On our bucket list was a trip to the coast. We settled on Old
Hunstanton Beach in Norfolk (click
here for a map):
The main draw (for me) was the
red cliffs:
Next stop,
Castle Rising, once owned by Isabella, "
The She-wolf of France," and her grandson Edward,
"The Black Prince":
In 1544, King Henry the VIII either gave or sold the castle to Thomas Howard, and it has remained in the Howard family ever since--which makes me wonder: Did my ancestors live here?
(My great-great-great-grandfather, Barnabas Howard, was born in Pennsylvania in 1791. I have not yet been able to trace a connection back to Thomas Howard or to his niece, Catherine, Henry's ill-fated 5th wife.)
Of the three
Norman castles we have visited in England, Castle Rising was by far the most fun, partly because it doesn't take itself too seriously:
It also has particularly well-preserved earthworks or "
baileys":
