Today we set off for Bressingham which consists of 17 acres of wonderful gardens which were absolutely beautiful and manicured to perfection. The gardens are renowned worldwide for their horticultural excellence.
There is a Steam museum which houses a comprehensive collection of steam engines and locomotives and artifacts including train carriages previously used by the Royal family, traction engines, steam pumps and steam engines. One of the interesting exhibits was a completely restored post office van with all the sorting pigeon holes, seats for the postal workers, and included the system where the mail bags were collected by a mechanised system as the train passed through towns and villages, without stopping. Part of the exhibit included playing of the DVD of 'Night Mail', a very famous film done in the mid 30s with Benjamin Britten's music to accompany the film. There are also two working steam trains on narrow gauge, which you can ride in around the complex. We had fun on the two rides.
Bressingham also houses the Dad's Army collection. You can walk through the sets from the series including the Walmington-on-Sea High Street, Captain Mainwaring's Bank, Jones' butcher shop, Fraser's funeral parlor, the Post Office, the office used by Captain Mainwaring when he was on duty, and the drill hall. The series was filmed in and around Thetford (which we visited yesterday), and some of the vehicles used were from the Bressingham Steam Museum.
