a selection of cookery books by Margaret Bacon (of Baconsthorpe Tearoom

fame) available to buy from Lucy’s – although you’d have to be pretty good to beat the quality on offer here.

Our lunch was £12.40, a very small price to pay for such a memorable lunch and must-go-again discovery.

LUCY’S TEA ROOMS Market Place, Burnham Market, Norfolk PE31 8HF Telephone: 01328 730908

A total refresh.

Top quality European bathrooms.

Designed to take your breath away.

From traditional to ultra modern.

Exceptionally stylish kitchens.

Truly luxurious bedrooms.

Famous-name appliances.

Free design and quotations.

Professional in-house fitters.

Nelson House, Bergen Way King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 2JH telephone: 01553 766578 www.towncountrykitchens.com

K I T C H E N S KLmagazine November 2012

B E D R O O M S

&

B A T H R O O M S 43

FOOD & DRINK

LocalTastes Selected by David Learner

M

ustard has been here since the Romans, and Norfolk is now famous all over the world for producing one of the best (and most recognisable) varieties. But if you’d like to try something a bit different for your cold meats and hot dogs, here’s four we’ve sampled – and they’re all well worth a try!

LAVENDER & BASIL MUSTARD Norfolk Lavender (01485 570384) What could more local than the coming together of lavender and mustard? It might sound the most unlikely of combinations, but this has a tasty yet mild flavour that’s perfect with ham.

HONEY PORTER MUSTARD Norfolk & Suffolk Speciality Foods (01986 780902) A delightfully sweet and sour idea that’s made from over 50% Honey Porter from St Peter’s Brewery in North Suffolk. Absolutely lovely taste and simply made for strong cheese.

LAVENDER & RUM MUSTARD Norfolk Lavender (01485 570384) Back to Heacham’s finest now, with a bit of a kick thrown in for good measure. This is a fairly hot mustard and you can really taste the rum. Brilliant with milder cheeses.

GARLIC & HERB MUSTARD Norfolk & Suffolk Speciality Foods (01986 780902) Possibly our favourite ‘alternative’ mustard, this is made from lightly crushed seeds rather than milled flour, and the generous flavouring of the garlic and herbs make it delighful with pickles. Top notch.

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KLmagazine November 2012

C’est fantastique!

FRENCH NIGHTS: Nov 21st, 22nd & 23rd Menus available online

THE HARE ARMS Traditional Country Pub & Restaurant

10% OFF MENU PRICE FOR PARTIES OF 6 OR MORE! We’re filling up for Christmas already so book your party now: don’t miss out!

Lynn Road, Stow Bardolph King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE34 3HT Telephone: 01366 382229 Website: www.theharearms.co.uk

e

Old Coach House THORNHAM

Complimentary bottle of Wine: Order 2 of our fine quality steaks and receive a complimentary bottle of wine (Mon-Sun, 12noon–9.30pm).

Any wine from our list to the value of £20.

Buy One Get One Free Pizza Night: Cheapest Pizza is free! Also available on takeaway pizzas. Available ursdays from 6pm–9.30pm.

Fish and Chips – 2 for £10: Available Mondays from 6pm–9.30pm and also available on takeaway Fish and Chips.

1 Night Stay £99: Includes full English breakfast and 3-course dinner.

Available Sunday to ursday.

Old Coach House, ornham Norfolk PE36 6LY Tel: 01485 512229 E-mail: info@oldcoachhousethornham.com Web: www.oldcoachhousethornham.com

Dining out Eat, drink & stay...

CHRISTMAS MENU NOW AVAILABLE! A traditional village inn offering luxury accommodation and scrumptious meals – all freshly cooked using only the very best local produce! Make your booking now!

THE

BERNEY ARMS

Church Road Barton Bendish Norfolk PE33 9GF

Tel: 01366 347995

www.theberneyarms.co.uk

If you’re eating out locally, here’s a selection of great places to try...

the village

Deli th rnham

café and store

Open Daily Extensive menu Children’s play area Lovely location Plenty of parking Telephone: (01485) 512194 Email: villagedelithornham@gmail.com

Boutique Hotel with Superb Restaurant

NEW á la carte MENU at Turner’s Restaurant

5% Off all food and drink with this advertisement No photocopies accepted

A fantastic new MENU with lots of healthy and vegetarian options!

5-6 Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn PE30 1JS Tel: 01553 774996 E-mail: reception@dukesheadhotel.com Web: www.dukesheadhotel.com

KLmagazine November 2012

DUKES HEAD HOTEL

The Kings Head

H O T E L Great Bircham, Kings Lynn PE31 6RJ Tel 01485 578265 Web www.the-kings-head-bircham.co.uk

45

The Hythe, Bridge Road, Downham Market

www.charmed-interiors.co.uk

Deck the Halls...

Christmas Stock Now In! TEAROOMS *,)76 +20(:$5(6 '(&25$7,216

Don’t forget to ‘plaice’ your orders for Christmas now! l Brancaster mussels now available! l Plus! Tuna and Swordfish l Fresh and smoked salmon l Brancaster oysters l Fresh game – pheasants, mallards and partridges l Free range eggs l Hand-carved ham on the bone

Plus!

Extensive delicatessen counter with top quality cheeses and olives from home and abroad!

D NALDS NS A fresh taste of the sea

Austin Fields, King’s Lynn | Tel: 01553 772241 OPEN: Tues/Wed 7am-4pm, urs/Fri 7am-5pm, Sat 7am-3pm

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KLmagazine November 2012

Getting ready for your best Christmas ever!

11 pages to get you in the Festive spirit!

KLmagazine November 2012

00

> Christmas

Xmas wining, dining and a bit of shining!

Christmas is about looking good, feeling good and doing good.

Kitty Leach kicks her Kurt Geigers in our direction to remind us to check that hemline before we head out into the night

T

here’s just so much we can blame Dickens for. By the time he popped off at 58 he’d brought us Oliver Twist, Scrooge and more rogues than you can shake a plum pudding at.

But let it be boldly stated that it was his 1843 novella A Christmas Carol that started all the Happy Christmas everyone thing that’s had us cavorting on the streets ever since – when actually all we’d really like to do is to close the door and turn on EastEnders.

On the other hand, it’s all so fab! As

48

soon as I meet up with Aggie after the festive season she always reminds me about the huge embarrassment that was the office Christmas party.

I mean, I couldn’t possibly have known that he was the MD’s son, or that my orange juice had been spiked with enough tequila to keep a horse quiet for a week. So she suggested I share with you some tips about how to make the best of the night, rather than have to apologise to everyone via the office intranet because your MD has only just now heard the whole story,

and in particular the bit about the imaginative use of the tinsel. Hmm...

I’m still not sure, you know. I could swear it was untied when I locked him in the stationery cupboard, but hey.

Right, here goes. How to perform at Christmas parties by Kitty Leach, who should know better.

DONT DRINK TOO MUCH I mean durr, that’s obvious isn’t it? But the problem arises when you suddenly find yourself offering an uncalled for declaration of love, or turning round to

KLmagazine November 2012

> Christmas

Gorgeous new jewellery for gorgeous gifts...

Blatchford & Mills Jewellers | Pawnbrokers | Cheque Cashing

KLmagazine November 2012

6 Tower Street, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 1EJ Telephone: 01553 661227

49

> Christmas

see the boss when your tongue has been loosened just enough to find there are lots of words beginning with B, all of which relate to him.

The point about the office Christmas party is that it’s the annual opportunity to unwind and discover who else works for your company. Soft drinks are available, I promise you. I should know; I probably brought them. After last time...

DON’T TALK ABOUT WORK The weird thing about the once-a-year party is that all of a sudden you realise you don’t know the first thing about the person you’re crushed into a corner with. This is especially true when they’ve come as Fred Flintstone and it’s not a fancy dress event.

Say the right thing. Ask them about themselves – simple rule. That way you have the perfect reason to be able to slide gently away when they start talking about the operation.

FLIRT AT YOUR OWN RISK Was it in Accounts that you met them?

Or was that someone else? The issue with flirting is that you may be sending out the wrong message. Now, it’s entirely possible that was your intention all along – but either way it’s tacky and really should be avoided. Why should two people, slung together for just three hours at the expense of someone else’s drinks bill, even be talking to each other, let alone getting a little heavier?

Don’t do it. It’s silly.

KNOW WHEN TO GO Oh Aggie, you’re so right on that one.

Michelle tells me of the time she announced she was calling for a cab and would anyone else like to share.

Sad to report that the only person who said yes was the person she’d tried to avoid all evening and who now had definitely had one too many to be able

50

KLmagazine November 2012

> Christmas

Handmade and unique gifts from around the world.

Pip Studio Disaster Designs Nougat East of India Umbra Bill Brown Lick the spoon Heathcote & Ivory Wedding Gifts Christmas Gifts Christening Gifts

Whatever the occasion, we’ve got the perfect present!

