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Seascapes of North Norfolk

Delights of a rural idyll
 
This self-guided, hotel-to-hotel walking holiday reveals a coastline like no other – home both to vast sandy beaches and pristine nature reserves teeming with birdlife. As you walk, discover North Norfolk’s rich history and culture; visit stately Holkham Hall; and stay at welcoming accommodation of character.
Seascapes of North Norfolk. 6 nights
+44 (0)1653 617001 Call now
Seascapes of North Norfolk. 6 nights
+44 (0)1653 617001 Call now
 

Holiday information

 

A walking holiday in North Norfolk

The North Norfolk coast is a fluid place. A watery, low-lying scape of shifting coast, rolling hills and flowing skies. At its edge, long stretches of shingle beach and tidal flats give way to textured strands of marsh and dune. Behind which, in muted layers of grey and green, are grazing marshes, incised by lines of reed and reen.

Such variety of habitats mean wildlife – and particularly birds – are everywhere: from the bitterns and marsh harriers that scan the summer reed beds to the wildfowl and waders that fill the marshes in the cooler months.
Norfolk has always had more to offer than unadulterated nature, however. This is a county with a long and fascinating history, fragments of which remain imprinted upon today’s landscape: the beautiful medieval churches built with the proceeds of a once prosperous wool trade; vast landed estates where royalty and nobility have passed their days; and the many small harbours that hark back to a time when Norfolk’s 100-mile coastline was vital to England’s trading efforts.

Taking the time to explore on foot yields further delights: sleepy villages of pretty, flint-and-brick cottages; well-signposted paths that guide you seamlessly through peaceful woodland and protected nature reserves; an efficient bus network which makes it wonderfully simple to adapt the routes to your preferences; and a growing food scene, featuring much seasonal local produce. Perhaps surprisingly, for a destination that still lies off the beaten track for many, the standard of accommodation here is also top-notch, with the inns, guesthouses and hotels offering warmth, character and comfort for each night you spend in this charming rural idyll.
 

Book with confidence

At present, we are only accepting bookings for English holidays for travel from 17 May onwards. Our flexible booking arrangements, commitment to safety and financial protection mean that you can book with confidence, despite the current restrictions in place.

What we’re doing so you can book and travel with confidence >

We will contact customers who have a holiday booking with us in spring nearer the date of departure.
 
Gallery
 

Itinerary

The key to Inntravel holidays is flexibility. You can start on the day of your choice, and are free to add extra nights.

Many of the walks we suggest can be tailored using the excellent local bus service; pay locally for this, and for any other journeys, visits or excursions you undertake.
  • The average maximum daytime temperatures and monthly rainfall relate to the nearest weather station and are intended as a guide only.

    East England is less prone to rain than the west, but you should always be prepared for wet weather.
    Average temperatures and rainfall
      Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
    °C 6 6 9 11 15 19 21 21 18 15 10 7
    mm 54 40 46 48 46 50 53 54 50 57 65 59
  • Arrival in Snettisham
    Night 1: at The Rose & Crown (the first of two nights here).
    As your first night’s accommodation is on the day of travel, Day 1 is your first day of walking.
  • Circular route from Snettisham: 10km (6 miles), 3hrs
    Your first walk provides an ideal introduction to the great diversity of the North Norfolk coast. Departing on foot from Snettisham, you follow a route which leads through mixed woodland, marshes and meadows, enjoying views across the vast Wash estuary as you go. Highlights include visits to the expansive sands of Snettisham and to the RSPB Nature Reserve, which attracts an extraordinary concentration of wading birds, particularly between August and January.

    Today, you also have the option to travel by bus* to Sandringham Estate, the Queen’s much-loved Christmas home. It is possible to visit the house itself, as well as the landscaped gardens and surrounding parkland.
    *Or by car, if you have driven to the holiday.
    Snettisham woods
  • Snettisham to Holkham: 8.5km (5.5 miles), 3-4hrs
    Today begins with a short bus journey to Old Hunstanton, a coastal village known for its striking cliffs of red limestone and creamy chalk. Your onward route offers a similar feast for the eyes: following the Norfolk Coastal Path, it traverses sand dunes and nature reserves – including wildlife-rich Holme Dunes – and also passes the site of Seahenge, a 4000-year-old Bronze Age timber circle that was discovered in 1998 and is now on display in nearby King's Lynn. Your target is the attractive village of Thornham – we recommend lunching in one of the well-regarded pubs before completing the remainder of the journey to Holkham and The Victoria Inn by bus.

