Bob

The big brands over here are a load of arse, but if you've Trader Joes, they've got really nice ones, though they're weird square cuts...good though, has fish in them and aren't a grease ball.

Hubcaps

I don't miss fish cakes at all...not when Dungeness crab cakes are in abundance. Another enormous tick in he box for moving to the PNW, the excellent choice and quality of the seafood.

Chugabug

Will check out The Old Willow House Pub when I'm over there in March. Thanks.

Yorkieabroad

The Captain definitely trumps The Fisherman any day of the week in my book. Maybe its what you are brought up with.

Not so sure on the rest of the fish though....round our way sometimes its reasonable, sometimes its not so good - the thing that ticks me is the lack of consistency. And its kinda pricey too, but I guess a lot of that is a function of living a long way from the nearest fishing industry. I'm used to going down and buying it direct off the boats on the beach, or at most 100yds away from the fishing quay.

Oregon4now

Lol, well that's a first, usually It is the other way around, people complaining about the Huge proportions. Anyway since you seem to be in L.A, There are tons & tons of fresh fish available in L.A . If you live in the Valley, try Ocean City it is a huge Fish market with a lot's of Variety of Fresh seafood, stuffed Fillet of Sole, Philipino Fresh water shrimp the size of Kittens...lol.. Also try any upscale Grocery store for Gourmet fish cakes etc.. I would suggest Gelsons, Von's, Albersons.. That boxed pre-fab fish fingers stuff is not the way to go when you have Fish from the 7 Seas available at your fingertips..lol fishfingertips.

Lothianlad

I guarantee that you won't regret staying at the Willow House in Watton. It's a listed building (I'm sure you know what this means here in the UK) and set well back from the main road to Norwich which can be very busy at peak times so no traffic noise at all is audible from the bedrooms, which are situated in separate building of single storeys behind the main building housing the bars and restaurant and involving a distance of only a few metres.

The lady who runs the whole business 24/7 is an absolute treasure and nothing is too much trouble. She even installed a fridge in our room as the weather that weekend was very hot - about 33C - and we had bottles of soft drinks in our room, although, as with practically all UK hotels and pubs and inns, there are tea and coffee making facilities availabe in the bedrooms.

The food is excellent, breakfasts (full English or varied Continental) and the evening meals in either the restaurant or in the bars where you wil be served at your tables, and we found the locals in the bars very friendly and chatty and may well inveigle you to join in the quizzes or a game of darts. The local Norfolk ale is pretty good (the name of which I can't remember off hand now but is distinctly Norfolk - I now think it may be Wherry ale, wherries being the boats sailing on the nearby Norfolk Broads).

Customer reviews available on the websites. Enjoy. I like East Anglia and Norfolk in particular - it may be flat in its landscape (as confirmed by Noel Coward) but at least the beer isn't, and neither are the bar convos. Some of the older guys in the bar may have a strong dialect which may be as intelligble as Serbo Croat to some not used to hearing it.

http://www.thewillowhouse.co.uk/

Chugabug

Thanks for the info and the link. I'm from Norfolk and look forward to going back to visit next year after five years. I will check out The Willow House.

cindyabs

Looking forward to heading to East Anglia next time we're over, so I can do some family tree research, but THAT will take some serious planning because we're dependant on trains and buses. We usually do the self catering route.

Lothianlad

In the normal, statistial run of things weatherwise here in the UK East Anglia is the driest region of the entire British Isles and annual rainfall totals can be surprisingly low. Some years historically have seen as little as 300mm (about 12 inches) falling in parts of the region (Norfolk/Suffolk/Essex) during an entire calendar year, blowing clean out of the window the impression many people in other countries hold that England is permanently drenched by rain and shrouded in mist and fog. Apart from places along the south coast of England from Dorset to Kent, East Anglia also clocks up quite high sunshine totals over the course of a year.

I have to say here that the east and south east coast of Scotland, as well as the Moray Firth coastline of north east Scotland, also have surprisingly low annual rainfall totals and appreciative annual sunshine records, too. I had to get that one in.

