Telegraph rating 7/10
An unbeatable location for anyone looking for a peaceful, rural break with friends, family and dogs. Near the grand,
cheap air jordans,http://users.atw.hu/phake-mgaming/index.php?site=forum_topic&topic=15203cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, Jacobean Blickling Hall and in the heart of its large estate run by the National Trust-run, it offers neatly-furnished rooms,
jordan shoes, sleeping eight, and a large and enclosed grassy garden. Further plus points include its proximity to a good pub, lake fishing and the Georgian market town of Aylsham.
Location 9/10
Location is the main selling point of this otherwise unexceptional but welcoming cottage. It’s in the perfect spot for fully enjoying the Blickling estate without being too disturbed by the many other visitors who come on day visits. Up a small lane,http://leonardo.zsme.pl/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=0cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, it’s on a no-through road near the Buckinghamshire Arms, but the pub traffic doesn’t impinge on the peace. Note, however, there are occasional big daytime and evening events that take place in the park (including the Aylsham agricultural show on August Bank Holiday Monday) which can be noisy. The Georgian shopping town of Holt, the coastal beaches and cathedral city of Norwich are within a 30-minute drive. Aylsham is three miles away.
Deceptively large, this is actually two former estate workers‘ houses cleverly knocked into one which means four bedrooms, parking for up to four cars and a large, grassy garden
Style/character 7/10
Deceptively large, this is actually two former estate workers‘ houses cleverly knocked into one which means four bedrooms, parking for up to four cars and a large, grassy garden with private, outside seating area. There are two downstairs sitting areas, one with a woodburning stove the other with an open fire, useful if children and adults want their own space but both are a squeeze if all eight guests want to sit together.
The style is a few notches above some National Trust properties with recently painted and refurbished rooms freshened up with stylish, floral curtain and bedspread fabrics. The colours are light yellows and creams with a contrasting red in bathrooms and living areas. One of the two bathrooms is particularly spacious (the old newel post used as a towel peg is the top of the former staircase before the houses were joined). The kitchen is reasonably large and adequately equipped.
Facilities 7/10
Landline telephone, Wi-Fi, microwave and DVD player. Cot is provided.
Value for money 7/10
From ?697 to ?1,970 per week. Three nights from ?545.
Guests have free access to Blickling Hall and its gardens during opening hours.
The style is a few notches above some National Trust properties with recently painted and refurbished rooms freshened up with stylish, floral curtain and bedspread fabrics
Family-friendly? 7/10
A good choice for families with young children - particularly because of the large, enclosed garden. Up to two dogs are permitted.
Eating
Buckinghamshire Arms (
bucksarms.co.uk) is a couple of minutes’ walk. The Walpole Arms in Itteringham (
thewalpolearms.co.uk). Provisions available in Aylsham.
Access for guests with disabilities?
Not suitable. Steep stairs to bedrooms on first floor.
Details
Park Road, Blickling,http://users.atw.hu/downfall-team/index.php?site=forum_topic&topic=8986cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, Nr. Aylsham, Norfolk NR11 6NJ
0344 800 2075
nationaltrustholidays.org.uk
It looks like a pony nut; a tiny, shiny-sided cylinder of compressed fibre. This is a biomass pellet, made of leftovers from the American sawn-timber industry and shipped over here in bulk to fire three of the six units at Britain’s biggest "half and half" power station at Drax, near Selby in Yorkshire
You can pick up a handful from a tub in its newly-refurbished visitor centre, where you can also power a virtual city using an exercise bike, build a turbine using Faraday’s principles (which are on the national curriculum) and fulfil the energy requirements of the National Grid, shown in huge digits, by frantically winding handles labelled "nuclear", "hydro", "gas", "solar", "wind" and "biomass".
Biomass pellets, made of leftovers from the American sawn-timber industry
Credit: VISMEDIA/DANIEL LEWIS
Who would have thought the power station once vilified as the UK’s biggest carbon emitter could be so much fun? Tours continue on an electric bus, beetling between colossal structures: to the north, six cooling towers pluming water vapour; to the south six more; to the east, the National Grid sucking in its megawatts via mighty cables; to the west, banks of the coal that once fired the entire complex now being whittled down to its disappearance by 2025. Nearby are four biomass domes.