24 Broad Street, King’s Lynn PE30 1DP

telephone: 01553 777770

NOW OPEN NEW: SHOP ONLINE AT www.thaxters.co.uk New products being added daily!

& % % ! %$ !# ! ' (

)

" $ # " $ $ !# % $ - Indoor, Outdoor & LED Christmas Lights - Life-size Father Christmas - Animations - Artificial & Fibre Optic Christmas Trees - Real Christmas Trees (available early December) - Christmas Village Scenes

49 Hunstanton Road, Dersingham, King’s Lynn PE31 6NA Telephone: 01485 541514 Open from 8-6 daily

KLmagazine November 2012

51

> Christmas

ABOVE: Enjoying the tantalising tastes of Christmas with family and friends has got to be one of the year’s major highlights

to see clearly. She wriggled out of the offer, thank goodness, but all you need do is remember where you left your coat and head to it.

Don’t attract attention. Don’t tell anyone. Just go.

WHERE TO GO, JO? Typically, it seems to me that the person who shouts loudest is heard first. Or something. So when the question is asked about where we should go, do something for me – speak loudest. And please, please let your idea be an original one that nobody’s come up with before and isn’t the same as last year (or the year before) because you can bet your handbag that if you come up with an

52

award-winning idea you’ll be the toast of your mates for ages and ages.

Hotels are great! They do some really brilliant packages around Christmas and the cannier ones have been barking on about their deals since September.

Online. But there’s the rub: how do you know which of your online choices is the best one or offers the best rate or is going to suit everyone? Top tip: do some research, away from the office, in a quiet moment, preferably with a chilled glass of Chardonnay and audition your online choices away from prying eyes. Everyone’s got a view.

That’s fine, but this is your idea, it’s a little cracker and you’re going to claim the Brownie points for it.

Trip Advisor’s a good place to start.

The brightest places have got links from their home pages anyway so it could happen that your chosen venue, chosen even from the pages of this august little magazine, has already got its fans. And fans like to tell other fans about the brilliant time they had at such and such a hotel and then discover that 490 other fans have already told other fans that it’s a great place to go, and that’s the way it goes. Virally speaking.

But beware. There are people who snitch and put stuff on the internet that

isn’t true and they don’t mean a word of it.

So why not check the place in advance? Advance planning. It’s so easy. Slip down there with a friend well before you’re due to go and suss it out.

Is this the sort of place everyone would enjoy? You’ll get a pretty good idea as soon as you head inside, and when you’ve tasted their Rioja you might well have made your mind up.

And if you’re convinced this is the place, walk away and do the same all over again somewhere else, just to be sure.

Isn’t November just a little late for all this, Kitty, I hear you ask. Not a bit. If somewhere’s good because it caters for large parties, or has theme nights, or is close to the airport then that’s why they’re booked up. There are still gems out there, and once again you’ll find many of them in the pages of KL magazine.

I know because I care, darling.

OMG WHAT TO WEAR – AGAIN! Remember the Fred Flintstone guy?

Can I suggest that you don’t suggest a theme to your party that means that everyone has to go dressed as cricket bats, or turtledoves, or pear trees. It’s

KLmagazine November 2012

> Christmas O N E

O F

N O R F O L K ’ S

H I D D E N

G E M S

PLATFORM 1

THE RAILWAY ARMS DOWNHAM MARKET Featured in CAMRA’s e Good Beer Guide: 2011, 2012 and 2013 3rd place in CAMRA’s East Anglian Region: Cider Pub of the Year 2012 Featured on Michael Portillo’s TV programme Great British Railway Journeys Don’t forget our Cafe is also open: From 0530 Monday to Friday, from 0745am Saturday

T I M E T A B L E Mon-Wed ursday Friday Saturday Sunday

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Opening times are subject to change – please check online at www.railway-arms.co.uk or call 01366 386636 AWA R D - W I N N I N G

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KLmagazine November 2012

53

> Christmas

ABOVE: Just the two of you – it’s the perfect number (but don’t forget to leave a glass for Santa!)

not funny and it’s not clever.

Yes, you can get Shaun the Sheep costumes and Borat costumes and Luke Skywalker costumes and with the Hobbit movie coming out in December I’m afraid there’s going to be just a few invitations to Middle Earth parties and therefore a ready supply of Bilbo costumes. Do you want to go to one?

And do you want to stage one?

If the answer to either of those questions is no then consider seriously whether it’s something you want to inflict on your nearest and dearest.

The little black number is perfect.

Those Jimmy Choos you bought but never wore are dying for an outing and you’re about to embark on just that outing.

And if suddenly the Jimmies don’t go with the little black number after all but deserve something just a little more special then go for it.

Christmas is a time for giving, and more often than not we tend to forget that we didn’t give ourselves anything. Find an excuse to splash out. It’s really not that hard, I promise you, particularly when you find yourself slavering at some of the advertisers who’ve asked

54

for your attention in KL magazine.

And you know where they are because they’re local. You’ve always intended to go in there, or it’s a perfect shop already and the upcoming Christmas bash is just the occasion to say go hang and buy something that people will go wow and want to die for.

Because you’re worth it. Did I say that..?

JUST A BITE THEN...

Of course the whole party thing maybe isn’t you. Maybe you’re looking for somewhere more intimate, more cosy, more log fire and Downton Abbey

butler’s pantry. They’re there, you know, these tucked away places that will seat five at a stretch and will offer you an evening to remember that you’ll discover is absolutely the best way of celebrating with a group of friends, or family, that you’ve got on with forever and who you now want to share one fantastic, special occasion with.

Look deep and look hard. Don’t book somewhere that shouts once a year but one that’s been gently coaxing you for far longer.

That pub on the coast you’ve always meant to try, that silly hotel where the owner looks a bit like Basil Fawlty or that restaurant that went just a little bit further when they discovered it was your wedding anniversary and still didn’t mind when you threw wine at the cat by accident.

Because Christmas is forever and we all have the chance to turn our special occasion into a midwinter gem that’ll be the toast of memories and laughter well into the new year and probably far far beyond.

Darlings, have a wonderful Christmas, won’t you, wherever you end up.

And tell them Kitty sent you.

KLmagazine November 2012

> Christmas

,,( ,3 ,. &.'/0* / ICE! SPECIAL BUFFET PR n rso pe r pe .95 Only ÂŁ19 ek (available 7 days a we r) 1st to 30th Decembe

Save 10% on your Christmas booking!

We’re now busy taking bookings for Christmas, and if you book before Friday November 30th (only £10 deposit required), you won’t only enjoy the very best in modern Chinese cuisine, you’ll also receive a fantastic 10% OFF! Make this your tastiest Christmas ever at the region’s premier Chinese restaurant!

DON’T FORGET! You can view our menus online and join us on Facebook and Twitter

John Kennedy Road, King’s Lynn PE30 2AA Telephone: 01553 773288 Web: www.pearlriverkingslynn.com

HAIR & BEAUTY SALON all welcome

Treat yourself and be ready for the party season!

Wash and blow dry and Jessica Geleration nails and receive a FREE file and paint for your toes

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ÂŁ30.00 URBAN SPRAYTAN For a realistic tan that is available in various colours that can be adapted to your skin tone and gives you a beautiful tan in minutes.

Special offer of ÂŁ18.00 Normal price ÂŁ26.00

Treat yourself to an Elemis advanced facial and receive a FREE back massage

ÂŁ42.00

Proprietor: Michelle Firth South Beach Road, Hunstanton Tel: 01485 536028 | Free Car Parking

KLmagazine November 2012

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> Christmas XXXXXXXXX

local

The 12 days of Christmas David Learner suggests a few ways to keep the entire family happy for a couple of hours while you concentrate on wrapping your Secret Santa presents...

THURSFORD CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR 9th November to 23rd December. With a cast of more than 100 performers, it’s a world-renowned pageant of spectacle and colour.

There’s also the Thursford Collection of steam engines and organs and Santa’s Magical Journey into Christmas. See www.thursford.com for details

SANDRINGHAM CHRISTMAS CRAFT, FOOD AND GIFT FAIR 23rd–25th November.

Artists, designers, potters, wood turners, textiles, floral arrangements, jewellery and more food and wine than you can shake a turkey at. Gifts for all occasions and plenty of time to finish off your Christmas Shopping. See www. livingheritagecontemporarycrafts.co.uk

NORTH NORFOLK RAILWAY Specific dates from 1st–24th December.

Santa Special steam trains travel between Sheringham and Weybourne and return. Professional entertainers, great presents, sherry and mince pies and loads of fun to the sounds of steam. For full details, see www.nnrailway.co.uk

BURNHAM DEEPDALE CHRISTMAS MARKET Entertainment, 50 stalls, activities and just possibly Father Christmas too.