Until the late 1950s and early 1960s East Anglia, and the large county of Norfolk, was criss-crossed with a network of railways lines, many of them single track, and lined with wee stations with cute names reflecting the very rural nature of the region - Stow Bedon, Wretham and Hockham, Whitwell and Reepham, Melton Constable, Corpusty and Saxthorpe, Mundesley on Sea, Buxton Lamas, Wighton Halt, Middleton Towers, Clenchwarton and very many other tiny rural, flower bedecked country railways stations and halts - plus the tiny station of Wolferton, used most by the Royal Family and their entourage when they were staying at nearby Sandringham House, just to the north of King's Lynn.

All these stations and halts were subsequenty closed down under the auspices of a bloke called Dr Beeching as a cost cutting exercise coinciding with the advent of universal car ownership. Nowadays only the main railway lines remain, mostly running down to Cambridge, Ipswich, Peterborough and Ely from Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Cromer, Thetford, Diss and Great Yarmouth and ultimately ending up at Liverpool Street train station in London. Of course going west you are heading for the Midlands or on up to the north if you change trains at places like Peterborough.

Bus services, both local and long distance, are reasonably good all over the East Anglian region.

Good luck. I loved the huge, wide open skies of East Anglia, sometimes with amazing cloud formations or just plain old cloudless blue - yes, honestly - bear in mind what I said earlier on. However, with an east wind blowing in winter it can be perishingly parky by UK standards, but on a lovely day in summer, clear sunny skies with hardly any breeze to speak of, as it was when I was down there last August, it was gorgeous if a wee bit on the hot side - over 32C the entire weekend, but suited most of us as we trailed round the many Roman sites found all over Norfolk, from Burgh Castle to Caistor St Edmund and Brancaster, et al.

Good luck. If you are doing family history researching in any particular area I believe it is great fun visiting various ancient churches and perusing old parish records and even churchyard headstones. It seems that local members of the clergy are always happy to be as helpful as they can. I might try it sometime myself, if I ever have the time.

robin1234

Not quite as bad as you paint it... There are still plenty of branch lines in the UK, for instance from Norwich to Cromer & Sheringham and from Norwich to Gt. Yarmouth.

I'm getting old & starting to think Norfolk would be better to retire to than Devon. Walking & cycling is more of an option for old bones when it is flat or with gentle gradients. Unfortunately you can't go half a mile in Devon without a steep hill up or down..

RickWG

I'm up in the High Desert...

As for the majority of meals being extremely large, thats very true.. however those meals aren't being served by some sour faced British bint who thinks rationing is still in force..

I mean seriously, it will confuse the kitchen staff to take a piece of lamb & put it on a plate next to a slice of beef? WTF???

Oregon4now

lol...

I posted #20 a decent list of where to get lamb in the HD.
I hope you have better luck with the Staff and the food.

Happy Holidays.

Lothianlad

Happy holidays.....that sounds so funny. Is that greeting at this time of the year borne out of political correctness? Here in the UK this does not apply - it's either Happy Christmas or Merry Christmas so to all of you over there in America - HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Happy holidays is something we homebound Brits are much more lilely to say between June and September, but even then not quite in those words.

Lothianlad

I have eaten out at restaurants and, perhaps more frequently at pubs because of the general atmosphere of bonhomie and much more of an opportunity to chat with other people and have a good laugh in the process - in many parts of the UK not just here at home in Scotland (Edinburgh as you would expect has a whole host of excellent eating - and drinking - venues).

I reckon this latest report on British food and cuisine is absolutely spot on the button. Cheers!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddr...reat-food.html

Oregon4now

'Merry Christmas' is one of the most common ways to wish someone well on the holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus. Non-Christians also celebrate during the season as well, with gifts and other traditions. An inclusive way of wishing someone well during the Holiday season is by wishing them 'Happy Holidays'.
At least that's how I was brought up with the understanding of the saying.
Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas