Elveden Centre Parcs, Norfolk

I have worked at the Center Parcs at Elveden a few times now, telling to children and it was not as I expected. I suppose I thought it would be some cabins in the woods with a shop and perhaps a swimming pool, but no. It's very different and at first I have to admit to being a bit disappointed. That's because it's so busy with so much going on - With shops and restaurants it is a holiday park and not the forest hideaway that I expected.

Map of the many restaurants and shops in the woods!

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But that is of course down to my own bias and I suppose that because I am always amongst crowds that I like to get away from people when away on a break, but we are of course all different! There maybe roads everywhere criss-crossing the woods, but they do encourage access to the outside and a bit of nature with trails into the woods and whether you choose to walk or ride on the many bikes that cover the site. I imagine that for say someone who dwells in a town the park could seem like paradise.

Bikes placed everywhere for use by anyone

It's also good to see people of all ages from toddlers to the old being so active. There is plenty going on inside from typical holiday entertainment and any amount of indoor sports from badminton to bowls, but even so there were still more people outside. Even though it was a freezing cold February day there were plenty of people outside wrapped up well with wellies on (I like my wellies not only waterproof but just so convenient if you are too lazy to do up shoelaces like me) Its very much about getting out amongst nature albeit in a very 21st century kind of way with Quad biking and swinging on wires through the trees, but it's getting out none the less. There's also falconry and other outdoor stuff as well as getting out on the lake, rowing and they even have those big inflatable things you can walk on water in! As I sit here drinking tea in the warm Starbucks of all places I can see people walking, cycling and playing crazy golf together on treasure island!

Great crowds playing crazy golf on Treasure Island

I suppose that's what sticks out most; the large groups that come to Elveden, which must be good. We do after all live in a world dominated by twenty-four hour tv, computers and the smart phone like the one I have my face buried in now whilst I write this blog at Centre Parcs. You could say that when it comes to my phone I'm a good example of the inactive, isolated lifestyle, which leads me to type with some irony that you could do a lot worse than get you family or a group of mates together, get out there and perhaps and go to Centre Parcs!

Not many out sailing today as very cold


In the distance a giant inflatable walking on water thing!


Fencing.
One of the many indoor sports with healthy people putting me to shame!

Thanks to all the bar staff for helping set up today....

New Year - New Journeys

Its been a while since I posted as most of the events I told at last year were repeat visits. Hopefully this year there will be some new venues including Dragon Hall in Norwich, Christchurch Mansion House in Ipswich, Arundel Castle in Warwickshire and the Bodlien Library in Oxford. So lots more journeys to come...

I just hope I can still afford the petrol!

Wondering where I'm off to next!

Making Bacon at the Black Knight Fair...

Last Saturday I was telling at the Black Knight Fair in Ashton-Under-Lyne.
Its an annual 'celebration' of the infamous local Lord, Sir Ralph de Assheton, who was well known for his cruel and heartless ways. Amongst other things he rolled his enemies and any local peasants who stood up to him, down a hill in Ashton, in a barrel - A barrel with iron nails hammered into it! During the modern celebration there were the expected boos when the Black knight made his entrance, but in truth everyone loved him and he was just like any great pantomime villein. But a local historian told me it was very different when the fair was introduced in the seventeenth century and the Black Knight then was still treated as a figure of hate. In those days his effigy was processed through the town before being burnt on bonfire. Now that's the kind of celebration I like. But saying that, it was still a fun day with jesters, musicians, magicians and me! Certainly the locals enjoyed themselves and its clear that they are very proud of their local history and the story of Sir Ralph. For his adventures do have the makings of a good story - Of foul deeds and secret meetings with hideous hunchbacks; its all there. And its hard to tell where the story ends and truth begins, for as one local lady told me, she can remember as a child the remains of Ralph's castle on top of a nearby hill at the end of her street. And she assured me that they were still rolling wrongdoers down that hill in a barrel full of nails until fairly recent times! Its true what they say, truth and lies do live in the same house!

A good day out and a warm friendly place, but what I also enjoyed was journey to Ashton. It was a long one that took me over the top of Derbyshire and the Peaks, which I hadn't expected. Its one thing to look at a map and follow a road, quite different when you are there taking in the wondrous views. For no sooner had I passed through Sheffield than I was driving on the Snake Pass, looking across at some fabulous views as the sun came up, lighting up the tops of the hills whilst the valleys still lay in darkness. That's one of the benefits of traveling to and from a job in one day, you get the roads to your self and the best of the views. Although I should have liked to have stayed longer to explore Derbyshire some more on the way home.

The Snake Pass at sunrise
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But Ashton was worth the drive and as well as entertainment there was also a farmers market. And what caught my eye were two young 'Old Spot' pigs penned in next to one of the tents. They were getting plenty of attention from adults and kids alike. Plenty of ooohhhs and aaahhhs from everyone. For many did not know that the pigs belonged to a butcher nearby selling pork pies, sausages and bacon and he brought the pigs with him to show the kids where their food comes from. It reminds me of a farm museum called Gressenhall in Norfolk where I first started telling and where in the visitors center there was a sign pointing to a fridge door telling children to go get some sausages. But when they opened the door it looked into a pig sty and all the little piglets therein! A shock for some at both Gressenhall and on Ashton market, but to be honest I think its good that know something of the food we put inside us and I have to say the butchers pork pies were delicious. They were also good value, for I brought one for £2.50, which was as big as my face!

BEFORE - Sausages and pies in waiting!

AFTER-The butchers stall with pies as big as my face

Thanks to Gerry and his staff for making it such as easy day and also to the people of Ashton for their wonderful stories!