Festive cheer on the North Norfolk coast, well away from the queues at the shops, and Christmas presents and decorations, food and drink. December 1st–2nd (10am-4pm). www.deepdalechristmasmarket.co.uk

CHRISTMAS AT HOLKHAM HALL December 1st–2nd and 8th–9th (11am-5pm). See the hall dressed for Christmas, meet the Victorian characters, story-telling, dancing, carol singing and tales from Christmas past. Father Christmas will welcome the children. For full details see www.holkham.co.uk

ALADDIN AT THE KING’S LYNN CORN EXCHANGE From December 7th–31st. Widow Twankey wants a husband, evil Abanazaar (Todd Carty) wants the magic lamp, Aladdin wants adventure and WisheeWashee wants a clean vest. Anyone got a Genie? For details and tickets, see www.kingslynncornexchange.co.uk

KING’S LYNN ARTS CENTRE: THE BIGGER PICTURE Runs until 1st December in the Fermoy Gallery. Once more local artists are invited to show their colours and join together to recreate a new piece without knowing the identity of the picture until the big reveal at the Opening event. Different, original, striking and free to get in! See www.kingslynnarts.co.uk

HOLT CHRISTMAS LIGHTS Enticing electrics! The loveliness of the town is pointed up and framed by thousands of fairytale lights – gables, gutters and roofs of buildings, around a myriad of enticing windows and in both the live deciduous trees and the spectacular Christmas trees.

21st November at 6:45pm. See www.holtchristmaslights.org.uk

PEDDARS WAY Open 365 days a year and admission is free. At Holme the Peddars Way meets the Norfolk Coast Path as it runs from Hunstanton to Cromer. It’s a fantastic way to see land and sea and the best of our North Norfolk both. Work off that pudding the easy way! For details, see www.nationaltrail.co.uk/PeddarsWay

DENVER SLUICE Not immediately shouting as somewhere to explore this Christmas but well worth a visit!

The history of the Ouse Washes and the setting for Dorothy L Sayers ‘The Nine Tailors’, a meal at the Jenyns Arms, and you can even tuck in an opportunity to shop at Denver Mill!

See www.denvermills.co.uk for details

SWAFFHAM ARTS The ever-popular Ely Sinfonia visits Swaffham Parish Church on Saturday 24th November with a brilliant preChristmas concert to include Brahms, Elgar, Samuel Barber’s stirring Adagio and a slice of Mozart. There’s even a touch of The Thieving Magpie! See www.elysinfonia.co.uk

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LIVING NATIVITY IN WELLS Follow the characters around the town as they find somewhere to stay this Christmas. It’s just one of a series of events including an illuminated procession with fireworks to welcome Father Christmas and a bustling market for last-minute presents. For dates and details, see www.wellschristmastide.org.uk

KLmagazine November 2012

LOCAL LIFE

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KLmagazine November 2012

ABOVE: Christmas tree festivals bring out the best in people’s imaginations – and they’re becoming ever more popular

The best of our local Christmas tree festivals Christmas Tree Festivals are becoming more and more popular.

David Learner looks at Fakenham’s inspiring example and a new one at St Faith’s in Gaywood, the new star on the top of the tree...

D

uring the 11-year history of the Fakenham Church Christmas Tree Festival the event has raised a staggering £300,000 for charity. The coaches come from far and wide, many of them making a special detour on their way to the Thursford Christmas Spectacular. The Festival was the first to be established in Norfolk and during its first year saw 30 trees decorated and displayed – now the total is closer to 90.

25,000 people visited last year.

Entrance is free but visitors are enticed to bring a bag of coins to share out among the charity trees of their choice.

Last year that loose coinage raised almost £26,000 for charities. There are refreshments and a gift stall as well as a

KLmagazine November 2012

tombola and prize draw; there are toilet facilities and there’s a baby changing unit; but the true stars are the wonderfully decorated and imaginative trees that have taken so many hours to create.

The smell of pine leaves and the scent of Christmas is overwhelming, and many have said that for them it marks the start of Advent and the runup to Christmas. It’s also a reminder that the humble spruce owes as much to a pagan celebration of midwinter as it does to the birth of Christ.

Adrian Bell, Fakenham’s Rector, reckons he’s worked out why the Festival continues to go from strength to strength.

“The key to its success is that there’s no charge for entry,” he says. “The

Festival takes place on a single level so it’s easy to navigate for all ages, particularly for those with restricted movement.”

Planning for the event goes on all year and costs around £5,000 to stage, and every year either Anglia TV or the BBC have covered the Festival. Adrian’s personal highlight was watching the BBC’s evening weather forecast being beamed live from inside the church as the visitors watched.

Prosaically, while Adrian’s best advice is that coaches should book in advance, access is fully available to passers-by as well as the seasoned visitor.

“As the evening approaches,” says Adrian, “the Festival becomes a truly magical sight.”

Meanwhile in Gaywood Richard Parr

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ABOVE: Whether you visit Fakenham or Gaywood, be prepared to be amazed at how local people and businesses decorate their trees – just remember to take your camera!

is getting into the party spirit as St Faith’s Church starts to celebrate its very first venture into the world of the Christmas Tree Festival. The event will be officially opened by Sir Jeremy Bagge of Stradsett Hall. St Faith's churchwarden Richard and a small organising team have been working on the Festival since January. Richard says he’s been delighted with the enthusiastic response from those wanting to be involved.

“St Faith’s is a popular church,” he says, “where Anglican and Methodists worship together. We can expect to see the church filled with more than 20 trees of varying heights, all beautifully decorated by church groups and by Gaywood school pupils.”

Two evening concerts form part of the Festival. The first of these, a variety show on November 30th, will feature local singers and musicians. The Bishop of Lynn, the Rt Rev Jonathan Meyrick (who has previously appeared on ITV’s Stars in Their Eyes) is due to appear –

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together with well-known Lynn leading lady, Amanda Arterton. The second concert will see the King’s Lynn Town Band performing a concert in the beautiful church.

The Rector of St Faith’s, Canon Beryl Wood, is equally delighted at the way plans for the Festival have developed.

“It’s a new and exciting venture for St Faith’s” she says. “We hope that church members and people from the wider community will come along and celebrate the Christmas Tree Festival with us. It’s wonderful that church groups and local schools have shown enthusiasm in wanting to take part.”

Gaywood artist Helena Anderson has donated an original watercolour painting depicting the southern side of the church in a winter landscape which will be the main prize in a draw but once again, the trees get top billing as their leaves point the way to Christmas and to a broader festival of hope and peace on a beautiful earth.

FAKENHAM PARISH CHURCH holds its 12th Christmas Tree Festival from Thursday 29th November to Thursday 6th December – every day from 10am8pm. More details from the Festival Office on 01328 862268 or from the Festival’s official website at www.fakenhamparishchurch.org.uk ST FAITH’S CHURCH GAYWOOD opens its very first Christmas Tree Festival on Thursday 29th November and it runs until Monday 3rd December. Admission is free, and opening times and concert tickets are available by contacting the church office on 01553 774916 (Mon-Fri 9am-12noon). More details can be found on the church’s own website at www.stfaithsgaywoodlep.org.uk

KLmagazine November 2012

FAKENHAM

D STANDARD GOL

NEXT RACE MEETINGS Tuesday 20th November | 1st race: 1.00pm Monday 10th December | 1st race: 1.00pm ADMISSION: Adults from £8 17 years and under (accompanied by adults) FREE

HARPLEY INTERIORS M UK ADE IN THE

6 Ravens Yard, Nethergate Street, Harpley, Norfolk PE31 6TN Garden Room at Wrought Iron and Brass Bed Co. Showroom open: Tuesday–Friday 10-4pm & Saturday 10-3pm

Fakenham Racecourse Ltd, The Racecourse Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 7NY T: 01328 862388 E: info@fakenhamracecourse.co.uk W: www.fakenhamracecourse.co.uk

01485 521823 www.wroughtironandbrassbed.co.uk

Have a Magical Christmas on us and enter our fantastic competition!

Just fill in the entry form below and bring it in-store!

Closing date for entries: 30th November 2012

FAKENHAM GARDEN CENTRE Mill Road, Hempton, Fakenham, Norfolk

Tel: 01328 863380

www.fakenhamgardencentre.co.uk KLmagazine November 2012

WIN £200! of Fakenham Garden Centre

Gift Vouchers

Name: E-mail: House name/number & Postcode: All entries must be brought in-store to Fakenham Garden Centre and not sent to KL magazine.

By entering this competition you agree to us using your information for our own use only.

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LOCAL LIFE

OUT & ABOUT

Holt & Letheringsett Pictures: Ian Ward Words: David Learner 62

KLmagazine November 2012

H

olt’s population of around 4,000 belies the number of visitors who see the Georgian town as a retreat from the 21st century and a destination in its own right. Ian Ward’s pictures show why. When its great fire of May 1st, 1708 dealt what could have been seen as a death blow to the town, the donations that flooded in from across the land showed their approval for the steady rebuilding, and handsome renaissance, of one of England’s architectural treasures.

