Almost there! 2020 beckons and I wonder what that will bring. What a year 2019 has been. Political turmoil has gripped the nation this year, in fact for the past three years, but things in that regard should now settle down and we will see less of politicians on our television screens.

I hope that the image of Cromer Lighthouse doesn’t turn out to be prophetic. Weather-wise, the summer of 2019 proved somewhat unpredictable but business was very brisk at the coastal towns and villages of North Norfolk. Visitor numbers are increasing – something that has been helped by the positive publicity North Norfolk has received over the year from the BBC and in the travel sections of quality newspapers. Cley Windmill was featured in the Guardian travel supplement, as was the Dial House Hotel at Reepham.

The business owners at Cromer, Sheringham, Holt and the coastal villages are busy refurbishing premises where necessary and hopefully are resting up for what is likely to be an even busier summer season of 2020.

It is now the time of year when we that are lucky enough to live here can get our boots on to enjoy walking on quieter North Norfolk beaches, through the woods of Felbrigg Hall and Sheringham Park and at the coastal marshes of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust Reserve at Cley. If you are visiting for the holiday why not get out and take a walk on Boxing Day to burn off some of those Christmas lunch calories.

Thank you for subscribing to the site and I hope you have a very merry Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous 2020.

The Village Hall Dance

(New Year’s Eve 1967)

The clock’s been counted down
kisses exchanged at midnight
The Last Waltz has been danced
And the DJ has left for home

The chairs are stacked away
glasses collected and
the clattering from the kitchen stopped
The lino has been mopped
The lights turned off and
The doors all locked

A Morris Traveller is loaded
with the final box and crackling
on frosted gravel draws away
as the bark of a hunting fox in
Felbrigg Great Wood is carried
on the crisp night air

( Sung by Engelbert Humperdinck, The Last Waltz was at No 1 in the UK charts for five weeks in 1967.)