The tour bus shuttles visitors around the site
Credit: DANIEL LEWIS
"There was a day in April when the UK was powered without coal for 24 hours," said Rachael Baldwin, Visitor Centre and Communities Manager. "That was the first time since the Industrial Revolution. We’re aiming to convert one more coal unit to biomass and the remaining two to gas."
Biomass pellets arrive at Drax on sealed trains, using the branch line that once brought coal, and drop 49ft into sealed underground silos. If the biomass gets damp it swells and causes problems. It’s also inflammable so the system is enclosed: suction removes dust and gigantic magnets any stray metal (including, allegedly, some suspenders). As the pellets travel on conveyor belts to the turbine hall, a system called Firefly injects potential "hotspots" with water.
"It’s not the obvious addition to a holiday, I know; I went because I was staying nearby. But it was spectacular."
Credit: Jonathan Banks/VisMedia
You feel constantly dwarfed at Drax. We marvelled at the biomass containers, effectively 213-ft high inflated plastic bags sprayed solid with concrete and pumped full of carbon dioxide to remove any oxygen. They have vibrating floors to shake down the pellets on their way to the turbine hall to be milled and fed into boilers steam-powering turbines so huge they are angled to fit the building. Each one could power Leeds. We stood on the high walks, wearing ear defenders, silent and awed.
In the old days, the boiler ash formed a heap called the Barlow Mound, now grassed over and so big that Drax has its own nature reserve with views of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Humberside. The ash now goes to the building industry and lime slurry becomes gypsum for use in insulated board.
Drax has its own nature reserve with views of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Humberside
Credit: getty
If the turbine hall was the icing on the cake, the control room was the cherry on the top: decorated in clashing blue and green with low ceilings, it felt like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise crossed with Life on Mars. Engineers sat at huge consoles, absorbed in wall-sized flat screens and multiple desk monitors. All of them are trained on the analogue system as well as digital and in the unlikely event of a UK-wide power outage, Drax can do a "Black Start" using batteries to start gas turbines. Over on an unseen trading floor, dealers traded electricity with global markets 24 hours a day.
View more!
It’s not the obvious addition to a holiday, I know; I went because I was staying nearby. But it was spectacular. And while I can’t confirm Drax’s sustainability credentials (surely an 80% reduction in carbon emissions must be a good thing), it’s got me thinking about the nuts and bolts of power.
Now I’m on the hunt for other power plants to visit. Time to really go compare.
How to visit
Drax Power Station, Selby, Yorkshire (01757 618381;
www.drax.com ) runs up to six free public tours per day.
The Skylark Visitor Centre and Nature Reserve opens on Saturdays and Sundays (closed December 23/24 and 30/31),
cheap wholesale jordans. On December 3 and 10 there’s a free Winter Wonderland.
View more!
Other power stations you can visit
Nuclear: Sizewell B, Suffolk
One of eight EDF Energ...er stations you can visit (including spectacular Dungeness in Kent), it’s the UK’s only Pressurised Water Reactor and our most modern nuclear power station. Monday to Friday, weekends by prior arrangement. Minimum age: 11.
Sizewell B: come for the Pressurised Water Reactor, stay for the lovely beach
Credit: ALAMY
Hydro: Hollow Mountain Cruachan Visitor Centre, Argyll & Bute
This is like an Enid Blyton adventure story, with its cavernous tunnel into the mountainside, and water-powered turbines providing electricity for Scottish Power. ?7.50 adults, ?6.50 concessions, ?2.50 children aged 6 to 16,
cheap jordans online, under-sixes free. Daily April to October, Monday to Friday in winter.
Hydro: First Hydro Co, Snowdonia
Another spectacular mountain tunnel,
cheap jordans for sale, in this case the gateway to a tour of Dinorwig Power Station, with a café and visitor centre. Open daily except for December 15, 24,
cheap real jordans, 25 and 26 and from December 31 to mid-January, hours vary according to season. ?8.50 adults, ?7.65 concessions and ?4.35 children.
You can climb inside that wind turbine
Credit: GETTY
Wind: Green Britain Centre, Swaffham, Norfolk
This charitable trust ...e you can climb in the UK (possibly the world) and has 300 steps up to a platform designed by Lord Foster. ?6 adults,
Kicksokok.com, ?5 concessions,
cheap jordan shoes, ?4 children, ?18 families (two adults and two children). Open Monday to Saturday from September to July and daily in August, with three Windmill Tours per day.
