Big skies and full bellies in Norfolk

Walking from Cley to Blakney Point

Spring rapeseed fields in full bloom

Our charming cottage

The colourful beach huts in Holkham

Blackney Point

Inside Norwich Cathedral

A robin at Sheringham Park

North coast Norfolk

Sampling the best of Old Cannon Brewery

Bank holidays in the UK are few and far between, so we always try to make sure we have a plan for when they come around. This year, our plan was to take in the big skies of Norfolk, England’s eastern county. We had heard rumours that the place was chockers full of nature and pubs, and we can happily confirm that this is the case.

We left late London late afternoon on the Friday and took the 3 hour drive to our accommodation, the amazing Cartshed Cottages. These cottages are the definition of English countryside cool. Despite us arriving a bit late in the evening, the owners Steve and Katie made sure we had everything we needed when we arrived in terms of instructions and a nice bottle of wine!

On Saturday morning, we went down the road for a scrummy breakfast at Back to the Garden farm shop. This provided the fuel we needed for the walk we planned, from Cley next the sea to Blackney Point. We had hoped we could see the seals chilling at Blackney point, and we underestimated how strenous this walk would be. Its about 11km (6.5 miles) on the cobble stone beach. It is beautiful with the waves crashing and gulls soaring around you. It is also worth stopping at the National Sea Rescue for a bit of rest. Make sure to lather up the sun screen and take plenty of water for the walk.

After the walk we made our way to Wells-next-the-Sea for some classic english fish ‘n chips at the famous French’s cafe. The fish is fantastic, as the long queues out the door pay testament to. It is worth grabbing your grub to go and go and eat in the sunny harbour. After the meal, we caught a small train to Holkham Beach, a massive sandy beach punctuated with rows of colourful beach huts.

On Sunday we slowed down the pace a bit with a trip to Sheringham Park. The grounds were lovely and the early Spring saw several flowers in bloom. From there we stopped at the Kings Head pub for a cheeky pint before making our way back to the cottage and it’s log fire.

We were sad to have to leave on the Monday to make our slow way back to London. This time we had breakfast in the delightful little town of Holt. As the weather had taken the usual turn to overcast and rainy, so we decided a good call would be to stop in at Norwich Cathedral, which has the second tallest spire in the UK after Salisbury Cathedral. It is a nice and quiet place and worth spending a couple of hours in.

Finally we stopped for a late lunch at the Old Cannon Pub and Brewery. The food was great and the beer sampler made us wish we had more time before the end of the weekend.

Long weekends are always too short, but they are great for getting the feel for a place and we were very impressed with Norfolk. We can’t wait to get back to this gem of a county.

Itinerary: