Seven random things to do at Blickling Estate

Set on 5,000 acres of parkland in a loop of the River Bure, the National Trust-owned Blickling Hall attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.

There are scores of things to see and do at the estate, but here are just seven I came across on a recent visit.

1. Explore the grounds on two wheels
There’s a cycle hub at the top of the car park where you can rent mountain bikes, trail bikes, E-bikes, balance bikes, trailers and tagalongs for kids.

The hire centre used to be run by volunteers, but proved so popular that in 2018 the trust was able to base a staff member there five days a week during quieter times and every day in summer.

It took us under an hour to make our way around the woodland and fields of the multi-use trail which spans the estate, stopping several times along the way.

There are a few downhill sections where you can build up a good head of steam, but the path is also popular with dog walkers, people with prams, walkers and runners. It’s open all year round.

2. Pass by the tower
A loop around the estate will take you past the Rapunzel-like Blickling Tower.

Built in 1773 by Thomas Ivory and his son William, it’s one of the estate’s most striking buildings.

The tower was originally a vantage point for the Earl of Buckinghamshire - horseracing took place on a field below.

It’s now a two-bedroom holiday rental, and if you’re staying you can even have a picnic on a terrace at the top.

3. Visit the mausoleum
You don’t have to go all the way to Egypt to visit pyramids - Norfolk has its very own, among the trees at the estate.

Almost 230 years old, this 45ft tall monolith houses the remains of Earl of Buckinghamshire, John Hobart, and his two wives, Mary Anne and Caroline.

You can’t go inside - its massive doors have slipped from their hinges and the interior is in desperate need of a renovation - but it’s nonetheless an impressive sight to behold, sitting at the end of a woodland avenue with a view all the way to the hall, a mile away.

4. Try your hand at croquet
Wander past the lawn directly behind the hall any time between spring and autumn and you may well find an open wooden box.

Inside are four mallets and a clutch of different coloured balls, and out on the lawn there are six hoops and a pole called a ‘peg’.

Welcome to the exciting world of croquet. Visitors are welcome to take up the equipment and give it a go, and it’s difficult to imagine a more fitting place to try it out than in the grounds of a stately home.

Not everyone is a fan though, croquet was played at at the first modern Olympics in 1900 and never again, and former prime minister Neville Chamberlain described it as “barely a game”.

We quickly looked up the rules online, half understood them, and proceeded to belt our balls around through each of the hoops.

5. Admire the corgi (or not)
On the same lawn, just next to the lake, sits a corgi completely made out of wicker.

This is one of seven sculptures of the Queen’s favourite pet installed as part of a Platinum Jubilee art trail.

Broadland District Council spent more than £20,000 on them, and although a cabinet member said they were “confident they had done the right thing” an opposition councillor has questioned whether the corgis were a good use of taxpayers’ money.

You can make up your own mind, but not for much longer - the corgis will be removed some time in September and then, possibly, auctioned off.

6. Tell the time in the parterre
Blickling’s formal parterre garden has a large fountain, colourful plots of herbaceous plants and huge topiaried bushes that look like turned-up flower pots.

Keep an eye out and you’ll also spot a sundial with a difference - you have to stand on it to make it work.

Place yourself in the centre next to a marker for the appropriate month of the year, and, if it’s sunny, you’ll cast a shadow out to a ring of stones, which will tell you the time.

The sundial was installed in 1998 as part of an art exhibition.

7. Try to identify scenes in the Print Room
A small, but fascinating chamber upstairs inside the hall is the Print Room, whose walls are covered in black-and-white artworks of destinations near and far.

A volunteer attendant explained that these were akin to the postcards of their day - a way of showing off when you had been on your travels after returning home.

I spotted one of Cadair Idris, a crater-shaped peak in mid Wales, and a couple from Rome, but there were a lot I couldn’t recognise.

The prints were pasted onto the walls in 1793 and later removed, but returned in a 1974 restoration.