February has to be my least favourite month of the year, so I am glad there are just a few days left now before we slip into March. Although, in our garden, we have seen hamamelis, snowdrops, primroses, pansies, cyclamen, crocus and camellias in flower, with the first of the daffodils and early tulips buds breaking open, I remain impatient to get into the full swing of spring. Not that we are guaranteed better weather in March, it just feels as though we will see an improve

Some may disagree but I think, overall, here in Overstrand we got away pretty lightly when Storm Eunice passed through the county. We had just the garden bench blown over and one of the composters, recently emptied, went walk about on the vegetable plot. Nothing like when in September 2020, while we were out of the county, the storm that hit this part of the UK left our garden looking as though a whirlwind had been through it. But this is not the end as Storm Franklin is wi

A sad day yesterday; it was formally recorded that Overstrand Women’s Institute will be put into suspension from 31st March. Our group has been forced into this situation due to a drop in members which has made us financially unviable. The WI advisor, who is designated to our group, attended yesterday afternoon’s meeting to take care of the formalities. She told us that twenty two other WI groups in the County are also being suspended; so we are not the only ones forced to m

It was grey with a steady breeze this morning; a fairly typical winter’s day. With rain forecast later, we took advantage of the dry conditions and went for a leisurely mooch, with Barney, westwards along the beach. Although the area below the promenade rarely yields anything of significance, when walking west or east we usually see items of interest, whilst picking debris washed up on the tides as well as rubbish left behind by those less considerate of the environment. T

The custard tarts, purchased from Tesco’s on Saturday, were a disappointment. The first tray of two had a definite clove flavour and the custard was sloppy in the middle. The second tray was better, with no cloves and a better consistency so must have been from a different batch, but not as good as when we bought them in the past. You can guess from commenting about custard tarts that, I don’t have a lot to say today! We now have a local radio station, Poppyland Community R

Sunday’s forceful winds resulted in further jostling, as well as some damage, to the beach huts. Without going into detail, the hut on plot one ended up on plot six and so the story went on. There was a comment on Facebook, suggesting the beach huts be removed at the end of the season and, as they do in Mundesley, put into storage for the winter. The response was interesting, in that since railings have been put up to the front of the huts this is no longer viable. In the p

We were told to be prepared for high winds on Saturday. They were not as bad as forecast, so it was a surprise to see the damage along the sea front on Sunday morning. Railings had been ripped out from the concrete, some prostrate on the promenade, others were on the beach. A number of sections, although still in place, need work to repair the fixings which have been lifted and in some cases severed. The steps from the ramp, west towards Cromer, are in a sorry state with no