Reflections at Oxburgh Hall

Oxburgh Hall is one of the most intriguing National Trust properties in East Anglia.  The whole building is a gem, a Tudor mansion built in warm brick, surrounded by a moat.  The interior is fascinating, with insights into the lives of the Roman Catholic minority in Tudor times, including a priest's hole which you can enter (if you are flexible enough to get round the 90 degree bend!) and embroideries worked by Mary Queen of Scots during her captivity in England: some of the detail on them is fascinating from the point of view of the exotic creatures which are pictured, some obviously from life, and some more from the imagination.
But the day that we visited the attraction for me was the reflections of the castle in the moat.  Much of the fortification is really for show: the house has been altered considerably since Tudor times, but the main gatehouse is still much as it was.
The best view of the gatehouse, paradoxically, is from the back, looking over the low building which replaced the original Great Hall.

It looks more like a keep from this side!
On either side of the low building we are looking over are two square towers.

It's quite strange how the brickwork looks warmer in the reflection than when seen directly.  The last of the "reflection" pictures shows one of the wings of the house, or perhaps side walls might be a better term.  The side ranges are basically one room thick, with a corridor to the inside.

One of the things which seems to have changed over the past few years is the attitude of the volunteers in National Trust houses.  In the past my memory is that they were a little like museum curators, whose attitude as at least as much related to the security of the objects as to anything else.  But tis time the people we spoke to were real enthusiasts for the houses they were showing off, and their friendly and informative attitude added greatly to the enjoyment of the visit.

Ely Cathedral

Ely Cathedral dominates the fen country in the west of Norfolk: it sits on a lowish ridge but the countryside around is so flat it is visible for miles.

Viewed from the river bank it looks simply massive, as much like a fortress as a cathedral.  It doesn't have a spire, but instead has a unique feature of an octagon shaped tower, with large windows close to the top.

Inside the octagon is a wonderful painting:

The work in the octagon is genuinely medieval, the rest of the ceiling was restored in the nineteenth century.  It's one of the most striking pieces of architecture in any British church, and because the upper stories are full of windows gives the whole cathedral an amazing quality of light inside.  SDG.