Norwich Gravetending

Time was when we all were born and died within the same area, and our relatives too. Back then, graves were tended by family members, much as they are now if geography permits. But today, so often logistics don’t permit and we are left with loved one’s remains in graves hundreds of miles away. We worry about what those graves might be looking like.

Step in a professional grave tender. In our area one such is Katie David. An RHS trained gardener, with a vibrant gardening business under her belt, Katie offers a mobile grave tending and cleaning service. She will respectfully look after your loved one’s grave when you can’t be there in person. Katie uses all biodegradable products. If a wreath is required, she will ensure that it is wholly biodegradable. No nasty plastic ties or strings, or metal frame. She’ll plant plants if requested, leave flowers and notes, clean dirty headstones, replenish chippings, and repaint lettering when it is faded and lacklustre. She can do regular or one off cleans. She will trim and weed and will reseed grass if required. She will work anywhere in Norfolk or Suffolk. Many of us know the saddening experience of visiting an untended grave, and the ongoing anxiety attached to the idea that a grave might be looking uncared for. Katie can easily right those feelings. Give her a call on 07889 233351 to talk about what you might want doing. Her website is at norwichgravetending.co.uk.

My Window Cleaners Norwich

• Long established company • Cleans windows, conservatories, fascia/ boards, guttering and solar 11 panels • Friendly, professional service • Call us for a quote

Kev 07786 254831 Rick 07377 678801

mywindowcleaners@email.com

The Bay Seafood Bar at Jarrold

It’s 2 years since The Bay Seafood Bar opened in Jarrolds, and it’s been a big success. Bookings are essential, and the mix of central location, deluxe vibe, and excellent sea food have made it a foodie haven. The Bay is open lunch times only, five days a week. And although, yes, it is the place to go if you know your Beluga from your Sevruga, it also offers much more than top end caviar with a price tag to match. We went mid-week and were quickly ushered to a table in one of the windows overlooking the market. The service throughout was excellent: staff really know their stuff and are polite and informative. Plus, service was fast and efficient, perfect for working lunches as well as boozy longer sessions. A couple of large Brancaster Oysters set the scene. There was red wine and shallot vinegar, and of course Tabasco for those who want to add to the oyster experience. But, to our minds, the oysters were good. Very good. Sweet, gently briny and velvety smooth – but not mushy – they were best eaten unadulterated, or with the merest hint of lemon. A glass of champagne would of course have been perfect – but a return to work beckoned, so that will have to remain for a second outing. Next came the mains—well, the light mains. A lobster bisque for my dining partner, the bisque being sweet and light, with a hint of brandy and a dash of tarragon cream. My own smoked salmon and crayfish royal hollandaise over a poached egg was utterly perfect. How so? Well, the poached egg was fat and round, fragile, perfectly cooked; the Hollandaise divine, and the award 24 To advertise, call The Golden Guide on 01603 629024

winning John Ross smoked salmon came in generous nicely thick slices and was neither overly salty, slimy, tough or plasticky – all of which are routine hazards for lesser smoked salmons. Rumour has it that Her Maj - who after all those summer holidays in Balmoral and years of fine dining— must know her fish very well - prefers John Ross. Servings here are genuinely generous. This is not a sea food bar where you walk away hungry, running to the covered market for aid. The platters for two – judging from our Japanese neighbours on the next door table – were wonderfully generous. At £13.50 per person for smoked salmon, prawns, smoked trout mousse, avocado, seaweed salad and bread, well frankly, it looked a snatch. One of the most appealing things about The Bay is its location within Jarrolds. It’s on the second floor, at the corner of Exchange Street and London Street. Diners can sit in the huge bay windows or at any one of the tables in the enormous picture windows that span one entire wall. Or you can perch at the circular bar itself- where you can sit comfortably (for once, these are bar stools which are actually comfortable) if there are no tables. The overall design is gracious and spacious, with tall ceilings, wooden floors and so much light. We left adamant that we would return very soon. What with Benjis, and the Bay, well, Jarrold does food very well.

The Bay Seafood Bar, 2nd floor, Jarrold, 1-11 London Street, NR2 1JF.

Open Tuesday-Friday 10.30—2 Saturday 10.30-4.00. Closed Sunday and Monday.

Booking via Jarrold website or by phone, 01603 660661

Merry Christmas to all our customers!

Please mention The Golden Guide when responding to adverts 25

The Home Sort

Home sorting, decluttering, or home organising is big business in the States. On the other side of the pond, hiring someone to help you sort your clutter is commonplace. Entire stores specialise in storage solutions. Endless columns, websites, glossy coffee table books and blogs are devoted to the benefits of embracing sorting, letting go, and organising. Things are changing fast here too. Many of us have heard of the Japanese home organising guru, Marie Kondo, and might even have watched her films on Netflix, or read her uplifting manuals such as the delightfully named ‘Spark Joy’. Equally well known is another Netflix series, The Home Edit – which also has books to accompany the show. More recently, Stacey Solomon has jumped on the home sorting bandwagon with a new six-part BBC series, Sort Your Life Out. Her team descends on a cluttered house; empties it of ALL contents; painstakingly lays them out on trestles in a warehouse; sorts out with the owner on what is needed and puts everything back into the house. The result is simply astounding – and terrifically good viewing. The message is in the title. Sort your house out and your life will follow suite. A nice idea, and it might well be true. But many of us not given to orderliness (ok, the inherently untidy among us), will know how it’s so easy to have big tidying plans but phenomenally hard to follow them through. To help sort what feels unsortable a professional home organiser can step in. This newbie industry is supported in the UK by APDO Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers - who offer ongoing professional training to those keen to help others in the life transforming experience.

