Beeston Priory was founded by the Lady Isabel de Cressy, in the reign of King John, for Canons of the Order of Saint Austin and dedicated to Saint Mary. Not far from the Priory, on the right hand, is a house belonging to Cremer Cremer, Esq. where instead of keeping the direct road to Cromer, take in at the white gate leading past the house. The road winds in a very romantic manner between the hills unto Felbrigg Heath, upon which are the remains of a beacon;—the view from this spot is not altogether so extensive as from the beacon at Trimmingham, but it is more diversified. The foreground is rough and well broken and the dreariness of the heath removed by the little patches of forest wood with which the vallies are adorned. Cromer with its light-house and lofty tower, Runton, Beeston Priory and Sherringham, and as far as Blackney Harbour, the whole being backed by the sea, form as fine a coast view as can well be imagined. The same tract which led to the beacon, about half a mile further on, opens into the Cromer road, under the plantations which were passed in going to Holt and from which the whole retrospect is very pleasing. _Section the Fourth_. FELBRIGG, the seat of the Right Honourable William Windham, makes a very pleasant morning’s excursion; it is three short miles from Cromer, delightfully situated in the bosom of extensive and venerable woods. The oak, the beech and the spanish chesnut, seem congenial to the soil; and the form of the ground, which consists of gently rising hills and vales, is admirably constituted to shew to the greatest advantage the masses of light and shade produced by such a combination. Some of the trees, particularly the oak, bear the marks of great antiquity, and the venerable state of decay into which they are fallen, make them truly interesting objects and the ornament of the scene to which they belong. The oak stands, indisputably, the unrivalled king of the vegetable tribe—strength joined to the most perfect beauty are its distinguishing characteristics; {36} it fills every situation with dignity and equally adorns the castle or the cottage; but it is when time has placed its honours on its head, when its “boughs are mossed with age, And high top bald with dry antiquity,” and it is approaching by slow but sure gradation to the period of a glorious existence, that it becomes an object of the greatest beauty, presenting to the lover of nature an ample scope of amusement. The house has of late undergone considerable alteration, and when finished will be both elegant and convenient. It contains some good pictures by Rembrandt, Bergham, Vanderveldt, &c. The dining-room is decorated with good portraits of the Windham family.