Just so we could have a round at Pirates Cove Crazy Golf we've had a long weekend in the Great Yarmouth area. It was a great Crazy Golf course, well laid out, with an edutainment side to it as it had placards recording the history of Blackbeard and Captain Morgan and the like - the moral seemed to be piracy is not a good long-term career choice. The 18 holes were varied, but not too difficult. We would have got round quicker but found ourselves held up by being indirectly behind a slow foursome.

Before this on the Saturday we also did Merrivale Model Village which is a model village as the name suggests. We got our hands stamped as we went in, the mark has faded after a day or two. Fun enough for an hour! Saturday evening we managed to eat at Brewers Fayre despite the Satnav misleading us.

On the Sunday we went to the service at Gorleston Baptist Church, very welcoming and good value for money as the service went on past noon. We were glad we had booked the Harvester for 1pm! So hot I went for fish and chips. In the afternoon we went to Somerleyton Hall which is a stately home still owned by the family which made its wealth making carpets. I do enjoy seeing such places, what is possible if you have the money to do it, but the gulf between me and the class of people who have such homes jars. We didn't attempt the maze, but did attempt the variegated scoops of ice cream available in the cafe. The blue candyfloss ice cream was novel.

I've left to last the place we stayed at, Leanda Lodge. For the right people this would be a great place to stay, but for us it didn't work so well. The weather was very hot and it was uncomfortable being inside, stuffy - but we were deterred from being outside as the owners had black Rottweilers with names like Lucifer. One Rottweiler was huge. Even having the windows open was problematic as the owners had two parties while we were there including barbecue so noise and smoke. They had a large parrot prisoner in a cage which we only realised after we heard someone saying bye bye but not a visible someone. Other oddities included light switches hidden behind fridges, a gravel driveway our wheels spun on, and taps needing to be unwound several times to come on. But some visitors loved Leanda Lodge.