Thetford

232 miles had to be driven, from my house to Thetford, a small town in Norfolk where Fenner had a meeting. I was tagging along as the following day my friend, Jane,  and I have a silver clay jewellery making course to attend nearby. 

I have to admit I was looking forward to having a mooch around Thetford whilst Fenner did some business stuff, my plan was to walk around, find a cosy bar or coffee shop and read my book. All was going well, parking was easy to find, though a small amount of anxiety with it as there was no indication if I should pay for the parking or how long was the maximum stay. It appeared to be restriction free parking, in a town, not something you come across every day.

That turned out to be because I doubt anyone would willingly pay to park in Thetford.

The town's glory days have clearly come and gone. I couldn't find one independent coffee shop, plenty of old school chips and tea style cafes and even a small but busy Costa. Everything just felt really sad. So I went from charity shop to charity shop (looking for cute glassware as always), convinced I would find a nice pub or bar eventually. Nothing. Though I found a lovely river going through the town and some interesting priory ruins, but it really wasn't the best of days to enjoy them.

Not all was lost, I bought some nice glassware and old teacups for a couple of pounds and decided to head back to the car passing this place on my way 'Museum of Thetford Life'. I really should have gone in but I needed some distance from this little town that appears to be struggling to pull itself out of a slump. There is clearly a large eastern european population in the town, which I liked, its nice to see the continental supermarkets and stores, I like listening to voices. But sadly there also seems to be issues with unemployment. 

The town where I am from isn't unlike this, but I think you can see the difference a great council makes. Our council appears to support independent business and so you see lots of lovely shops popping up, the markets are busy and there are lots for the kids to do. I really liked the people in Thetford but I think their council is letting them down, I reckon they could do a lot more to raise this little town out of it's depression. 

Perhaps if I had visited  this museum I could have appreciated the town more, not sure I shall be returning to do this though. Sadly.

S x