INTRODUCTION. xli 



In strange contrast, though to these dreary wastes, 

 the inland country presents all the softer features of a 

 sylvan district. A pretty valley, with a clear running 

 stream, leads to the finely timbered park and pleasure 

 grounds of Hunstanton Hall, so rich in old associations 

 interesting alike to the antiquary and the naturalist. 

 Still further from the sea a deep ravine, winding between 

 the lofty sides of undulating chalk cliffs, enriched with 

 foliage in every hollow, and covered with verdure to the 

 very summit, transports us in imagination to more 

 southern shores; so difficult is it to realize the abrupt 

 transition from the "meals" and marshes to the bold 

 grassy slopes of Ringstead ^* Downs." Nor are such 

 attractions of hill and dale, woods, pastures, and flowing 

 streams confined only to this small portion of the 

 '' meal" district. The vale of the Stiffkey has been long 

 and deservedly noted, and Arthur Young, nearly a 

 century ago, extolled its beauties, before the bleak hill- 

 sides by the coast were clothed with belts of fir and 

 hardy shrubs, rendering picturesque those once barren 

 slopes and in many places forming a screen to lands and 

 houses from the fury of our north-easterly gales. From 

 Stiffkey again, through Warham, Holkham, the Burn- 

 hams, and Brancaster, the distant views of the sea 

 between richly wooded heights, the low grounds, 

 chequered with the many hues of the cultivated soil, 

 and occasional strips of heath and plantations, form, 

 with the different villages, a charming landscape. 

 Indeed, it may be fairly said that the scenery which 

 presents itself from the coast road, along the entire 

 northern and north-western parts of the county, is such 

 as no stranger entering Norfolk by its south-western 

 boundary can form any conception of. 



As in the Broad district we have seen cultivation so 

 closely bordering upon the swamps, that the birds of 

 the farm, the grove, and the homestead, are *^ within 

 / 



