Panther Enthusiasts Club UK

We assembled in the car park and left for the day's enjoyment at 10am. John and Sue had booked us a visit to the Cromer Lifeboat Station at noon and had obtained permission for us to park on the promenade. They took us via a scenic route to Cromer, turning inland from West Runton and then back down to the coast again through pretty East Runton with its chocolate box duck pond and attractive cobble walled cottages.

We drove down the steep approach to the promenade, parked as instructed by the council official. A break from tradition was made as he wasn't wearing a brown overall, wasn't sporting any medals and didn't have a peg leg.

We had time to spare so we had a walk around Cromer and saw the building where one John Gibson plied his butchery trade for many years and so became the well known figure that he is in this part of the world. We enjoyed a cuppa on the front and went to the lifeboat station on the end of the pier.

RNLI 16-07 is a new boat a considerably bigger than the previous one and major alterations had to be made to the slipway to accommodate it. It really is a magnificent boat.

Because there was so many of us the boatswain, boatswain's mate, and engineer split us into three groups. One group went below deck with the engineer,another in the "bridge" with the boatswain whilst the third stayed on the gantry with the mate who spoke generally about the boat and the launching procedures. After a considerable time when the questions dried up we all switched around. There was so much to see and ask about, computer systems, CCTV, engines, buoyancy, speed, range, capacity, rescues, the " *ooge cats" etc poor John and Sue's schedule went way out and had to be re-adjusted. No pub lunch for a start.

This picture, taken at deck level, of Liz looking over the rail at the top of the boat gives you some idea how big it is.

Jennifer, meanwhile, unable to clamber all over the boat, returned to the Kallista for a kip, but after several attempts to nod off, gave the idea up. Just as she was dropping off there would be a tap tap tap on the window as some passer by wanted to know more about the cars. "no they're not Morgans" "no they're not kit cars" Serves her right for deserting the ship!

We left Cromer and headed east to our afternoon objective, which was a garden at East Ruston. The route was via a pleasant road that wended its way through the many small villages that hug the coast and in spite of our 13 car convoy being split up by traffic only two cars didn't get to the garden at the first attempt.

Here come the missing 2 cars. To be fair they were only minutes behind the others and only went wrong at the last turning.

John and Sue try to hide Marita's "Yellow Peril" which is spoiling the Panther line up!

The wild garden section. These gardens were divided up into so many different areas all separated by tall hedges that it was difficult to remember where you had been and even how to get back to where you came in.

Note the church tower of the distant village, viewed through a gap in the trees purposely cut to provide this view.

Similarly if you look closely you can see a red and white striped lighthouse through this round hole cut in the trees.

This garden were absolutely delightful and it requires more than one visit to see all the different facets of it. There are no wide open spaces and you never know what is around the corner. It must have taken decades to plan and develop.

We left the gardens about 4pm and made our way back to The Links Hotel via a quicker route than originally planned. Our prolonged stay at the lifeboat and the desire to see as much of the garden as we could meant that there was not enough time to do all that was planned. And so it was back to the hotel and the golf club bar for a few drinks before we met again for pre dinner drinks and dinner.

It was a great day that absolutely flew by and if this Saturday was anything to go by we were in for another great day tomorrow.