Travel Tuesdays: Sandringham

Welcome back to my Norfolk honeymoon, dear readers!  We were staying right by the beach, as you know, but the second day of our stay was predicted to be a bit overcast so we decided to check out one of the most famous sites in the area: Sandringham.  We set off after a full English breakfast at our hotel, jumped onto the local Coast Hopper bus, and traveled for an hour through beautiful fields just teetering on the brink of harvest towards the royal Norfolk residence.

(If you're just here for the photos, scroll all the way down!  I went a bit history-mad while writing this post...)

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Sandringham is the Queen's country place in England and has belonged to the royal family since 1862,  when it was bought by Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales, to be a healthy retreat away from the distractions of London.  It quickly became apparent that the house wasn't suitable for large-scale entertaining so was rebuilt in 1870 into the structure you see today.  The grounds and gardens have been extensively altered as well - apparently the lake was determined to be badly situated after they rebuilt the house, so they just moved it - and are one of the finest examples of late-19th century English landscaping in the country.

The clouds had cleared by the time Jon and I arrived, so we wandered through the Woodland Walk and  approached the house via the formal garden at the north end.  On the way, we noticed some unusual gravestones in the wall and on the grass - they commemorated the Queen's dogs!

You enter the house from the east side, and the vantage from the end of the drive is quite striking.  As far as royal residences go, though, Sandringham seems relatively modest and comfortable.  It's impressive, no question, but lacks the intimidating grandeur that you might expect.  Visitors are only allowed to tour the ground floor; the docents are great and shared lots of little personal details about the Queen and her family, who spend Christmas at Sandringham, but it takes less than an hour to walk through all the rooms and exhibits.

After we'd seen the house, Jon and I meandered along more garden paths until we reached the museum.  They had a really cool collection of royal cars dating back to the first Daimler that the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) bought in 1900, plus a selection of gifts that the royal family has been given from foreign dignitaries and monarchs over the last century.  My favorite part of the museum was the room that explained the history of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Windsor line - I took AP Modern European History in high school but never learned this stuff!

Jon and I finished off our visit with a walk through The Dell to the church and then a late lunch in the sun on the grass outside of the Visitor's Centre.  In the end, we spent nearly three hours at Sandringham - but we'd have loved to add on a real walk through the Country Park if we could have stayed longer!  I definitely recommend buying the full £12 ticket rather than the £8 one that only gives you access to the grounds and museum as you will want to see the house.  Give yourself plenty of time to explore the estate, especially if the weather cooperates.  And, if you don't have access to a car, check out the Coast Hopper!  It took a while but was cheap and easy.  All in all, it made for a beautiful day out in Norfolk!

To put Sandringham and this family tree into pop-culture context, here are some fun facts:

- in Mary Poppins, Mr. Banks sings a song which includes the line "It's grand to be an Englishman in 1910 / King Edward's on the throne / it's the age of men."  That's Edward VII, Queen Victoria's son, who bought Sandringham.
- At the beginning of The King's Speech, King George V is the reigning monarch.  Many of the scenes between George V and his sons, including the one in which he died, took place at the estate in Norfolk.  He is quoted as saying, "Dear old Sandringham, the place I love better than anywhere in the world."
- The media made much of Kate Middleton's first Christmas at Sandringham with the royal family in 2011.  Apparently it's still quite an affair!

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