Things to do in Norfolk

Blakeney Point is a four-mile shingle spit on the north Norfolk coast that projects westward from Blakeney into the tidal waters of Blakeney Harbour, one of the most important and best-preserved examples of a dynamic coastal shingle formation in Britain and a site of international significance for both its geomorphology and its wildlife. The Point is owned and managed by the National Trust and can be reached either by the long walk along the beach and shingle ridge from Cley-next-the-Sea or by the seal-watching boat trips that run seasonally from Blakeney and Morston quays. The grey seal colony that hauls out on the sand and shingle beaches of the Point is one of the most significant in England, with approximately four hundred to five hundred common and grey seals resident throughout the year and a pupping season from November to January that brings large numbers of white-coated pups onto the beach in a spectacle of considerable wildlife value. The boat trips from Morston quay provide close approaches to the seal beaches without disturbing the animals, and the guides provide informed commentary on the colony's composition, behaviour and conservation context. The ternery at the tip of the Point is one of the most important seabird breeding colonies on the east coast, supporting significant numbers of Sandwich, common, Arctic and little terns during the summer breeding season. The National Trust employs a team of volunteer wardens to protect the colony during the breeding season, and the combination of terns and seals makes Blakeney Point one of the finest wildlife watching sites in East Anglia across a long season from spring through late autumn. The coastal walking from Cley to the Point along the shingle ridge is one of the classic walks of the north Norfolk coast, combining the geological interest of the shingle formation with the coastal marsh and reedbeds of the Cley National Nature Reserve, one of England's oldest nature reserves and a celebrated destination for birdwatchers from across the country.

Cromer Pier is one of the finest surviving Victorian seaside piers in Britain, a 151-metre structure extending into the North Sea from the Norfolk resort town of Cromer that retains at its pierhead the Pavilion Theatre, one of the last traditional end-of-pier theatres in England still operating a full summer season of variety entertainment. The combination of the Victorian pier engineering, the working theatre tradition and the backdrop of the distinctive chalk and clay cliffs of the north Norfolk coast makes Cromer Pier one of the most authentic seaside pier experiences remaining in the country. The pier was built between 1899 and 1901 and the Pavilion Theatre at its pierhead has operated continuously since, staging a summer variety show that has developed a devoted following among locals and visitors who return year after year. The programme of comedy, music, dance and specialty acts follows a traditional format that was once universal at British seaside resorts but has largely disappeared elsewhere, making Cromer's end-of-pier show one of the last genuine representatives of a very English entertainment tradition. The lifeboat station at the seaward end of the pier houses an active RNLI station whose crews have launched to assist vessels in distress on this notoriously dangerous section of the North Sea coast throughout the pier's history. Henry Blogg, Cromer's coxswain for thirty-eight years and the most decorated lifeboatman in RNLI history with three Gold Medals, is commemorated in a museum in the town and is a figure of local and national significance. Cromer's famous crabs, regarded by many as the finest in England, are caught in the waters immediately offshore and available from the fishermen's stalls along the harbour and from several good restaurants in the town. The north Norfolk coast walking routes and the nature reserves between Cromer and Blakeney provide excellent wildlife watching to supplement the pier experience.

Holkham Beach on the north Norfolk coast is widely regarded as the finest beach in England, a vast expanse of sand backed by ancient Corsican pines extending for several miles within the Holkham National Nature Reserve whose combination of the enormous scale, the quality of the sand, the framing woodland and the wild natural character of the entire setting creates a beach experience quite unlike the managed resort beaches of most of the English coast. The combination of the beach quality, the reserve wildlife and the great Palladian mansion of Holkham Hall immediately behind the reserve makes Holkham one of the most richly rewarding coastal destinations in East Anglia. The beach at Holkham is accessed through the pinewoods planted in the nineteenth century to stabilise the dunes behind the beach, the walk through the tall straight pines creating a remarkable transition from the landlocked parkland of Holkham Hall to the open beach that suddenly reveals itself at the end of the pine path. The effect of this woodland approach on the perception of the beach is one of the most celebrated arrival moments in English coastal tourism. The National Nature Reserve encompasses the beach, the dunes, the pinewoods, the saltmarsh and the freshwater lagoons behind in a mosaic of coastal habitats of exceptional ecological importance. The wintering pink-footed geese, the breeding marsh harriers and the terns that nest on the beach all form part of the wildlife interest that complements the beach experience throughout the year.

The Norfolk Broads is one of Britain's most distinctive and enchanting landscapes, a network of rivers, lakes, fens and marshes spread across the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk in eastern England that was designated a National Park in 1989 and occupies a unique ecological and recreational niche. The shallow, reed-fringed waterways and open broads wind through a level landscape barely above sea level, creating a world of extraordinary tranquillity, reflected skies and intimate natural detail that is entirely unlike any other national park in Britain. The origin of the broads was an enduring mystery until the 1950s, when research by Joyce Lambert of the University of Southampton demonstrated conclusively that they are not natural lakes but the flooded remains of medieval peat diggings. Between the ninth and fourteenth centuries the inhabitants of the region excavated enormous quantities of peat as fuel for the growing towns of Norwich, Yarmouth and Bury St Edmunds. The peat workings were progressively flooded as sea levels rose during the fourteenth century, creating the shallow lakes and interconnecting channels that form the broads today. The realisation that this seemingly natural landscape was actually a human creation gave it an additional layer of historical significance. The Broads support a remarkable range of wildlife. The reed beds, once coppiced commercially for thatch but now managed primarily for conservation, provide breeding habitat for bitterns, marsh harriers and bearded tits. The open water supports diving and dabbling duck in large numbers through the winter, and the region is one of the most important wetland bird habitats in Britain. The rare swallowtail butterfly, found nowhere else in Britain, breeds in the fens and wet meadows alongside rare dragonflies and wetland plants that have disappeared from most of lowland England. The main appeal for visitors is exploring the waterways themselves, and the Broads support one of the largest fleets of hire boats in Europe. Narrowboats, broad-beamed cruisers, sailing yachts and day boats can all be hired from numerous boatyards throughout the system, and the experience of spending a few days cruising slowly between reed-fringed banks, stopping at waterside pubs and watching the marsh harriers overhead is genuinely restorative. The market towns of Wroxham and Potter Heigham serve as the principal service centres for the boating fleet. Walking and cycling routes connect the individual broads and allow exploration of the landscape on foot or by bicycle, with Hickling Broad, Barton Broad and Ranworth Broad among the most rewarding individual sites to visit.

