"Cruising" on the Norfolk Broads

Hello lovelies!

As I mentioned in this post, I was lucky enough to be able to spend a whole week of summer on a boat in Norfolk, with lots of rum, plenty of cross-stitching supplies and some of my favourite people in the world :)

We hired a boat for the week that was actually more like a floating mobile home- it even had a dishwasher! - and spent our days motoring around the Norfolk Broads at 5 miles an hour, reading books, playing Bananagrams, drinking cider and competing in cruder-and-cruder rounds of Balderdash as the drink kicked in. I laughed so much that I actually cried! 

These are some of my favourite photographs from the week - some taken by yours truly (the blurry ones/any with teacups in) and the good ones by my lovely other half. I can't recommend the Broads enough- it's such a slow paced choice of holiday, I came back feeling as rested as if I'd slept for the whole week.

Me? Daytime napping? You can't prove anything with these shades :p

We were certainly better at steering than some people...

Taking a break from boating, to watch other people boating....

Whilst moored up in Norwich, we discovered three foodie places that were so awesome they made me want to move there! The first was a pub/restaurant called The Belgian Monk- which serves hundreds of artisan beers, buckets of fresh mussels, specialist vegetarian/vegan cuisine, and seriously awesome chocolate milkshakes. 

Artisan though the beers may be, they certainly don't make a more sophisticated class of drunk ...

Tom ordered one of the buckets of mussels- it was so huge it took him AN HOUR to eat them all! Thankfully, the other boys were there to offer him some support whilst I went off exploring. And, boy, was I glad that I did, because I stumbled across Biddy's Tea Room- the loveliest cafe I've ever seen! And the best part (besides the lovely staff) is that it's a cafe AND antique shop; so you can browse old suitcases, beautiful china, and vintage upholstery whilst indulging in a slice of cake. 

Teacups on stag heads, and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens... 

The third was Wilkinson's of Norwich; a specialist tea and coffee supplier that's like a Willy Wonka's factory of caffeinated goodness (and decaff, and pretty tea trays...). The staff are really knowledgeable, and stopped me buying raspberry leaf tea (which I foolishly thought would taste of raspberries) when they informed me it tastes like nettles and puts women into labour (guessing you have to be pregnant first, but one can never be too careful...). 

However, I did buy a cherry tea that smelt like cherry bakewells, and some chinese tea with popcorn in it (nom!). I haven't actually been able to try either tea yet because I don't own a tea strainer, but this little guy is now winging his way to me in the post- so I'm hoping to start sipping this week. Hurrah!

Have you ever been to the Norfolk Broads or Norwich? Or on another boating holiday that you would recommend? I'd love to know!

Katie xxx