A signed-up member of APDO who works locally is Abi Macdonald, who runs The Home Sort. Give her a call and she’ll offer half an hour’s free consultation. She’ll visit your home and in an utterly non-judgemental, supportive way, will work out with you what you want to do. Each client is different, with individual needs. Some want a kitchen sorting. Others the whole house. Others an attic. Some might be about to move house (recent research suggests that a decluttered home adds hugely to its market value). Others might be moving in with a new partner, facing the daunting task of combining two households into one. A single session is a minimum of 3 hours, a maximum of 5. For working through an entire house, a series of sessions – at staggered intervals - will probably be required. At the end of each session, Abi will fill her car with anything you want to be recycled or will advise about specialist collector items. The result will be transforming. Clients report feeling much calmer as they move around their organised rooms, or open their organised cupboards and drawers. Others talk about how they’ve saved money and no longer overbuy since they can see that they have, say, 12 black jumpers or 6 bottles of shampoo and don’t need another! Pretty much everyone will agree on how decluttering is a time saver. It takes far less time to locate items. Others feel that decluttering helps brings closure with bereavement, or with past relationships. Like any trained home organiser, Abi works sensitively and gently with clients and is used to dealing with any emotion that might surface from grief to shame.

If you want to sort your home (aka life) do give The Home Sort a call on 07799 700 009 Also, follow The Home Sort on social media for inspiration and tips. www.thehomesort.co.uk

The Home Sort’s top tips for decluttering...

• Visualise how you'd like the space to look and how you'd like to feel once it's done. Take before and after photos. • Start small with bite sized chunks; either by setting a time limit, a space - a drawer/cupboard or a type shoes/toiletries. • Ask yourself, is this useful? Do I love it? Is it a duplicate? • Avoid the temptation to keep something because you might use it or wear it one day. How long have you already had it with that intention? • Donate, sell or recycle the items that no longer serve you. • Complete the task by organising what you decided to keep in the space you have created. Please mention The Golden Guide when responding to adverts 29

What’s On

Dick Whittington and His Cat Dec 11– Jan

9. After last year’s cancellation, the audiences—and cast—will be more than ready to enjoy what has become a Christmas tradition. Leading Dame and writer, Richard Gauntlett, will make it his 21st Norwich Theatre Royal Panto. The show runs through to mid-January so there’s plenty of time to catch it.

528Hz Love Frequency: Chris Levine at

Houghton Hall. On until December 23. A really fabulous inaugural winter show at Houghton Hall. Immersive, moving, and playing with ideas of space and silence, it is also eerily beautiful and uplifting. Levine describes it as the highlight of his career thus far. Also on show, indoors, are smaller works—some of which project images —terrifically cleverly—into the viewer's peripheral vision. A face will flit across your vision, before vanishing into thin air. Turn to catch it, and from another beam another face will appear, and disappear. Meditative cosmic art. Go see. It’s well worth the trek up to Houghton and will leave you spinning, and thinking, for days to come.

Keifer Sutherland, Chasing the Rain Tour, January 30, UEA LCR. Tickets via UEA

website., Multitalented actor/ son of Donald comes to Norwch to promote his third album. With a second dalbum that topped the Americanana, Country and Indpependent album chairs, and become the UK’s second biggest selling country album of the year in 2019, his third might go even further.

Christmas Crowns in Norwich. In 1121 King Henry 1st spent Christmas in Norwich. In 2021, Norwich’s shops, and landmarks will display crowns in their windows, forming the backbone to a series of 4 trails that we can all enjoy. Pick up details at the Forum, or via the website. From windows in the Royal Arcade (rumour has it that Sonkai will produce something very pretty) to bars, pubs, and shops, keep at eye out. And look out for the projections onto the Castle walls telling the story of the Royal Visit.

Returning after a stay away is the Global Market, at the Forum from December 2—4. Pick up your fair trade and eco conscious gifts, and outside enjoy global hot food and mulled wine.

Drive up the Avenues and you can’t have missed, parked outside the gates of Heigham park, the Secret Paradise Cafe. It’s the brainchild of Jona and Mary Conway, a couple who used to run a thriving urban farm in Bristol, supplying vegetable, bagged salads and meat boxes to local residents. The couple come from Norwich, and so it made

sense, after having taken Purple Patch as far as they could, to upsticks and move back to Norfolk to be closer to family. The portable coffee van sells top notch organic coffee, chocolate and teas, and an array of delicious home made cakes. It’s open from 8-4 every day of the week apart from Mondays. It adds tremendously to the life of Heigham Park, and is a big hit amongst parents from the local schools and dog walkers.

Heigham Park is better with a cup of coffee in your hand! Support them: the coffee is to die for. And the cakes too.

Art Fair East: Alfredo Palmero: Menina in Art Fair East December 3-5, The Halls, St Oranges Andrew’s Plain. One of the largest and livliest contemporary Art Fairs outside London, and a great place to buy rather special Christmas gifts, the Art Fair is back after last year’s cancellation. Drawing collectors, artists, agents and galleries from across the UK, it promises to be a fab occasion for anyone interested in the visual arts.