Every brick and every corner tells a story, but while its ambience can appear restful and relaxed, its commercial heart ticks loud. From Norwich and London the shopping trippers come, knowing that its individual businesses, restaurants, hotels and shops have a serious intent in forcing us to realise we don’t need to venture far from our very own doorstep to find the unique and the unexpected.

With easy access to the North Norfolk coast, Holt offers that much sought-after bolthole that allows even the most casual of visitors the chance to stop a while and admire.

No wonder that some of the busiest trades in the town are its estate agents.

Shhh... don’t tell everyone now.

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Out & About

Holt & Letheringsett

W

hen the Domesday Book appeared, Letheringsett was known as Laringsteta. Its derivations are vague: possibly the name comes from a word meaning melody or sound, but maybe the Oxford Dictionary of Place Names is correct in calling it the “settlement of Leodhere’s people.”

The round tower of its church was initiated very soon afterwards, suiting admirably the shape of the pebbles that are so abundant in the area.

Letheringsett Mill is unique: it’s the only flour producing watermill in the county and regularly holds demonstrations and tours of the mill. That soft red stone dates back to 1802.

Bayfield Hall is a favourite among movie-makers – set in 120 acres of parkland and with a close proximity to the coast, it’s said that its splendour may have provided the inspiration for the architecture of Holkham Hall. And finally the King’s Head, renovated in 2007, offers latter-day cuisine and traditional comfort to the weariest of travellers.

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KLmagazine November 2012

BURNHAM MARKET PINE e best quality furniture for style and value

$ !

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ith a complete range of natural, painted, reclaimed and old pine furniture, Burnham Market Pine can make beautiful bespoke and occasional pieces for either inside or outside your home – at a size to suit your pocket. All items in stock can be bought o the floor or modified to your specification and taste – in a choice of waxed, hand-painted, OPENING HOURS spray-painted, lacquered or distressed Tues-urs 10:30am-5:30pm finishes.

Fri-Sat 10am-5:30pm Visit our extensive collection in our Sun 12pm-5pm Also open Mondays large warehouse now and discover the during school holidays beauty of Burnham Market Pine!

BURNHAM MARKET PINE Station Garage, Creake Road Burnham Market PE31 8EA Tel: 01328 738009/07917 202529 E-mail: info@burnhammarketpine.co.uk Web: www.burnhammarketpine.co.uk

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K I T C H E N S | B AT H R O O M S | B E D R O O M S | H O M E O F F I C E

Creating the rooms you love to live in Fine fitted furniture designed and built in our King’s Lynn factory

KLmagazine November 2012

K I N G ’ S LY N N 48 Bergen Way North Lynn Industrial Estate King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 2JG Telephone: 01553 762749 HUNSTANTON 2-4 Northgate Precinct (opposite Barclays/NatWest) Hunstanton, Norfolk PE30 2JG Telephone: 01485 543965

www.kingsoakkitchens.co.uk 65

As the holiday season finishes, all’s well that ends well, says Sandra Hohol of Norfolk Holiday Homes – but there’s still a lot of work to be done... ast month, I said there were many stories to tell and here are a few which are printable. A most irate man once informed me that a large, round, fat, cockroach had flown in through the window, hit him in the face and stuck to it!

He wanted pest control called in to fumigate the property and demanded that his family be transferred to alternative accommodation or their monies returned forthwith.

He wasn’t going to be placated in any way, even after I showed him my box of ‘exhibits’ containing various sizes of harmless Cockchafer Beetles (May/June bugs to those in the know!)

I had to call my Pest Control man to identify and name the culprit for him. Yes, the dopey old June Bug had struck again!

The family stayed on – with the bedroom windows shut at night and not a peep from them!

Spiders are the bane of city folks lives. I’m led to believe they only exist in the country as no one seems to have them in really built-up areas! Yes, they do appear overnight after a cleaner has been in, and even after a few hours they have the audacity to ascend slowly back into the corner of a room, looking over their shoulders no doubt!

And would you believe these harmless (albeit scary) creatures warrant a whole property being filthy dirty by the holiday occupant?! I’ve been asked to inspect

L

accommodations with spiders’ webs only to find the places spotless apart from a single daddy longlegs. These reports used to be rife at harvesting time. Strangely, I never hear a word about them now or any other insects since I mentioned them in our information pack...

Mice will also venture into holiday homes – most people have bought a trap with no fuss and let us know... now I can’t figure out why holiday tenants get more upset over spiders! Rats, Cluster Flies (the latter has an interesting and disgusting life cycle), fleas and wasps have all haunted me over the years. Fleas allegedly take the guise in the summer of those irritating little storm midges. I think it must be said that unless people have had a pet, they don’t know exactly what a flea looks like!

Adolescent rain beetles (another ‘cockroach’ story) were weaving their way across a lounge carpet. The upset tenant sped her way to my office where I had to point to our ‘polite policy’ notice in order for her to calm down. No words from me or my colleague until she’d got everything out of her system.

But what should she do about the infestation? Well, the pest control man verified what they were and told her to either kill them or put them outside, then stuff paper in their entrance so they couldn’t escape from the wall. These weren’t his exact words, but I’ve translated them for

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basis? Some insurance companies insist on weekly or monthly checks to windows, doors and heating to ensure everything is ok.

Winter is also a time when we at the office endeavour to get up-to-date on paperwork – even though there are still holidaymakers visiting for weekends and short breaks. Nothing stops, even though people have said to me they thought there was nothing to do once October half term was over, so was my job just seasonal!

Phone calls, websites, advertising, accounts, inspections, plus millions of diminutive jobs that keep us busy ready for the next busy onslaught in 2013 are all necessary.

We simply keep calm, smile and carry on!

inter is a time for holiday home maintenance. Cleaning out gutters, garden debris, painting and decorating, replacing furniture, and generally bringing everything inside and outside the holiday home up to par and ready for the next visitor.

Reservation dates for family and friends need to be decided and confirmed to agents. Cleaners need to be in place with full instructions for cleaning and laundry. Key information checked. Most importantly, if the property is to be empty for a long period, is there an ‘insurance’ system in place – will a caretaker/cleaner/agent double check that all’s well on a regular

Norfolk Holiday Homes 66

decency’s sake!

Sadly, I’ve learned a bit about insects over the years and I’ve learned a lot about people too! Psychology plays a big part where holidays are concerned, and I’m not divulging secrets into how to deal with incensed holidaymakers.

For some, having to tell them they can’t have the property/week they applied for is worse than informing someone of a death!

I’ve persuaded tearful regulars that just because their dog has passed away, this shouldn’t mean they have to cancel – anyway, cancellation insurance will not cover this angle!

After thirty two years, the dreaded situation had to happen. A holiday tenant died in situ. I was informed of the circumstances by the glazier whom I had instructed to go and repair a broken pane of glass... he returned to me rather swiftly with the sad news, postponing the job for another day!

Finally, I’ve had to retrieve many toys, medication, clothes and jewellery, and send them on to their forgetful owners, but the best was a personal and private object left in a bedside drawer. It was retrieved and posted back with the utmost discretion – but the lady never returned!

S

adly, like the summer, my writing has come to an end. I hope you’ve had an informal and honest insight to the ‘workings’ of our Holiday Department in Hunstanton over the past months and if you have any queries or require any further details, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

62 Westgate, Hunstanton PE36 5EL Tel 01485 534267 E-mail s.hohol@birdsnorfolkholidayhomes.co.uk Web www.norfolkholidayhomes-birds.co.uk

KLmagazine November 2012

Fully Refurbished 2 Bedroom End Terrace Cottage, Finished to Very High Standard, Gas Central Heating, UPVC, Small Rear Courtyard & Enclosed Front Garden with Patio Area, Off Road Parking, Unfurnished.

4 Bedroom Detached House, 2 Reception Rooms, Oil Central Heating, UPVC, Ensuite, Cloakroom, Garage, Gardens, Unfurnished.

3 Bedroom Detached Bungalow, Ensuite, Gas Central Heating, Conservatory, Garage, Garden, Parking, Unfurnished.

An excellent opportunity to purchase a 2 Bedroom Ground floor apartment in the popular West Cliffe Court Complex. The Apartment benefits from being one of the few places that you can see the sun setting across the sea, due to being on the east coast, but facing west.

The accommodation is very spacious and features two double Bedrooms, Bathroom, Kitchen, and Lounge Diner with patio doors and Magnificent sea views

An individually designed Detached 3 Bedroom Bungalow.

Situated on a large Non Estate plot with rural views to the rear, the Bungalow offers spacious accommodation with potential to extend. The accommodation comprises; Entrance Lobby and Hall, Lounge, Diner, Kitchen, 3 Bedrooms, Bathroom, Garage.

