07 May 2007

Ancestral

Apart from a few months after I was born I have never lived anywhere where I could claim any family roots - until now. You see with Norfolk I have ancestry, which I didn't know until about 4 5 years ago, but one of my great grandmothers came from Holt. I know very little I'm ashamed to say, she was in service for a while as a cook, she ended up living in Kent although how she got there from Norfolk I don't know but she and my great grandfather (who was Irish and I don't know how and where they met either) did live in the west end of London for a while before World War I.

Looking for things to do today I suggested we go to Holt to have a look round, as far as I'm aware I have no family left there but I thought it would be interesting nevertheless to have a look see. Holt is a bit of a tourist trap, a posh tourist trap, it's full of boutiques, expensive sandwich shops, galleries and gourmet supermarkets, oohs sorry "food halls." Holt reminded me very much of a mix of the village my brother and his family live in, the touristy bits of Harrogate especially round the Crown Hotel and Masham which has a Spar shop with gourmet tendencies.

Apart from the tourist trap shops there doesn't seem to be that much of interest to see in Holt, we had a look at the war memorial, had lunch in a local pub, nice, not too expensive and didn't taste like it was "fresh from our freezer".

And then we left. I would be lying if I felt anything about the place, I'm not sure if you are supposed to in cases like these. I wouldn't want to live there and I wouldn't visit as a matter of course as it's not my sort of tourist destination.

So ancestral stomping grounds - meh I think without some family there to connect with they don't mean that much to me.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous09 May, 2007

    Holt has its good points. There is (or was, I haven't been there for a couple of years) a good second hand book shop and an antique store that is more "interesting old junk" than antiques. The best thing though is the steam railway that takes you to Sheringham. Ice cream, sea and chips!

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  2. Anonymous10 May, 2007

    See, I think that the bigger your extended family, the more relatives you actually know (and have to put up with at Christmas, weddings, funerals etc.), in real life, the less you are interested in the dead versions of them.

    Particularly the ones who were transported to the colonies for horse stealing. I can see them right now, and they look just like my innumerable, obnoxious cousins

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