Pork pies, and other good things

We said farewell to the Retreat on Friday morning, but still had the rest of the day to ourselves. Our first port of call was the little village shop and art gallery in Itteringham: the former well-stocked, including a tiny book corner with sunny table by window, the latter (St Jude's Gallery) containing beautiful woodcuts, prints and cards.

We then made a long-anticipated trip to see the lovely girls of Bray's Cottage Pork Pies in the beautiful location of Bayfield Becks (having found them on Twitter). We simply followed our noses across the yard to find them... The pies weren't quite ready, so we dropped in to their neighbours at the fascinating Berber Interiors to browse around. If we'd had a spare £500, we'd have had that beautiful leather long footstool like a shot. As it was, we restrained ourselves, and then exercised further self-control by not diving into the bag containing six pork pies - four for us, two for mum and dad - which smell permeated the car temptingly for the rest of the day!

We'd mentioned to Sarah and Fee that we would be making for Wells-next-the-sea, and they mentioned a seafood cafe that might be worth a look. We found it, at the bottom of the high street, next to the Golden Fleece pub: serving very simply seafood sandwiches or chowder, it was a real find. Our chowder was completely delicious.

Finally, it was on to Aylsham to spend the evening with mum & dad - and get in the fish and chips!

We'd had a lovely break, seeing more of the county than we usually have the opportunity for, and chilled out - ready for the next mad flurry of activity. We'd also seen several beautiful small businesses, serving their small communities and beyond, dedicated to the products they make and the services they provide, and that was truly inspirational.

We like living in Norfolk.