As Stephanie Walters, she used to enjoy a drink and travel the world, but socialising and globe-trotting are now in the past. The Norwich woman has just taken her vows to be a nun at Quidenham's Carmelite Monastery in the heart of the countryside. Sister Stephanie, as she is now known, will spend the rest of her life devoted to silence, prayer and solitude. The nuns at the south Norfolk Carmel do not mix with the outside world and don't watch television, although they do take a daily newspaper. They believe their seclusion allows them more time and freedom to worship. Daily routine Sister Stephanie has spent five years as a novice preparing to dedicate herself to God, waking at 5.30am each morning to take part in six prayer meetings and daily mass as well as readings of psalms and scriptures.  | | Sister Stephanie when she graduated |
"I believe that this is what God wants of me," said Sister Stephanie. "I want to fulfil that, and to say yes, I've promised for life and life is what it will be." The 39-year-old is one of the youngest women to enter the order after getting the urge to become a nun while at university. Eventually the calling became so strong it was impossible to ignore. "By the time I got to 30, 31 it wasn't so much an itch, it was a pressure inside me and a pressure that was saying to me constantly, 'You're on the wrong path'," said Sister Stephanie. "And after a while I also got a sense very, very deep down that I was missing out on something incredibly beautiful." Closed society BBC Look East's cameras were allowed to film Stephanie in the monastery. It's the first time a TV crew has been ushered into the closed society since the 1950s. However, the moving ceremony where Sister Stephanie vowed her life to God and had to prostrate in front of the altar and the congregation was out of bounds to the BBC's cameras. Sister Stephanie's life as a nun means visitors need an appointment to see her and meetings are held across a desk. Family visits Her mother Pat Walter, who brought Stephanie and her brother up as Catholics in Norwich, now only gets to see her occasionally.  | | Sister Stephanie takes her vows |
She was surprised when her daughter announced her decision, a month before going into the convent as a novice but she's come to terms with it. "I thought this is typically Stephanie - it's the whole hog or nothing," said Mrs Walter. "She wouldn't think about a teaching order where you were partly in the world and partly in a convent." Before moving to Quidenham, Sister Stephanie sold her house and gave away her possessions. Her money is kept by the monastery but it won't be spent in her lifetime in case she needs to leave, in which case she will only be able to do so with permission from Rome. The convent raises money through its greeting card business and trust fund investments, which keeps the nuns busy in addition to their domestic chores, bee-keeping and hobbies including embroidery and painting. It is an unusual life, but one which Sister Stephanie says has given her an inner calm and peace. | 