A 4 Bedroom Split level Residence situated in an elevated position in a popular location in the village of Dersingham. This particular property is slightly unusual in that the main living accommodation is situated on the first floor, and there is a balcony off the Lounge/Diner offering uninterrupted views across the village. The accommodation comprises; Upvc Porch, Entrance Hall, Lounge/Diner, Kitchen, 4 Bedrooms, Cloakroom, Bathroom, Integral Garage and Enclosed Rear Garden.

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KLmagazine November 2012

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ABOVE: The spacious showhome on Mill Street in the heart of Necton

Uncovering the finest new homes in Norfolk Over 20 years, Hopkins Homes and Hopkins & Moore have acquired a reputation for charming, individual and superbly well built homes – and they’re at Swanton Morley and Necton...

A

ward-winning East Anglian housebuilder Hopkins Home has launched its latest development located in the tranquil village of Necton, close to the heart of Norfolk with easy access to the City of Norwich, the major towns of Norfolk and the untamed splendour of the North Norfolk Coast.

Willow Grove is a beautiful collection of just 18 three and four bedroom traditionally-crafted new homes available for open sale and are all designed with the sensitivity and flair for which Hopkins Homes is justifiably

68

renowned.

This popular location is ideally situated, an idyllic rural location with a relaxing and calming ambiance housing a community that isn’t too small to enjoy a thriving public house and restaurant, post office, doctor’s surgery, local shop, garden centre and primary school but also enjoying good road and rail access to the major networks that brings the facilities and amenities of the larger market towns of Swaffham under five miles to the west, Dereham approximately eight miles to the east and Norwich under 25 miles away.

The rail station at Downham Market is

19 miles to the west, from where the service to London Liverpool Street and London King’s Cross takes less than two hours.

Each Hopkins home is individually crafted by skilled tradesmen who take great pride in the quality of their workmanship. Attention to the finest detail sets Hopkins apart from other house builders and the difference is evident in the exciting designs available here at Willow Grove, featuring distinctive elevations, varying rooflines and decorative brickwork.

Internally the development is finished to a high specification with fully-fitted

KLmagazine November 2012

kitchens that include a cooker, hob and extractor fan fitted as standard and a choice of cupboards and counter tops.

Bathrooms are fitted with classic white sanitaryware and chrome effect fittings.

Both kitchen and bathrooms can be personalised with a selection of stunning floor and wall tiles, subject to the stage of construction.

With this careful consideration to detail, the properties at Willow Grove have been individually designed with the individual in mind – and the fully furnished showhome is now open for viewing.

Just north of Dereham, the picturesque village of Swanton Morley is the perfect setting for an exclusive development by Hopkins & Moore, the niche East Anglian developer that specialises in smaller, bespoke developments and has earned an enviable reputation for creating individual properties of exquisite design and detail to the very highest standard.

Papermakers is located on Swanton Morley’s Greengate within a secluded cul-de-sac affording views over open farmland to the North and West and offers just 13 properties for open sale comprising 6 three-bedroom houses and 7 four-bedroom houses. Each home has been individually designed for its location and the result is properties that balance character and style with clever integration of light and space to provide highly desirable homes of timeless appeal whilst meeting the stringent demands of today’s lifestyle.

For further information on Willow Grove and Papermakers – or other Hopkins Homes and Hopkins & Moore developments throughout the East of England – please contact the enquiry line on 01394 446860 or visit www.hopkinshomes.co.uk

HOPKINS HOMES Melton Park House, Melton, Woodbridge Suffolk IP12 1TJ Tel: 01394 446860 Web: www.hopkinshomes.co.uk E-mail: info@hopkinshomes.co.uk

KLmagazine November 2012

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Kings Reach Anthony Nolan Road, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 4GU 1 & 2 bedroom apartments and 2 & 3 bedroom houses from £139,995, pay just £111,996 with FirstBuy

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KLmagazine November 2012

King’s Lynn Audi brings luxury to West Norfolk The Marriott Motor Group’s responsibility for the Audi name in King’s Lynn is set to change the way we look at the marque.

David Learner met Andrew Maund to find out why...

T

here’s a real soul in King’s Lynn,” says Andrew Maund, Head of Business at King’s Lynn Audi. Three months ago the town was somewhere that Andrew’s Bury St Edmunds radar had noted, but nowhere he knew a great deal about. In just 12 short weeks the showroom’s range of approved used cars has increased fivefold, and footfall and appreciation of the site on Hamburg Way have both shown an upward trend.

The Marriott Motor Group’s history is that of a well-respected family-run East Anglian business – Harley Barnard

founded the company in Stowmarket and it’s his son Paul who’s now the Managing Director. The team of 30 in King’s Lynn have an experience in all aspects of the motor trade that glimmers even more keenly than a showroom shine and Andrew’s own hands-on approach to his job is shared by a good team, in a great atmosphere, in an environment that’s warm and welcoming.

“Audi reliability, performance and star quality can appear daunting – it now outsells BMW and Mercedes in the UK,” says Andrew.

“But the simple things matter. When you arrive to look at the range here, or even if you just want to make a casual enquiry, you’re shown courtesy by every single member of the staff.”

Audi’s fans may have looked at a Citroen C3, Vauxhall Corsa or Ford Fiesta; now’s the time to

shift into the higher gear of the Audi marque. An Audi A1 maybe, just to whet our appetites. Great expectations are not darkened by a compromise on quality; Audi sets the bar high and ensures style, practicality and value.

Locally, Andrew is there to ensure that the Audi is seen at shows and events in a community he’s now passionate about. Admiration can lead easily into an invitation to view and an invitation to view is to be romanced by the marque.

Audi. An affordable luxury for West Norfolk, courtesy of the Marriott Motor Group.

KING’S LYNN AUDI Hamburg Way, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 2ND Tel: 01553 779500 | Web: www.marriottmotorgroup.co.uk

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PICTURE: ANDREW MIDGLEY

LOCAL LIFE

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KLmagazine November 2012

PICTURE: ANDREW MIDGLEY ABOVE: Jeremy Lloyd (Layton), Jake Mann (Klugmann) and Christopher Theobald (Maclean) during the making of Benjamin Britten: Peace and Conflict. Left Alex Lawther as the young Britten with director Tony Britten

Benjamin Britten returns to Gresham’s...

A new film looks at East Anglia’s influence on life of one of our greatest composers. David Learner met its director Tony Britten as a year-long round of celebrations is launched in Holt

T

ony Britten, the highly regarded musician and music film maker, is in ebullient mood. “I hope I can call him Ben,” he says.

The Ben in question is Benjamin Britten, born in Lowestoft on 22nd November 1913, and the subject of a new film directed by Tony, highlighting the part that Gresham’s School in Holt played in the composer’s pursuit of pacifist ideals. Over the next year, the school will be the venue for a host of concerts, events, workshops and recitals culminating on what would have been Britten’s 100th birthday.

The genius of Benjamin Britten – seen in the word setting in his songs,

KLmagazine November 2012

his international status as an opera composer, a unique ability to write for children and his gifts as a performer – are all well-documented on film. The crucial importance of his life-long pacifism has never before been addressed.

“It was while he was a student at Gresham’s School that Ben discovered others who shared his views,” says Tony. “It was a time when liberal values, in the truest sense of the word, were held in high esteem.”

Britten attended Gresham’s from 1928 to 1930. He missed poet WH Auden by a couple of years, and later the two would become firm friends.

Their partnership in the iconic Post

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PICTURE: ANDREW MIDGLEY ABOVE: In addition to filming at Gresham’s, Benjamin Britten: Peace and Conflict also features locations such as the station at High Kelling

Office-commissioned 1936 film The Night Mail has stamped the poem’s celebrity status forever: This is the Night Mail crossing the border, Bringing the cheque and the postal order, Letters for the rich, letters for the poor, The shop at the corner and the girl next door.

Britten’s pacifist tendencies had shown themselves early on, but it was at Gresham’s – where contemporaries included James Klugmann, the British Communist Party historian and the spy Donald Maclean – that he was able to explore and share his views, and where he was able to write so freely.

The glaring fanfare from Noye’s Fludde is his reflection of the martial sounds of the school’s marching corps outside the window of the music room where he composed several of his early works.

Tony Britten’s new film watches as Ben’s pacifism developed out of the stridency of communism in the face of fascism.

By the end of World War Two he’d become a “pure” pacifist – an ideal that profoundly influenced much of what he wrote subsequently, from the contained darkness of the second String Quartet to the searing

74

outpouring contained in the War Requiem.

Ben gave several performances in Norwich and lived most of his life in Aldeburgh. East Anglia was his workroom and his inspiration. It’s impossible to listen to the sea interludes from his opera Peter Grimes without summoning up the vastness of the East Anglian coasts and the dangers that lie hidden beneath the waves.

