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Today we toured from Clippesby via lovely country lanes to Thurne, Potter Heigham and Ludham, including a visit to St Benets Abbey, the only abbey in England to escape destruction during the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII.

Our first stop was the picturesque village of Thurne, where we viewed the river Thurne and windmill.

View of the river and the windmill at Thurne

Our next stop was Potter Heigham.

Swans at Potter Heigham

This was a day of extreme weather. We travelled to How Hill with the intention of taking an electric boat trip on the nature reserve, but were assailed by rain, hail, thunder and lightning! Unsurprisingly all boat trips were cancelled, so we travelled on to Ludham, where we consoled ourselves at the Alfresco tea room situated opposite St Catherine’s church.

The Alfresco Tea room at Ludham, and St Catherine’s church

We decided to seek out St Benet’s Abbey despite the weather. St Benet’s was a real gem.

Views of St Benets Abbey

St Benets Abbey

St Benets Abbey

St Benets Abbey

St Benets Abbey

Yacht on the Broads at St Benets Abbey and more abbey views

We then returned home to Clippesby.

Are these straw bales, modern art or swiss rolls?

Finally the sun lit up the treetops at Clippesby after a very rainy day.

Sunlit treetops at Clippesby

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We arrived at Clippesby Hall at 13:00, and found it to be a first rate camp site that merited all the positive reviews we had read. Our pitch was adjacent to a wooded area with mature pine trees.

Reception at Clippesby Hall and the woods adjacent to our pitch

Views of our pitch before and after setting up

After pitching camp we paid a quick visit to the supermarket at the local village, Acle. We returned to eat, and then sat outside to look up at the stars and listen to the wind in the trees until we lost all track of time.

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Today we travelled from Arnhem to Leersum, a stopover on our way to see Utrecht. Leersum turned out to be a real gem. The B&B was in the woods on the outskirts of the town, and had its own Sauna, which was very welcome after a day in the saddle.

The owner kept bees, which was of great interest to Janina as she is also a beekeeper.

Beehives at our B&B, Leersum

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We expected this visit to be the high point of the tour for us, and it certainly did not disappoint. The Hoge Veluwe National Park and the Kroller-Muller museum and Art Gallery at its centre are absolutely stunning and we enjoyed our best day of the holiday so far.

The park itself is enormous, and can only be visited on foot or by bicycle. To give an idea of the size, a tour of the park by bike involves completing a ride of around 35Km. The Kroller-Muller museum and Art Gallery contain numerous works by Van Gogh, Picasso, Mondrian, Rodin, Moore and Hepworth among others.

You can find out more about the park by visiting its website, which includes a live webcam, here.

Those who arrive by car must park at the entrance and take one of the famous ‘white bikes’ to tour the park…

The white bikes in the Hoge Veluwe National Park

Views of the Hoge Veluwe National Park including the beehives
A selection of sculptures from the Sculpture Garden at the Kroller-Muller museum…






We dined at the Buffet restaurant near the entrance to the park. Steve paid another of his visits to the Slagroom… I should hastily point out that this is not a colloquial term for a ‘house of ill repute’, but Dutch for whipped cream. The Dutch certainly do their cholesterol in style – diverse cheese and eggs at breakfast, toasted cheese sandwiches (‘tostis’) for lunch and whipped cream on the hot chocolate, Dutch apple cake (a speciality), and in this case, profiteroles!

Steve pays a visit to the slagroom…

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