On a scorching hot day in 2020, Helen Murray drove from her home in Norwich, Norfolk, to the seaside town of Cromer in search of ghosts. With map in hand she walked to the site where her family's grand summer residence Newhaven Court once stood overlooking the North Sea.
The house burned down in 1963, but as Helen closed her eyes she imagined the turreted mansion rising from the ashes. There was Alfred, Lord Tennyson in his long black cloak strolling around the rose garden. Hannah Jane, her great great grandmother, walked across the lawn to check on Ernest Shackleton who was writing a book about his Antarctic expedition. She also imagined author MR James on the pathway, dreaming up a new ghost story to scare guests over supper, and children's illustrator Kate Greenaway appearing after a stroll on the beach.
My maternal grandmother would tell US stories of the big house on