Ben’s work ranged from music for children to grand opera, from intimate chamber music to large scale orchestral and choral works, and all had their roots close to home.

Tony Britten is currently hard at work editing his film for its premier viewing at Gresham’s in early 2013.

Ben’s younger self is played by Alex Lawther, recently acclaimed for his performance in David Hare’s South Downs. He leads a group of talented emerging actors portraying life at Gresham’s the late 1920s.

Naturally much of the filming took place at the school itself. Leading artists James Gilchrist, Iain Burnside and Raphael Wallfisch join up-and-coming stars such as counter tenor Jake Arditti and the Beyounes String Quartet to perform the music that illustrates the narrative.

Instrumental and choral groups from Gresham’s School are also featured and the film talks to friends of Britten, as

well as historical and political commentators. Legendary actor John Hurt narrates and appears in the film.

Tony knows exactly what he wants his audience to feel as they leave the auditorium: “I need them to know that Ben’s pacifism coursed through him like steel,” he says.

Tony’s passion for his subject is, and will be, undiminished as he places the finished product before paying audiences, and his commitment to the project has been absolute.

The Ben, it would seem, truly is mightier than the sword.

Benjamin Britten: Peace and Conflict premieres at Gresham’s School on 9th February 2013 as part of a special event that also features Paul Kildea, author of the new Penguin biography of the composer Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century For details about all the events taking place over the next year go to www.familiarfields.org For the Gresham’s events go to www.greshams.com/britten100 You can find out more about the film production itself by visiting www.benjaminbrittenfilm.co.uk

KLmagazine November 2012

Anglia and BBC East

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75

HEALTH & BEAUTY

FeetFirst

with Elizabeth Dutton

OFFER OF!

THE MONTH

FF 10% O anical

Biomech assessments!

Orthotics: the modern way to help foot, leg and back pain!

O

ne of the most common causes of foot problems is a weakness in the instep, which allows the foot to flatten, lengthen and twist by as small amount every time a step is taken. This weakness is due to fatigue of the foot muscles and is common in people with jobs that require standing for long periods of time, lifting heavy weights, or those who are overweight.

The weakness can also be caused by tiny faults in the shape of the bones in the foot. This can produce a sideways movement of the forefoot within a shoe during walking. As the forefoot swings sideways and back at every step, it keeps coming into contact with the shoe. This repeated process (especially if the shoe is poorly fitted) can produce corns, callous, bunions and painful toenails.

PREVENTION In order to prevent these problems, it’s necessary to reduce the excessive sideways movement of the foot by stabilising the instep and the heel – and

76

one of the best ways to achieve this is by using a custom-made support (an orthotic) which limits the amount by which the instep is allowed to flatten, supports the heel, and helps to correct the direction of movement.

ORTHOTICS – WHAT ARE THEY? Orthotics are also known as foot appliances, shoe inserts, footbeds or arch supports. These are semipermanent devices placed in the shoe to improve foot function in much the same way that spectacles improve imperfect eyesight. An orthotic may be

designed to carry out any one or a combination of different functions.

Most people who consider using orthotics suffer from pain – or at least discomfort – in their feet, legs or lower back. They may also have some structural or functional abnormality of their feet or legs.

Some of the more conditions benefitting from orthotics include: l Knee pain l Stiff Ankles l Back Pain l Hip Pain l Rigid Feet l Plantar Fasciitis For a full biomechanical assessment, advice and the fitting of orthotics, please call 01553 768661. If you suffer from bunions, we are offering a FREE shoe-fitting service with every appointment booked during November.

All you need to know...

ELIZABETH DUTTON is a qualified foot health care practitioner and trainer. Elizabeth and her qualified team offer treatments from the Foot Care Centre, 4B Tower St, King’s Lynn, PE30 1EJ. For more information, details, help and advice please contact Elizabeth’s centre in King’s Lynn. You’ll find the Centre’s website at www.TheFootCareCentreKingsLynn.co.uk For details of how to train as a foot care practitioner please see the website at www.TheCollegeOfFootCarePractitioners.co.uk (note that the QR code on the right will also take you there) Finally, you can call us on 01553 768661 (clinic) or or send an e-mail to Elizabeth and her team at enquires@thefootcarecentrekingslynn.co.uk

KLmagazine November 2012

Playtime In association with Youngsters World

The real fun of building!

C

onstruction toys are a favourite for children and adults alike, the most famous of them being Lego. The history of Lego began in 1932 in Denmark, when Ole Kirk Christansen founded a small factory for wooden toys in the unknown town of Billund in the south of the country. To find a name for his company he organized a competition among his employees. As fate would have it however, he himself came up with the best name – ‘Lego’, a fusion of the Danish words ‘leg’ and ‘godt’ that means ‘play well.’

Barely 15 years later Christiansen identified plastic as the ideal material for toy production, and bought the first injection moulding machine in Denmark.

His courage, input and investment paid off – in 1949 he developed the Lego brick prototype, which continues to excite countless children and adults to this very day.

Over the years he perfected the brick, which is still the basis of the entire Lego building system today.

Of course there have been small adjustments in shape, colour and design from time to time, but today’s Lego bricks still fit bricks from 1958.

These days Lego has become more technologically advanced with the introduction of motors, batteries, a new ‘girls’ range and inevitably the licensing market – which leads to items such as Star Wars Lego and Lord of the Rings Lego.

Another extremely popular construction toy for the more mechanically-minded is the traditional Meccano or new Tronico for the serious modeller. They are model construction systems comprising re-useable metal strips, plates, angle girders, wheels, axles and gears with nuts and bolts to connect the pieces. It enables the

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KLmagazine November 2012

building of working models and mechanical devices.

Some of the more complex sets have hundreds of tiny pieces and can take many hours to complete, adding to the delight of finally seeing your finished working model.

Throughout the country there are clubs and groups for the construction toy enthusiasts as well as many Facebook pages, websites and blogs.

If you’d like to ‘play well’ you’ll be pleased to learn that Youngsters World stocks a huge range of Lego and other construction toys !

Youngsters World 112 Norfolk Street, King’s Lynn PE30 1AQ Tel: 01553 761666 Web: www.youngstersworld.com 77

LOCAL LIFE

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KLmagazine November 2012

A Lancaster of 635 Squadron takes off from Downham Market in 1944 – a photograph

by Howard Lees

ABOVE: The remains of Bexwell Aerodrome today, once home to the squadron featured in Chris Coverdale’s book (opposite)

Remembering the silent squadron of Bexwell The ghosts are quiet now at the old aerodrome. David Learner hears about heroism from a historian who has devoted time to ensuring recognition for lost valour...

C

hris Coverdale used to kick a ball around Bexwell Aerodrome. As a teenager, it was his back yard.

Downham Market had returned to peace, and despite the best efforts of boys’ comics like Hotspur and Valiant, tales of the war had started to wane. But Chris’ dreams were only just beginning to take shape. He watched as airmen drifted back to the base, compelled to recall and commemorate, and then in 1977 a local flight lieutenant gave him a copy of his operational log book, together with an original target photo of Dusseldorf.

Although Chris didn’t know it at the

KLmagazine November 2012

time, he would eventually come to write the definitive story of No 635 Squadron, a book that still sells around the world, bringing memories of an impossible fight against a seemingly invincible foe.

Chris is now working towards the fifth edition of the book – but it wasn’t until 2008 that publication became a reality with the help of Mark and Linda Eves of Bexwell Kitchens. Their showrooms are actually created out of the original Guard Room, located at the old main gate to the airfield, and just a small part

of the aerodrome’s sprawling acres.

The Eves put their strength behind the project after dozens of rejections from a raft of publishers. Chris created his own publishing company and Pathfinders 635 Squadron sold its first print run in less than five weeks. It was a phenomenal result for a specialist book about an unknown squadron from a part of Norfolk that nobody’s really heard of.

Now they have.

“We lead, others follow.” It’s the motto of No 635 Squadron, formed on 20th March 1944 from ‘B’ Flight of No 35 Squadron and ‘C’ Flight of No 97 Squadron. Equipped

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ABOVE: A photograph of the 635 Squadron air crew in March 1944 – 68 years on and only fragments remain of their legacy.

Thanks to Chris Coverdale’s book, their valour is now being recognised and appreciated by an ever-growing audience.

with Lancasters, it formed part of the Pathfinder Force (No 8 Group). On the evening of 22nd March 1944, ten Lancasters would take part in 635 Squadron’s first bombing raid, over Frankfurt.

“Frankfurt was strategically very important,” says Chris. “Rail and road links offered lifelines for Hitler’s forces, and their removal was integral to the war effort.”

As early as 1942 the Krupps armament works at Essen had also become a primary target, but its perimeter of some ten miles and its ability to reform so easily (using enforced labour) meant it took some two and a half years to ensure it could no longer offer a purpose to Germany’s war effort.

