Lowestoft wasn't really what I had been expecting. For a start there are too many roundabouts. There is literally a roundabout every few hundred yards and the place is a nightmare to navigate.
We did have a couple of trips out to local 'attractions'. The first was to Pettitt's which is an 'animal adventure park' at a tiny place called Reedham. It is quite off the beaten track and our journey to and from the place involved a very short ride on a chain ferry across part of the Broads. We were literally on the thing for a minute or two as it took its maximum load of two cars from one side to the other - for a rather inflated charge of £4 (each way).
I've read the reviews for Pettitt's, and they are mixed. Some seem to like the place whilst others clearly hate it. It's fair to say that I was quite impressed with the place once I was inside. I must admit, having parked in a field a few hundred yards from the entrance, I had visions of that 'Christmas Wonderland' that was anything but a few years ago that got closed down by Trading Standards. Once inside though, I was pleasantly surprised. It was far bigger than I expected it to be and there is enough there to keep the average family occupied and amused for a good 3-4 hours. Our son particularly enjoyed the miniature train ride around the park and I'm pretty sure we went on it eight or nine times. The facilities are pretty good, though items in the gift shop were massively over-priced as was the food in the cafe/restaurant.
The other place we visited, on the Sunday, was the East Anglia Transport Museum at Carlton Colville just outside Lowestoft. I don't know why but I had in my head a huge place with long rides on buses and trams. The reality was quite different, the place being a lot smaller than I'd imagined. However, there was a lot crammed into a small space with trips on trolleybuses and trams which basically did a circuit of the museum.
There is also a little train which I thought would do a loop of the site, but I was disappointed to find that it only went to the next station a hundred yards away and came back again.
For anyone interested in trolleybuses and trams, the place is a must. The effort and dedication by those running the museum is plain to see and for the entrance fee (£7.50 each), it's great value considering you can have as many rides as you like. We opted to tick the Gift Aid box when we bought our tickets and this entitled us to a season pass granting free access until next August.
It's not really a place you could spend all day in. We were there for about three hours by which time even I was tram'd out.
For our second visit of the day, we called at Great Yarmouth. This was on our way home as we had decided to vacate the place we were staying at a day early. Great Yarmouth was very busy but we managed to get easily parked. Many people, we found out, were gathered there to see the East Coast Truckers convoy pass through. Apparently this happens every year and is in aid of a children's charity.
No trip to Great Yarmouth is complete without a ride on the 'snails' and we spent much of our time in the amusement area where I gave in to my son's begging and joined him on a couple of the less scary rides.
Again, everything there was massively over-priced and the whole place is designed to make you part with as much money as possible. Thankfully, we had a limit and this was strictly enforced by my wife.
I do like Great Yarmouth. OK, it is full of shops and cabins selling all types of multi-coloured rubbish, screaming teenagers (and adults) being thrown around on rides, the smell of hot doughnuts mingled with fish, chips and vinegar, but it is typically British and I would miss it if it wasn't there.
We left Great Yarmouth at about 9pm. I was exhausted and our parking ticket was about to run out. I'm pleased we had a couple of days away. It certainly felt like longer, but I am so glad and relieved to be home. It really does take a stay somewhere else to appreciate the things you have.
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