Monday, September 24, 2007
New week new weather and the power is down on the railway line between London and Kings Lynn so I'm sat at Kings Lynn station buffet eating a bacon sandwich and debating whether to ask for access to the computers at the station so that I can check my emails. Today was going to be fairly busy day but now more likely to be a half day instead. At least it is our train that's the problem and hopefully I will get lots of vouchers by way of compensation for the delay.
We had a relaxed weekend although I did seem to work my way through the jobs to be done list. On Saturday it was warm enough to do our usual trip to the abbey grounds and sit and watch the world go by whilst discussing the design of front driveways.
There is little left of the the original abbey - Henry VIII saw to that. It is a strange experience eating my lunch on the same spot where Kings of England once came to be crowned and buried, and where 100s of monks and nuns will have been slaughtered in the name of religion.
In more recent years it became one of the many Norfolk homes of the Gurneys, one of the wealthiest families in the UK at one time, and co-founders of Barclays Bank. Elizabeth Gurney is perhaps the most well known in the family, although more under her married name of Elizabeth Fry, the founder of prison reforms. A few Gurneys still remain at the very large house that was built in the abbey grounds, but my understanding is that the ones with the money are more likely to be found in London than Walsingham. They remain a large landowner and most of Walsingham and the surrounding area is owned by the estate. They never seem to be short of money, judging by the number of empty properties they own that could be sold for large amounts for redevelopment.
In recent years the estate has been a bit more adventurous, converting a series of barns into a farm shop which it runs, together with 2 other units that are let as retail units. And in Great Walsingham there are a series of barns that were converted several years ago and now include our local rural post office (which will no doubt go under planned cuts).
We had a relaxed weekend although I did seem to work my way through the jobs to be done list. On Saturday it was warm enough to do our usual trip to the abbey grounds and sit and watch the world go by whilst discussing the design of front driveways.
There is little left of the the original abbey - Henry VIII saw to that. It is a strange experience eating my lunch on the same spot where Kings of England once came to be crowned and buried, and where 100s of monks and nuns will have been slaughtered in the name of religion.
In more recent years it became one of the many Norfolk homes of the Gurneys, one of the wealthiest families in the UK at one time, and co-founders of Barclays Bank. Elizabeth Gurney is perhaps the most well known in the family, although more under her married name of Elizabeth Fry, the founder of prison reforms. A few Gurneys still remain at the very large house that was built in the abbey grounds, but my understanding is that the ones with the money are more likely to be found in London than Walsingham. They remain a large landowner and most of Walsingham and the surrounding area is owned by the estate. They never seem to be short of money, judging by the number of empty properties they own that could be sold for large amounts for redevelopment.
In recent years the estate has been a bit more adventurous, converting a series of barns into a farm shop which it runs, together with 2 other units that are let as retail units. And in Great Walsingham there are a series of barns that were converted several years ago and now include our local rural post office (which will no doubt go under planned cuts).
// posted by Dave @ 12:41 PM 