Chris has no doubt that without the Pathfinder squadrons the war would have been prolonged.

Before 1943 limited navigational experience made pinpoint bombing almost impossible – out of every 50 targets only 10 were ever hit. At the same time the Luftwaffe’s defences were good.

Too good. With the

advent of Pathfinder expertise everything would change, even though that change took many more missions, and an accumulating loss of life.

Chris is more candid about the allied bombing campaign over Dresden.

“It shouldn’t have happened,” he says.

“The route to Berlin was already open, but the Russians were putting pressure on the allies. Over 100,000 civilians lost their lives – it was a terrible, terrible waste.”

On 7th May 1945, 11 Lancasters ferried 243 ex-POWs home to the UK from Belgium – and it would be 635 Squadron’s final mission before VE Day. On 17th August 1945, Squadron Leader IW Bazalgette, DFC (a pilot of No 635 Squadron) was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry during a daylight raid on Trossy-St Maximin on 4th August 1944.

And very soon, a gate stone memorial will appear at the entrance to Bexwell Aerodrome. It will commemorate the 1,600 airmen who never returned to the base. There will be a ceremony and more memories for the few, who are becoming fewer as the days take their inevitable toll.

For more details about the squadron, go to www.635squadron.com. You can view Pathfinders 635 Squadron by Christopher Coverdale by visiting Bexwell Kitchens during normal opening hours. Or call 01366 382064 and ask for either Mark or Linda Eves.

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KLmagazine November 2012

n o s y a w l a s i t a T he h e at 4 Way Refrigeration Ltd

Air source is the future for domestic heating, according to 4 Way Refrigeration Ltd’s director Steve Simpson. David Learner spoke to him about its practicality for every sort of home...

T

he 4 Way Refrigeration Ltd website contains an interactive film that shows how air source heating can seriously reduce home energy costs. In essence it’s a system that makes use of the renewable energy that’s all around us, converting free heat both from the air and the sun to deliver reliable, controllable heating and hot water for domestic use, even when outside temperatures are well below zero.

At the heart of the system is a heat pump offering efficiencies up to five times higher than a traditional boiler that uses fossil fuel; running costs, compared to oil and LPG boilers, can only be lower. Steve is convinced that it’s the most efficient method of heating.

“For every kilowatt of power that you pay for,” he says, “the sun will provide three more kilowatts free of charge. It’s worth comparing those figures to night storage systems where for every kilowatt of power that you pay for you

KLmagazine November 2012

receive a kilowatt of power in return.”

The system is as discreet as it is efficient and there are no emission, no ignition and no burners. Outside the home is a condensing unit. That can be as far as fifty metres from the building, but given that it, like the rest of the system, is whisper-quiet there’s no issue if it’s situated right outside the owner’s back door.

Inside the home is a specially designed hot water cylinder that maximises the supply to the taps and radiators. “Old boilers heat water up to 65 degrees. It’s not necessary when you need only a working temperature of between 38 and 41 degrees. The less fuel you require, the less you’ll pay.”

As testimonial to 4 Way Refrigeration Ltd’s work Steve is happy to share the responses he’s received from a wealth of happy customers. And it’s in the new build schemes where air source heating can really prove their abilities to be future-proof.

“To be able to get planning permission today’s builder has to show

how their intended heating systems are complying with stringent regulations regarding renewable energy. There’s nothing more renewable than fresh air, let’s face it.”

From a two-bed terrace to a 22room mansion just about any home can be made future-proof by Steve’s team, giving them all the advantage of a system that’s simple to install, inexpensive to run and with credentials that are greener than a go sign.

4 WAY REFRIGERATION LTD Unit 25, Bergen Way, North Lynn Industrial Estate, King’s Lynn PE30 2JG TEL: 01553 767878 E-MAIL: sales@4wayref.co.uk WEB: www.4wayref.co.uk

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LOCAL LIFE

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KLmagazine November 2012

Could this be the best Christmas gift of all?

Very close to all of us is someone who’s done something very special today. David Learner rolls up his sleeves, takes a deep breath and checks in for his local session...

H

ow did it happen? At what point did this inner voice shout that I had 8 pints of the stuff sloshing round me and that I probably didn’t need all of them? As it happens, I do remember. His name was Dave and he breezed through the office I was working in at the time and said he was heading down to the local blood donor session – and did anyone fancy coming?

Dave wasn’t hassling, but I must’ve been in a particularly good mood because I simply said yes.

Well, something did – that tiny conscience that slaps you about occasionally and says you have nothing to lose and you won’t die as a result of going with Dave. Maybe I felt bad because I hadn’t joined in the Fantasy Football league he was organising.

Within minutes we were off and I was hearing Tony Hancock’s realisation that he was about to give up something very close to him. In his classic sketch, he asks how much blood he’ll be losing.

“A pint? Why, that's very nearly an armful!” he replies.

In 1628, William Harvey (a leading physician of the day) demonstrated that blood circulated freely round the body.

Less than 40 years later, the first

KLmagazine November 2012

successful blood transfusion took place (admittedly in an animal) but it proved it could be done.

Fast forward to 1921 when members of the British Red Cross Society decided to give blood voluntarily, and to 1996 when the National Blood Service celebrated 50 years of life-saving work, probably with a cup of tea and a biscuit.

None of this I knew as I entered the death zone. Sorry, I mean the genteel surroundings of the church hall I didn’t know existed. There was a sign for a Baby Club.

At least I knew now where I needed to come for a baby. And yes, I was sweating. I was in Outpatients for goodness sake, or that’s what it looked like. People laid out on stretchers, gently waggling fingers as tubes coursed out from half a dozen arms, other people in starched uniforms, some more drinking tea.

But suddenly this wasn’t hell.

I watched the smiles and chatter and I allowed them to envelop me like chocolate. It appeared I may after all be doing THE RIGHT THING. If you’ve never donated blood, take it from Billy Blooddrop here that you have nothing to fear and much to gain. I’ll never know the path that my 470ml took after it departed my hapless body

and was carted off for testing and testing (and testing again) before its deft redirection into someone who needed it far more than me.

I’ll never meet them and almost certainly they’ll never know that we don’t share the same taste in music – but I’ve had the tea, and the biscuit, and gained the freedom to know that a simple selfless act has allowed someone else to live.

The blood website at (unsuprisingly enough) www.blood.co.uk is one of the most comprehensive yet easy to navigate sites you’ll ever browse.

In KL magazine country there are at least 15 places you can part with your pint – and signing up is as easy as dribbling. I’ll see you down there.

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125 Norfolk Street King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 1AP tel: 01553 770536

www.davidaukerjewellery.com

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KLmagazine November 2012

Boris curls up at

There’s a tendency to ignore the quality and feel the width.

David Learner accompanies Boris’s owner to Norfolk Street to give the place a carpeting...

Q Can I talk about Granny?

A Er, yes, if you’d like to.

Q She had a saying – if you buy cheap you buy twice A Wise words. Particularly when it comes to carpet.

Q She had an Axminster down in her lounge – 100% wool. I can feel the texture even now. I remember her replacing it.

A Nothing wrong with it, was there? I mean an Axminster will last maybe forty years.

Q Oh no, Quite the contrary! She said there was still life in it after all that time so it was transferred to another room. Looked just as much as home there as it did in her lounge. Actually there was a general shuffle round in the house. She sees carpets as longterm investments. Don’t most people?

A Strangely no. Many modern couples don't see the long term value of carpet the same way as their parents did. Most people see a lifetime in a marriage, but not in what goes down on their floor.

Q What’s special about an Axminster then?

A Take a look at an Axminster and you can see a host of colours, deep in its pattern. That means that an Axminster suits itself to just about any colour scheme you can think of.

Better to design your room around

KLmagazine November 2012

your carpet than the other way round.

And of course Axminster carpets are 100% British from the sheep providing the wool to the factory producing the finished article. Even the waste wool in the production of the carpet is collected and woven into a fabric that is put onto a re-cycled rubber crumb backing to create Axi Felt, which is Axminsters own top quality underlay, which means it is an environmentally friendly product. You're thinking of buying Axminster then?

Q It’s more to do with texture. It comes back to Boris, you see. He likes somewhere to call his own and at the moment his favourite place is the dining room. We’ve got... oh, you know, in there...

A A table?

Q No, on the floor.

A A stain?

Q No, no, no... the floor covering.

Looks like wood, feels warm to the touch. You laid them...

A Luxury vinyl tiles. Of course. Very popular. Boris prefers them?

Q No, he prefers carpet, always has done. Some of these cheaper carpets look thicker than the Axminster. I always thought the thicker the carpet the better the quality.

A Oh.

Q Not true?

A Not true. Axminster wool carpets are a great investment, as are 80% wool twist carpets. Carpets such as these scream quality and long term value, and of course, they all now have a TOG rating aswell.

