For several years now, we’ve made it a tradition to get away for New Year. Years ago, it was often a snowboarding trip. Later, with Skitters, the goal became finding somewhere quieter to help ease her anxiety about fireworks. Now, it’s simply something we enjoy doing, a treat after the Christmas hustle and bustle.

This year, we returned to Norfolk, staying at the Forest Holidays site. It was a peaceful spot to bid farewell to 2024 and welcome 2025.

We arranged for early check-in, allowing us to get out into the woodlands as the sun set.

During our stay, we visited several National Trust properties. On our first day, we stopped by Felbrigg Hall and Estate

and popped into Sheringham Park as well as it was only 10 minutes away

On New Year’s Day, a particularly wet day, we waited for the rain to ease and headed out in the afternoon to East Wretham Nature Reserve

I couldn’t resist photographing some vibrant fungi that brightened up the day.

On Thursday, we visited another nearby National Trust property, the Oxburgh Estate. While much of the woodland and parkland was closed due to safety concerns after heavy winds, we made the most of the areas that were accessible and enjoyed a warming coffee afterwards.

We had to contend with frosty mornings, which proved tricky for our car battery and made the drive home a bit more stop-and-go than planned.

As we started to wend our way home we stopped off at the impressive Ickworth Estate. We enjoyed a walk through some of the parkland, which felt vast and left us wanting to return for further exploration.

We did pop by the house for a look at the outside as it’s really quite an incredible sight.

Our final stop was the Wimpole Estate, a place we visited in the summer during our first holiday with Breezy. Unfortunately, the EV chargers didn’t work for our car this time, so we couldn’t charge while exploring. Despite this, we enjoyed a brief look around and caught glimpses of the dismantling Christmas light display.

This was another successful New Year’s break.