Holme Cottage is nestled on a quiet lane in the pretty village of Holme-next-the-Sea. The village is utterly charming with cottages built with carrstone or flint, a village field, a stables, an absolutely stunning beach and a traditional pub with good food, a friendly welcome, gardens and cosy fires. The Norfolk Wildlife Trust looks after part of the beach, the nesting birds and the boardwalks. It is just a five minute walk to the pub from the cottage and fifteen minutes through a field to the estuary and beach.
There are many other wonderful beaches within easy reach of the house. Old Hunstanton is just ten minutes away with its gorgeous dunes, soft sand, big skies and a sea full of wind and kitesurfers. At one end of the beach you will find the lighthouse and, tucked in the dunes, are some colourful beach huts. The beach continues into Hunstanton where you can enjoy the family amusement arcades, shops and cafes. Just along from Holme-next-the-Sea is Brancaster, a designated area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The most famous of the North Norfolk beaches is Holkham Bay. The beach is one of the most unspoilt and beautiful stretches of sand in the country. With a glorious semi-circle basin filling to form a spectacular shallow lagoon at high tides, this beach is famous for the closing scene in Gwyneth Paltrow’s ‘Shakespeare in Love’. You can walk from Holkham to Wells, admiring the dunes, colourful beach huts and small rivulets and streams along the way.
Bird lovers head to the RSPB nature reserves at Titchwell and Snettisham or to Holme Beach, Holkham or the Blakeney National Nature Reserve. RSPB Snettisham is home to waders, wildfowl and many other birds. Between August and January you will see tens of thousands of birds leaving the mudflats and landing in the Snettisham hides. You will experience spectacular aerial displays and watch huge numbers of pink-footed geese fly over from Iceland. The estate is also home to resident barn owls and that soft hooting is joyful. Pensthorpe Waterfowl Park is popular too.
There are plenty of historical houses to visit including Royal Sandringham, Houghton Hall and the National Trust’s Blicking Estate, Felbrigg Hall and Oxburgh Hall. Sandringham is the much-loved country retreat of HM The Queen and has been the private home of four generations of British Monarchs since 1862. You can visit part of the house, the private gardens and St Mary Magdalene Church as well as taking delightful walks through the estate. There are frequent craft shows and other events in the grounds. The Holkham Estate is huge at 25000 acres. Holkham Hall is rich in history, architecture and wildlife. The seat of the Earl of Leicester, this elegant 18th century mansion is still a much loved, lived-in family home which visitors can also enjoy. There are six acres of walled garden, originally laid out by Samuel Wyatt in the late 1700’s. Visitors enjoy the walking and cycling paths, the lakes, watching the deer, the tree top high ropes course with its swings, bridges and ziplines, rowing boats, canoes and kayaks on the lake and the woodland play area. It is an outstanding family excursion.
Golfers can enjoy rounds at Heacham Manor Golf Club, Fakenham Golf, Searles Golf Club, Hunstanton Golf, Royal Cromer Golf and Kings Lynn Golf Club. Not only do most of the courses enjoy beautifully manicured greens nestled in a landscape of dunes, they also come with stunning sea views.
The area is also excellent for sailing. Coastal Exploration Company offers a variety of options for day and half-day trips and sailing lessons. One of the most popular boat trips is from Morston to see the seals at Blakeney. There are plenty more boat trips, one being from Hunstanton which is five minutes’ drive from Holme Cottage.
If you enjoy a potter around the shops, Burnham Market and Holt are perfect. Brimming with unique independent shops, welcoming gastropubs such as the Hoste, cute delis, cafes and galleries, all around a delightful village green, Burnham Market is incredibly popular. The August arts and crafts fair is fabulous with craft stalls, pop up eateries, puppet shows, alfresco dining and a very jolly atmosphere. Holt is another Norfolk gem, again with wonderful art galleries, eateries and charm. Drove Orchards between Holme next-the-Sea and Brancaster is another shoppers paradise with some gorgeous shops, Gurneys fish shop, an excellent garden shop and the famous Eric’s fish and chips and pizza restaurants. Just a little further comes the outstanding Thornham Deli. The Gin Trap Inn in Ringstead, just a few minutes from Holme Cottage, is famous for its fantastic range of gins.
The Region
Found in the East of England, Norfolk’s charms are as broad as the famous network of rivers that run through it. With an abundance of natural beauty and wildlife, this is one county where you can really kick back and enjoy some quintessential English countryside.
But it’s not just a rural idyll – there’s loads of stuff to see and do, which we’ve all put together in our handy Norfolk travel guide. And don’t forget, if you need a place to stay our luxury cottages in Norfolk offer everything you need for an amazing family holiday.