Stiffkey Barn is located on a wonderful family-owned estate in North Barsham, ten minutes from the North Norfolk coast. The estate enjoys lush woodland, marshland full of wildlife and beautiful wildflower meadows. You will enjoy amazing walks and cycles on the estate and can enjoy its special treats, such as the brewery. The estate owners are proud to be the purveyors of a ‘Norfolk Born and Brewed’ product. The estate is cross-crossed with family-friendly cycle tracks, and there are wonderfully scenic picnic spots.
When leaving the estate, you can visit the fantastic powdery beaches of Wells-next-the-Sea and Holkham, both backed by fragrant pine woods and nature trails. The rolling dunes and sorbet-hued beach huts at Wells are definitely Instagram-worthy. Holkham’s beach is totally unspoilt, with a glorious semi-circle basin filling to form a spectacular shallow lagoon at high tide. The beach is famous for the closing scene in Gwyneth Paltrow’s ‘Shakespeare in Love’. Brancaster and Holme next-the-Sea also offer huge open expanses of sand and big, big skies. As well as offering a phenomenal beach, the charming seaside town of Wells-next-the-Sea enjoys novelty shops, amusement arcades, gift shops and lots of fish and chips, which can be eaten on the splendid quay wall while watching the boats at high tide. Wells’ lovely leafy green ‘The Buttlands’ is home to several gastropubs. You can take the Wells to Walsingham Light Railway for an afternoon excursion.
The twenty-five thousand-acre Holkham Estate is rich in history, architecture and wildlife. Holkham Hall is the seat of the Earl of Leicester, an 18th-century mansion still lived-in as well as open to visitors. There are six acres of walled garden, walking and cycling paths, lakes, deer, a tree-top high ropes course with its swings, bridges and ziplines, rowing boats, canoes and kayaks on the lake and a woodland play area. It makes for a great day out.
Another must is a trip to see the seals off Blakeney Point. The famous, picturesque village of Blakeney offers a pretty harbour, fishmongers, butchers and galleries, gastropubs and its amazing landscape of marshes, sand hills and mud banks. Within this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Blakeney National Nature Reserve offers uninterrupted coastline views, and you are very likely to spot migratory birds and seals at Blakeney Point. You should try one of the fresh crab sandwiches from the mobile van in the car park at the harbour. They are delicious! Trips can be taken from Blakeney and Morston Quay to visit the seal colonies. The pups are born from November to early January, with over two thousand seal pups being born yearly. Just down the road is the enchanting, sleepy, flint-built, artisan village of Cley-next-the-Sea with its iconic windmill, galleries, pottery, deli and smoked fish shop. The marshland was used for horse races up to the early 19th century and was a regular haunt for smugglers. The area is excellent for birdwatching, so look out for ringed plovers, oystercatchers, Brent geese and common teal. Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Cley Marshes Visitors Centre offers a cafe and wonderful birdlife.
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.