Salthouse is a small coastal village on the north Norfolk coast that sits behind one of the most productive and atmospheric stretches of coastal grazing marsh, freshwater scrapes and shingle beach on the entire East Anglian coast. The marshes between Salthouse and Cley-next-the-Sea together form a continuously managed nature reserve of international importance for migrating and wintering birds, and the combination of habitats available within a short walk makes this section of the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty one of the most rewarding wildlife destinations in Britain. The landscape here is characterised by the dynamic relationship between land and sea. The shingle beach and bank that runs along the coast is a relatively recent formation in geological terms, built up by longshore drift and constantly reshaped by storms. Behind it lies a band of grazing marsh and reed-fringed pools that sit below the level of high tide, protected by the shingle ridge but subject to occasional winter flooding. The flat, open character of this landscape gives it an enormous feeling of sky and weather, particularly on grey winter days when the light off the water and the vast flocks of wildfowl create spectacles of genuine grandeur. The reserve at Cley Marshes, managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, is adjacent to Salthouse and the two areas can be explored together. The reserve's hides and viewing screens allow close observation of the birds using the scrapes and lagoons without disturbance, and the range of species seen here throughout the year is exceptional. In winter, flocks of brent geese graze the fields behind the beach while wigeons, teals and shovelers crowd the freshwater marshes. Spring and autumn bring migrating waders and passerines in numbers that make Salthouse and Cley among the most celebrated birdwatching locations in Britain. The shingle beach itself, though uncomfortable for bathing, provides nesting habitat for ringed plovers and little terns and has been the site of several remarkable rarities that have attracted twitchers from across the country over the years. The Salthouse Dunes, a recent addition to the coastal habitat mosaic, provide further terrestrial habitat for coastal species. The village pub and the several cafés in nearby Cley provide the practical amenities needed for a comfortable visit to this exceptional coastal wildlife location.

Sheringham Park is a National Trust estate on the north Norfolk coast that represents one of the finest surviving examples of the work of Humphry Repton, the landscape designer who effectively inherited Capability Brown's mantle as the leading practitioner of the English landscape style in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Repton was commissioned to design the park in 1812 and declared it his favourite work, a claim that the finished landscape, combining woodland, parkland, walled garden and spectacular coastal views, goes some way to justifying. Repton's approach differed from Brown's in several important respects. Where Brown characteristically swept away earlier formal features and reshaped the landscape on a massive scale, Repton worked more sympathetically with existing features, retaining and enhancing what was already there while using careful planting and path placement to improve views and create the sense of landscape variety that characterised his best work. At Sheringham he had a naturally strong topography to work with: the park occupies a ridge above the Norfolk coast and the sea views available from the high ground were an important element of his composition. The highlight of any visit to Sheringham Park is the rhododendron and azalea collection that flowers spectacularly during May and June. The park contains one of the finest rhododendron collections in the country, with plants of considerable age and stature covering the hillsides in layers of colour that range from the palest blush to vivid scarlet and deep purple. The scent during peak flowering is extraordinary and the combination of colour, fragrance and the coastal landscape visible through gaps in the woodland creates a garden experience of remarkable sensory richness. Beyond the rhododendron season, the park offers year-round interest. The woodland provides habitat for a wide variety of birds including woodpeckers, nuthatches and several warbler species. The viewing towers provide excellent views across the coast toward Sheringham and Cromer. Walking routes through the park connect the main car park with the coastal path and the beach below, allowing a circular walk that combines garden, woodland and coastal scenery.

Wells-next-the-Sea on the north Norfolk coast is one of the most attractive and most characterful small coastal towns in East Anglia, a working port and seaside town whose combination of the active quayside, the excellent beach a mile north across the salt marshes and the character of a genuine fishing and leisure community preserves the identity of a traditional north Norfolk coastal settlement in a way that larger and more developed resorts have lost. The town's quirky name reflects its historical position behind the extensive salt marshes that separate it from the open sea. The quayside is the heart of Wells, the fishing vessels and pleasure craft moored alongside the quay and the crab stalls, fish merchants and shellfish outlets providing the most direct connection to the sea fishing tradition that has sustained the town through its history. The crab and lobster caught in the offshore pots and dressed in the sheds beside the quay provide some of the finest shellfish in Norfolk, and the seafood eating in Wells is among the best on the north Norfolk coast. The beach at Wells, a broad north-facing strand backed by pines planted to stabilise the dunes, is accessed by a miniature railway from the quay or by the walk along the harbour channel through the salt marshes. The beach huts on the wooden platforms above the sand and the extensive sandy beach behind the pine bank provide an excellent and distinctive beach experience of great charm. The Holkham National Nature Reserve, with its magnificent beach and the great Holkham Hall and park immediately adjacent, provides an exceptional complementary destination a short drive to the west.