Beside the seaside

Becky Miles on 11 September 2020
A week beside the seaside in Norfolk.

We were kindly offered the chance to stay at a friend’s holiday home for a week in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk and jumped at the opportunity to ‘be beside the seaside’. I had been to Norfolk many times as a child but had never visited North Norfolk. Our friends had already given us a heads up on activities and places to visit that were toddler and dog friendly – However it had an awful lot more to offer and I thought it would share my experiences with you.

Wells-next-the-sea is a pretty little seaside town. The main street along the harbour side you can go crabbing and watch the boats come in with fresh fish. I love a tub of fresh cockles and there is a little stall to buy them from right at the front of the harbour. The street is lined with ice cream parlours, fish and chip shops and a few little souvenir shops. There is a long back street with lots of different restaurants, bistros, cafes and coffee shops. Most of these are dog friendly and have ample outside seating. It is lovely just walking all through the little cobbled back streets as you will find hidden traditional pubs and little greens to sit and enjoy the sunshine.

Just beside the harbour is a fantastic children’s park – free also. There is a big pirate boat and all the climbing frames, swings and slides to keep the kids happy and for the parents to enjoy a coffee. It’s a huge park and my daughter had hours of fun there. The main beach in Wells is by far one of the best sandy beaches I have seen – It is huge and plenty of space for everyone to enjoy. There are the cutest little beach huts that line the pine cliffs and really is picture postcard cute! The beach has a specific dog friendly section. The tide is low and great for the little kids to have a paddle as it was not too choppy and the water was clear and perfect for a swim. To get to the beach you can either walk along the coastal path (which is about a mile walk) or you can jump on the miniature train which is £1.50 pp each way. It takes about 10 minutes. They take contactless card payments or cash; it is dog friendly and you can take the pushchair. If you want to load up the car and park near the beach there is a car park at Pine hills holiday park. It’s a public car park which by 1030am gets very busy at peak times. Post code for the beach parking is NR23 1DR parking is approx. £7 for the day and is pay and display.

As for days out our favourite place to visit was Holkham Hall. It’s about 10 minutes’ drive from Wells. The grounds are amazing, and you can easily spend the whole day there and have an adventure. Parking for the day was £4 and you can use this as a token toward some food in the restaurant if you wanted too. They have the most brilliant woodland play area (for free) for the kids to enjoy. There are little coffee and cake stalls and seating if you wanted to take a picnic and just enjoy the park. We hired bikes for £10 per bike and a trailer for Jessica to sit and enjoy the views. We had a lovely time and enjoyed the huge lake and spotting the wild deer. I couldn’t believe the size of the herd of deer; I’ve never seen anything like it. We also went to food festival that what seemed like all the local classic car enthusiast attended also. It was brilliant to see so many awesome cars (my husband really enjoyed this). They had live music and was a great atmosphere.

We thought we would give the sea life centre a try in Hunstanton. It is a small centre, but an hour well spent as Jessica really enjoyed it. I would say its perfect for the little toddlers, but the older children would get around it too quick. I would recommend going but try and find a deal or a voucher code and book in advance, we didn’t, and it was quite pricey for a short amount of time we spent in there. We made the most of Hunstanton and took a stroll along the beach promenade afterwards. There are lots of coffee stalls and ice cream parlours and freshly cooked doughnuts! There is a lovely little park at the end of the promenade just in town, where we stopped and had a picnic. On the walk back to car the tide was out, and we investigated the rock pools. The rock pools are awesome, and they were perfect to search for crabs, seaweed and for having a splash. I recommend a visit to Hunstanton even if you go just for the rock pools and doughnuts.

We visited Langham Dome which was once an active RAF airfield for 18 years. It’s a small gunnery training dome which is an interactive museum. It is really is very small but interesting and if you are into the second world war I am sure you would enjoy it. After visiting Langham, we drove through the countryside and there really is some pretty little pubs and walks you can do (we didn’t has had Jessica in tow), but we did visit the ruins at Bingham. It’s pretty and a lovely little walk, again its free to get in and the area is lovely. You can still go inside the old church there. There is a little café to stop and grab some lunch or a coffee and cake. We had a lovely little afternoon exploring.