Summer events

It was a very busy summer and so here are some of the high points.....

In early July I was telling as part of the Lord Mayors Celebrations in Norwich. It was on St Georges Green which has just been opened up to events after the whole area has been refurbished, repaved and the like. A great place near the City Art College to relax and even take in a bit of culture on the edge of a busy city....

Information Panel at St George's green

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Entrance to St George's Green
Over the newly restored 18th century St George's bridge

Art on the Green

Relaxing on the Green

My storytelling space on the Green

The following day I was at St Benedict's Street Fair in Norwich. This was a real eye opener for me, for to tell the truth I didn't realise they did stuff like this in Norwich! The whole street and others besides were shut off (It was Sunday anyway) and some of the shop owners and other traders set up outside. But there were also lots of performers, singers, street artists and the like and it all made for a very laid back afternoon. I was telling in a churchyard, which is now part of an arts centre and the crowds were well up for a tale or two or three!


Traders and on St Benedict's Street

Performance on the street...

Sustenance on the street....

Relaxing on the street!

The Spoken Word stage at St Bendict's Street Fair

Later in July I was at Folk by the Oak at Hatfield House near London.
I've told at a few music festivals recently, but this was one of the best. Not least because it was a folk festival with only one stage, so I had plenty of opportunity to get in some stories and a folk crowd always appreciates a good story. Some great young singers who are on the way up and all topped off with Bellowhead, who some purists don't like, but I thought were fantastic. Really got the crowd going, although they did take the piss out of Norwich!

What also stood out were all the oaks at Hatfield, hence the name of the festival. Its said that Elizabeth 1st was given the news that her half sister Mary was dead and that she was now Queen under one of them. Although many of the older oaks have now gone, but some still remain or at least the concrete cores that the misguided Victorians once poured inside them.

Crowds beginning to gather in front of the stage

Remains of concrete
Which was once inside now missing section of this oak

Victorian conservation at its worst!

I then continued on to the Cambridge Folk Festival. Although my time there was cut short, I did enjoy what I saw, with so many stages for both established and new acts. I was telling with John Row and he wangled back stage passes for the main stage which boosted me ego and there's nothing wrong with a bit of ego. As someone said to me just last week, if you don't blow your own horn it'll go rusty - Wise words indeed!

There was lots going on, but I enjoyed the ceilidh sessions best. Just watching everyone trying to get their heads around the moves made me smile as much as all of they were. Every one was having a great time dancing with people they had never met before. That's why I like ceilidhs, everyone can join in and even a crap dancer like me can not make a fool of themselves....

The main stage at Cambridge Folk Festival

The storytelling area at Cambridge

Enjoying a ceilidh at Cambridge

Most of August was dominated by places like Sherwood, Ickworth and Kelling where I have told before, but then I went to Devizes International Street Festival. It was a bigger version of the St Benedict's fair except it took up the whole town center. What stood out for me was the local indoor markets where you could buy anything from a second world war ARP Warden's helmet to a Victorian sandwich sponge or even a Canterbury Tales DVD in Russian!

The best thing however were all the great street entertainers and I couldn't help thinking that many a storyteller could learn lots from them, especially when it comes to connecting with a large crowd of people. They included mad WI type men/women roaring about on motorised shopping trolleys and doing displays on said trolleys to rap music. There was also a very different mix of brass band married with some hardcore drumming! But best of all was a wonderful display of puppetry and mime by a group called Nakupelle who put on a performance with life sized puppets that were down on the ground at one moment, crawling around sniffing and hugging the crowd, and then were soaring high above heads the next. They were brilliant. This was storytelling without words...

Drum and Brass!

More Drum and Brass

Even more by my storytelling space

Nakupelle in action

Amazing things with glass balls!

Formation Shopping Trolleys!

And finaly over the holidays I was telling at Rochester Castle. The Tong side of my family came from Kent about 100 years ago, so its always good to get back there and Rochester is not far from where they lived. In some ways most visitors don't see the best of Kent because they are flying up the M20 or M2 to Canterbury or Dover. That's sad, because places like Rochester are fantastic, especially if you're into the historical stuff like me. Both the castle and nearby cathedral are still Norman through and through. It really is like stepping back 900 years There are not many Norman castle Keeps as complete as at Rochester and if your'e into a bit of early medieval Romanesques architecture then you can no better than the Cathedral. A local told me that even after a fire in the nave in the early forteenth century they still rebuilt in the old style, which is unuseual. Normally they would use a disaster like that to rebuild in the latest fashion. I had thought that perhaps it was a far sighted respnse from the local Bishop; perhaps having seen changes elsewhere and wanting to save the old styles for posterity, but no. As the local informed me, they just didn't have enough money to completely rebuild anyway! But that's good with me, for nessesity 700 hundred odd years ago has left Rochester with a almost unique, and I think honest cathedral.

That was great, but because I was staying on site all weekend I also had the oportunity to visit some of the villages my family lived in long, long ago. Places like Egerton where some were buried in the late eighteenth century. I couldn't pinpoint their graves, but the churchayrd was a peaceful place, set on a rise overlooking fields and orchards and a well away from the M20!

Rochester Cathedral at dawn



The Cathedral from the top of the Norman keep




The Romanesque 'Norman' nave


The original entrance to the Chapter House
Rochester Cathedral Cloister


Model of Rochester Castle Keep

Rochester Castle Keep

The three floors of the Keep


Door and tunnel set into Keep wall

View of my tent and other traders/performers from top of Keep
Also Victorian Bridges and Medway

Late seventeenth century grave from Egerton churchyard