Felbrigg to Sustead and return via Metton
In our progress along the Weavers' Way, we reached Felbrigg Hall a week before it opened to the public for the 2010 season, so we returned to 'do' the Hall and garden the following weekend, before walking from Metton to Aldborough and back. We enjoyed Felbrigg Hall - the room guides were all extremely enthusiastic and pleasant, despite the fact that it was a bitterly cold day, outside and in! The Hall is Jacobean (with its origins in the 1620s), built on the site of a former Tudor building by the Windham (formerly Wymondham) family. More recently the family fell on hard times, and the Hall was bought by John Ketton, a Norwich businessman. His grandson Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cramer (a local historian and biographer), who was a blood-relative of the original Windhams too, was the 'last squire' of Felbrigg. He made many improvements (including the introduction of electricity as late as 1954) but his only relative, his brother, died in the 2nd World War, so Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cramer left the Hall to the National Trust following his death in 1969. I particularly liked the stained glass windows (of a wide range of dates and styles) in the Great Hall and the Library; unusually for a National Trust house, the books were clearly collected by real scholars - and used - and they include Samuel Johnson's dictionary. We also visited the Walled Garden; there was not a lot to see this early in the year apart from the 18th Century Dovecote, complete with doves. (We returned on 24th July 2010 after a walk along the railway line between Aylsham and North Walsham; the Walled Garden was now a mass of colour.)
On 27th February, we just used the Felbrigg Hall car park. The weather forecast promised that, from lunchtime, there would be a lull in the dismal weather. Don't believe weather forecasts! It was still raining as we ate our sandwiches in the car, and it chucked it down as we walked back from Metton to Felbrigg. However it was dry and mild as we followed the attractive outward route from Felbrigg to Sustead and Metton, and the sun even came out. Sometime after the publication of 'Langton's Guide to the Weavers's Way and Angles Way' in 1992, the route of this leg has been diverted - our return journey was along the former route of the path. Given the weather conditions this was thankfully direct, but the outward journey was really pretty and interesting - definitely an improvement - and the old and new routes form a very obvious loop. A further attraction is that in walking this short loop you pass three of Norfolk's 659 medieval churches. John Betjeman said 'Norfolk would not be Norfolk without a church tower on the horizon or round a corner up a lane'. He wasn't wrong.
From the car park at Felbrigg Hall, we walked past the Hall then followed a muddy footpath (OK, all footpaths are muddy at present!) round to the Lake. I think I've read somewhere that the Lake isn't visible from the Hall, but the Hall is certainly visible from the Lake and as we reached the Lake the rain stopped and evaporation created an atmospheric haze. It was beautiful.
We walked through the pretty woodland of Common Plantation, crossed a minor road and took a track that led to the most attractive Common Farm, slightly spoilt by a modern industrial building just past it. We turned left at another minor road, admiring yet more attractive Norfolk buildings, with lots of flint in evidence. After about half a mile we followed a path straight across a planted field towards the roundtowered Church of St Peter and St Paul at Sustead.
Sustead Church is fascinating - its Saxon origins are clear, but there is evidence inside and out of work in many later periods. After looking at the Church we walked through the very small village, with its modern village sign, continuing along the road to the point at which the Weavers' Way is signposted down a track to the right. We stayed on the road, initially straight ahead and then turning right to Metton.
There is parking by the 14th Century Church of St Andrew at Metton - noted for the future! We took a footpath opposite the Church, which followed a direct and generally well signposted route back to Felbrigg. We crossed the field to the Church of St Margaret at Felbrigg, built by Simon de Felbrigg in the 15th Century, but we didn't go inside because a wedding was in progress - we didn't think they'd appreciate our walking boots and wetness! As we returned to our car we felt a bit sorry for the wedding guests who would have needed to follow a similar route across waterlogged fields.
