Festivals, freebies and fireworks!

On Friday Molly and I had tickets to see Robin Hood's Heart performed by some pupils of Norwich School as part of the Youth Norfolk Arts Festival. It was performed in the beautiful surroundings of the Cloisters and Garth of Norwich Cathedral. It was a perfect evening for outdoor theatre. 

This hot air balloon distracted us for a few minutes as it flew over the cathedral. I found out the next day that it landed on a road in Brundall later in the evening, causing chaos!

The lead two actors were amazing, in fact the entire cast were fantastic! They were a very talented bunch and I don't think it will be many years before we see some of them on our TV screens.

On Saturday it was hubby's annual work's Summer Party at Dunston Hall. The weather forecast wasn't great and I think it put a lot of people off as it was much quieter than previous years but we managed 3 decent hours before the rain showers arrived. Everything is free…all drinks, food and activities. We have attended for 3 years but never as the 5 of us as one of the children has usually had something else on so it was nice to head there as a complete family for once.

Harry headed straight to the face painting as there wasn't a queue and asked for red dinosaur….and spent the rest of the day asking 'has it come off yet' at least every 5 minutes! 

There's always a huge range of activities for the children to enjoy (some for the adults too!)

It took Harry 3 times to attempt this one. He got 'stuck' at the top and had to push through a queue of children as he was too scared. Then he saw a lad younger than him make it across so he tried again and made it to the first ball and on the 3rd attempt he finally made it through to the end. My boy certainly perseveres!

This was Charlie's favourite as he's football mad. A group of lads his age joined in with some teens and adults and spent ages having a kickabout.

It was the first year that Harry has been big enough to go on these. He did quite well as he's so tiny and beat his sister as she wasn't able to somersault but he managed it with ease.

An unususal, but fun, addition to the activities this year was duck herding. The farmer asked for volunteers and Charlie was right in there.

The VW photo booth is a favourite but I chickened out this year as I hate having my photo taken.

As well as those activities they had a disco and entertainer in the marquee while we stuffed ourselves silly on the gorgeous spread of food. He was so funny and absolutely brilliant with the children (James D if you're looking for a party entertainer in Norfolk!) Harry adored him and still talks about what he had the children doing. 

As much as we love this event we've decided we're going to give it a miss next year as it always falls on the weekend on the Lord Mayor's Celebrations in Norwich which is an event I have  wanted to attend ever since we moved here. The procession is supposed to be one of the highlights of the Norwich events calendar. We did make it to the fireworks in the evening though….eventually. 

We had an awful thunderstorm late afternoon and I decided it wouldn't be worth going to the city but then I saw a tweet stating that the fireworks WERE going ahead so me, Molly and Charlie drove into the city centre, parked on the roof of the new multi-storey car park and grabbed some snacks from a local shop and sat waiting for the fireworks.

We had a fabulous view of the castle where the fireworks were going to be set off and were really lucky as it stopped raining just before the display. It was a short display, only 8 minutes or so, but very much worth the wait. My photos just don't do it justice.

This post has been linked up with Country Kids from Coombemill