Q I thought you got TOG ratings on duvets.

A You do, but you’ll find them on carpets too. If you’ve got under floor heating, for example, you need a lower TOG rating. The last thing you want to do is to lose your heat back into the floorboards.

Q Oh dear. Boris has just seen a picture of himself on the wall.

A Yes, it seems Boris is not the only Labrador that enjoys a bit of luxury!

Q Well, there is always something new to learn from a trip to Metric Carpets.

Can I talk to you about a new Axminster carpet for my dining room?

A Certainly. We must keep Boris happy!

Details METRIC CARPETS 36 Norfolk Street, King’s Lynn Norfolk PE30 1AH Telephone: 01553 775203 Web: www.metriccarpets.co.uk Email: office@metriccarpets.co.uk

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ARTS

SUSPECT SUSPECT

SUSPECT

SUSPECT

ABOVE: The 2012 West End cast of The Mousetrap’s first ever UK tour – it’s expected to run for (you guessed it) 60 weeks. Opposite, the famous crime writer Agatha Christie and Geoff Bullen either side of the official Mousetrap Diamond Anniversary promotional poster.

The original whodunit comes to Norfolk...

The Mousetrap, Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery heads out on its first national tour in sixty years. David Learner meets the West End director responsible for its infinite survival...

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KLmagazine November 2012

SUSPECT

SUSPECT

SUSPECT

SUSPECT

Y

ou won’t find out whodunit from Geoff Bullen. The seasoned director has currently got his head down at RADA, unearthing the next Kenneth Branagh or Alan Rickman, but the success of the longest-running play in history is precisely because of that – nobody who hasn’t seen it knows the culprit. Geoff is the latest to ensure that every night one of the cast heads to the front of the stage to plead with its conspirators not to reveal the murderer to a single soul.

Richard Attenborough appeared in that first company on its premiere in late November 1952, as was his wife Sheila Sim, and Geoff reckons that after 25,000 performances the piece is as controversial today as it’s always been.

“Christie was a supremely talented writer,” he says. “The destabilisation of society was every bit as concerning then as it is now. The play’s continuing success is based on the fact that we can all recognise the themes as having a place in today’s Britain as much as they did sixty years ago.”

Christie adored Attenborough’s performance in the original production and today’s actors are no less addicted to the ten months they’ll spend offering nine performances a week to new audiences from across the world who visit the show at St Martin’s Theatre.

“There’s a real cohesion in the present company,” says Geoff, who’s now directed the show twice. “On the first day of rehearsal almost every single actor arrived having learned the script.

It was astonishing. And because they’ve got mates in the West End they know they can meet up after their respective shows to chew over the night’s audiences.”

It’s a lovely thought – the cast of Julius Caesar down the road at the Novello Theatre drinking beer with the cast of The Mousetrap. Togas and toboggans – snow plays a large part in the mystery at the heart of Christie’s most famous creation. And while we probably know who killed Julius Caesar, we’re not at all sure who killed...

Hmm, even to give away the name of the victim is to detract from the magic of The Mousetrap.

Complex Christie continues to bring its shadow to bear. There were movie rights agreed, all that time ago, but the legendary contract says that no film production will be made until at least a year and a half after its closure in London. And you may have to wait another sixty years for that to happen.

The 60th Anniversary production of The Mousetrap plays at the Theatre Royal Norwich from Monday 22nd to Saturday 27th April 2013. For more details, see www.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk

KLmagazine November 2012

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KLmagazine November 2012

Keeping warm at home with KR Fireplaces The nights are drawing in and the fireplace is looking for some TLC. Jason Squance talks to David Learner about the warm reception his company’s offered since 1996...

I

t was a close run thing. Jason Squance’s intention was to head into the armed forces, but an invitation to undertake an apprenticeship in marble masonry changed everything. Twenty five years on, it turns out to have been the best decision he ever made.

KR Fireplaces is a specialist shop based in King’s Lynn’s Austin Fields.

Surrounded by the occasional retail establishment and approached through a one-way system that doesn’t exactly invite you to turn in, you need to have your wits about you. Jason’s welcome is inviting though – and it’s good to discover that the greater part of his

business has been attracted through word of mouth.

“Once people have found us they know they’ve found what they’re looking for,” he says. As the only manufacturer of granite worktops and fireplaces in King’s Lynn theirs is a unique offering locally and one that’s invited high praise for his work from as far south as Colchester and high into the Norfolk coast. The company’s latest revamp, organised to celebrate its fifteen years in business, shows a wide range of stoves – wood and multi-fuel, gas and electric – and fireplaces that suit any environment from a two-up two-down to a baronial hall.

“We always carry out a site survey,” says Jason. “Often the customer comes here with an idea about the style they’re looking for, the fuel they’ll be using and how everything will fit into the space they’ve got in mind. But a visit here, to see far more

than they were expecting, can shift their ideas. That can often mean a rethink, so the best place to start is back in their own home.”

Jason’s team of ten know what they’re doing. Solid limestone, marble and wood need to be treated with respect and the team’s collective experience of more than 60 years in designing, manufacturing and installing custom-made fireplaces is Jason’s best guarantee that the work his team carries out will be exactly what the customer ordered and intended.

With a range of options and a vast amount to choose from in the Austin Fields showroom, Jason knows he can keep his customers satisfied for at least the next fifteen years as well.

KR FIREPLACES Austin Fields, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 1PH Tel: 01553 772564 | Web: www.krfireplaces.co.uk

KLmagazine November 2012

89

LOCAL LIFE

Michael Middleton’s

WildWestNorfolk

L

ast week, instead of watching The Bride of Frankenstein again with my bag of chocolate bats and jelly spiders, I decided to search out the real Halloween and joined a group of like-minded people on a ghost-walk around the centre of King’s Lynn.

Having assured Mrs. Middleton that the only spirits I’d approach were of the undead nature, I met my fellow ghostbusters outside the town library – itself the inevitable haunt of some unquiet souls from the ruins of the abbey next door.

We were treated to an interesting tale of disappearing skeletons and hooded spectres (not to mention terrified librarians), but the library itself was closed, so we were swiftly ushered on our way into town.

Nest stop was the (in)famous Devil’s Alley to search for the welldocumented Satanic footprints embedded in the cobbles there (we were told), but out paranormal investigation was to no avail. We did find a couple of dogends, a crumpledup Twix wrapper and a scrap of paper with ‘curtains for Mrs. Brown’ written on it, however.

On reaching the Tuesday Market Place, we called in at the Globe, which is allegedly haunted by the ghost of Phil ‘The Boxer’ Smith, a yardman in the inn’s stables in the early 1930s. We were told we could experience cold air and a frosty atmosphere. I got quite excited at one point when a chilly breeze blew past me – but then I realised we were standing right next to the open door.

Nevertheless, we crossed over to the

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Duke’s Head in good spirits as we were (according to our guide) approaching a veritable host of ghosts.

The hotel is allegedly home to the Red Lady (who reportedly hanged herself in the hotel following some love triangle), the Ghost in Room 18 (who shot himself because of gambling problems in the 18th century) and finally the ghost of maid who spent her last night on earth there in 1531 (when it was the old Gryffen inn) before being boiled alive in the Tuesday Market Place. Nice.

The Duke’s Head is a lovely, comfortable and very welcoming place to stay, and I have to confess we didn’t experience anything remotely supernatural. We did think we heard the very faint clanking of chains at one point, but it was only one member of our party going through her purse to see if she could have another glass of wine before we left.

Still not dispirited, we walked over the Market Place to stand outside the grand facade of No.15. Behind this beamed exterior there’s said to be a restless spirit. People feel watched, items fall out of people’s hands without explanation, things go missing, and furniture moves about mysteriously (sounds much like a normal weekend at home to me).

Moreover, just a few steps further along, there’s the famous Witch’s Heart, a mysterious heart-within-adiamond carved into the front of the building.

This unassuming device is said to be the result of the heart leaping from the body of an unjustlyexecuted witch (was there ever such a thing as a justly-executed

witch?) and impressing itself upon the bricks.

Getting to the heart of the mystery (so to speak) is rather difficult. It seems that the witch in question could have been Margaret Read (executed in 1590), Elizabeth Housego (1598), Mary Smith (1616), Dorothy Lee (1646) or Grace Wright (1646).

Whoever she was, when the unfortunate lady was executed, her heart is supposed to have jumped out of her body, run down Page Stair Lane and jumped into the river – during which journey mysterious forces (we’d probably call them builders today) carved the image we see today.

By now, we did get a very real sense of being watched, but that may well have had more to the group of us standing around a largely deserted Market Place looking up at at the windows and muttering among ourselves.

King’s Lynn may be packed with fascinating legends and ghostly stories, but the ghosts themselves don’t seem to be very evident at Halloween.

Maybe they all went to Swaffham.

KLmagazine October 2012