So Christmas is over, you’re partied out and are that credit card bill is weighing heavily on your mind. There’s no need to succumb to the January blues though as luckily the best things in life are free! So, wrap up warm, grab a flask of hot tea and get out and about in East Anglia …
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See the Seals in Norfolk
A fun day out for friends, family or just by yourself. Take your camera and/or binoculars and walk the Norfolk coastline this January. You’ll find a whole host of seals and their babies whilst they hang on the beaches waiting for the baby pups to be old enough to swim.
Best beaches for seal spotting: Horsey, Waxham, Blakeney Point and Brancaster
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Culture in Cambridge
Entry to the Fitzwilliam Museum (www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk) and the Sedgwick Museum (www.sedgwickmuseum.org) is free, although donations are welcomed. From lunchtime talks to exhibitions and displays you can get out of the cold and happily while away a few hours.
You can also pop along to Kings College Chapel for Evensong, 5.30pm Mon – Sat and 10.30 or 3.30pm on Sunday (www.kings.cam.ac.uk/events/chapel-services).
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Explore Essex and walk in Constable’s footsteps
There is nothing nicer than warming up in front of fire with a hot chocolate and the Essex countryside is perfect to enjoy a brisk winter walk! Dedham Vale and Stour Valley combine picturesque villages, farmland, rivers and woodlands for unspoilt views across the countryside. This is Constable Country, an area of outstanding beauty, so take a stroll through the scenes from some of his most famous landscapes.
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Free Family friendly fun in Bedfordshire
There’s a whole world of free, family friendly fun to be discovered in Bedford! Pop into the Cecil Higgin’s art gallery for free children events or to take a look at their collections, explore the Stockwood Discovery Centre in Luton, educate the kids about conservation at the Forest Centre in the Millennium Country Park in Marston Vale or take a guided tour of Stotwold Watermill and Nature Reserve.
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Join a local reading group
Not an outdoors person? Luckily our region’s libraries have a huge choice of reading groups to enable you to connect with like-minded people and make new friends this January. Ask for details in your local library or take a look online.
Suffolk: www.suffolklibraries.co.uk
Norfolk: www.norfolk.gov.uk/libraries-local-history-and-archives/libraries
Cambridge: www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/libraries-leisure-&-culture/libraries
Essex: http://libraries.essex.gov.uk/
Bedford: www.bedford.gov.uk/leisure_and_culture/libraries.aspx
