A few days in North Norfolk

Since we adopted Minnie a few years back we have been exploring more of the UK, and heading to places that we have never visited. Surprisingly top of the list was Norfolk, so we put together a plan, packed the tent and off we went. Ironically we picked the one week when it was cold last summer. From the moment we erected the tent (between trying to stop it from blowing away) and the moment we shoved it in the back of the car 5 days later the wind never stopped and although the sun was out we were pretty wind battered and sunburnt by the end of the week.

All of that aside we picked a campsite in the village of Bircham where our tent was nestled under a working windmill, supplying flour to make bread and immense sausage rolls every morning on site. Out we trundled into the windy day to see what North Norfolk had to offer. A friend brilliantly summed up Norfolk in saying that its a place that nobody ever drives through, you have to commit to going which adds to its charm, mixed with the eery marshes and the horror stories about the tide and mud sweeping people away we quite literally had no idea what to expect.

The beauty of having a dog is that they need walking whether its windy or not and Cley was the first stop, pottering through the town and admiring the smokehouse, ceramic shops and stopping for a coffee before walking past the marshes and admiring the beautiful windmills and coastline. We did a beautiful loop along the nature reserve admiring the birds and boats, through to Blakeney which is equally beautiful, if not a much bigger town.

Theres something special about Norfolk in that the architecture is unique to the south east coast of the UK, huge chunks of smooth pebbles adorning houses with wild cottage gardens and weather worn sash windows. Knackered and sand blasted we spent a leisurely hour in The Adnams pub, The White Horse, for a pint of cask Ghost Ship and fish and chips. On the way back to Cley we spotted Grey seal coffee and grabbed a bag for the tent, I wish we had bought more and stayed for a drink, it was immense and such a lovely drinking spot.

Thawing out over a BBQ and trying to erect a windbreaker, unsuccessfully, we planned out the next few days. Taking in Wells Next The Sea, Holkham Nature reserve, Holkham Hall and a visit to West Acre for their village fete. On route to Wells we were hoping to pop into Malt Coast Brewery but it was closed, luckily the Real Ale Shop is on the same premises and stocks some beauties from East Anglia. 

After battling through the caravan parks and tourists in Wells Next The Sea we finally made it to the vast stretching beaches and the beach huts that are nestled into the wooded nature reserve it backs onto. Minnie played for hours on the beach whilst we picnicked and picked sand from our sandwiches and watched the world go by, dropping down eventually into the nature reserve to enjoy the mixture of wild woodland and sand covered forest floor. 

A few friends recommended we walk up to Holkham and it didn’t disappoint. The village you enter before getting to the hall is beautiful and handily has an Adnams Shop nestled in an old school where we stopped for supplies before walking up to the hall.

The hall itself is large but the land is enormous and unbeknown to us flooded with deer, frogs and birds of prey. We had to hold onto the dog pretty tightly! It was busier than we were expecting but it quickly transpired Lionel Richie was playing the day after and people were very excited about it. The wind had started to die down and perched on the hill watching the surrounding countryside roll by I finally understood the appeal of Norfolk. It’s somewhere to relax, whether you want to or not, you have to move at its pace to enjoy it.

The Sun arrived on the last day (which also marked the start of the 6 week heatwave that swept the UK) and we headed over to West Acre to visit the Duration site with Miranda and Bates. Set in such a beautiful location of an old priory with the River Nar running behind it, they couldn’t have picked a better spot. If you want to see more from our Duration Brewery Tour, theres more ace shots here. The guys highly recommended sticking around for the Village Fete that afternoon so after tiring the dog out on the Nar Valley Way, we headed back to the site just in time for the Duck race. I have never seen a  more quintessentially British sight, Welly Wanging, Coconut Shy, nail bashing and competitive duck races down the river, with accompanying locally caught fresh trout and a glass of freshly poured Duration it was the perfect end to a blustery week in Norfolk, and a perfect start to the never ending summer of 2018.