    It is possible to continue on foot (add 4km/2.5miles): following a meandering boardwalk through high reed beds, you pass the Roman fort at Branodunum and arrive in Brancaster Staithe – a once busy harbour which still has an excellent reputation for seafood – before walking on to Burnham Deepdale, from where a bus will convey you to Holkham.
    Walking the coastal path
  • Choice of routes from Holkham: 9.5 or 11.5km (6 or 7.5 miles)
    We provide notes for two superb walks from Holkham, either of which can be combined with a visit to Holkham Hall, ancestral seat of the Earls of Leicester. Built in the Palladian style between 1735 and 1764, the house is beautifully kept, its treasures including artwork by Gainsborough, Rubens and Van Dyck, while the extensive grounds contain a six-acre walled garden, boating lake and deer park.

    Linear route to Burnham Market: 9.5km (6 miles), 3-4hrs
    On an already unique coastline, Holkham’s panoramic beach is exceptional, ranking as one of the most beautiful and unspoiled in the country. It is also a National Nature Reserve, its sand dunes, pine woods and grazing marshes providing the perfect habitat for a wide variety of migratory and nesting birds. Starting here, your route continues along the coast to Burnham Overy Staithe – a small harbour of bobbing boats – before heading inland to Burnham Market via windmills and wildflowers, historic churches and a ruined abbey. There’s plenty to interest in Norfolk’s prettiest town, from charming Georgian architecture to independent eateries and specialist shops; enjoy a leisurely exploration before making your way back to Holkham by bus.

    Circular route via Wells and Warham: 11.5km (7.5 miles), 4hrs
    Another option is to follow the sands to Wells-next-the-Sea, passing high dunes and brightly painted beach huts en route. Pretty Wells is a historic harbour town with a traditional seaside feel – you’ll spot visitors fishing for crabs, sampling the local rock or snacking on ice-cream – and it is also where you will find the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway, a heritage steam railway that is the smallest in public operation. A short journey aboard will bring you to the pilgrimage town of Walsingham, whose celebrated shrine, ruined abbey and impressive timber-framed buildings are well worth a visit. Return by train to Wells, or disembark instead at Warham to walk back via Holkham Park.
    Linear route to Burnham Market - approaching Burnham Overy Staithe
    Circular route via Wells - Wells-next-the-Sea harbour
  • Holkham to Blakeney or Cley: 10km (6 miles), 3-4hrs
    Leaving Holkham behind, you journey first to Wells – either on foot or by bus – before enjoying a leisurely walk along the coast to Morston. Your route leads through the Blakeney Nature Reserve, where daily tides flood the twisting creeks and create a perfect haven for birdlife amid the pristine sandbanks. This stretch of coast is also home to the UK’s largest seal colony – seal-watching boat trips are available locally – and is known for its sea lavender, which punctuates the green, salt-washed seascape in high summer. Regular buses link Morston to Blakeney, which is the perfect example of a Norfolk harbour village with its narrow streets, flint-pebble cottages and quaint, family-run shops. Your final two nights are either spent here at Blakeney House, or at our upgrade option, the nearby Cley Windmill, which is reachable by bus or on foot.
    Walking across the creeks
  • Circular route from Blakeney or Cley: 11.5km (7 miles), 3-4hrs
    Your final walk combines many of the ingredients that make the North Norfolk coast such a rewarding place to visit: there are grand churches to admire; excellent country pubs to try; boats clustered in the creeks; wildflowers brightening the meadows; and villages steeped in historic charm. Whether you begin in Blakeney or Cley, you will have the chance to visit the Cley Nature Reserve, whose reed beds, grazing marshes and saline lagoons provide some of the country’s best bird-watching opportunities, as well as the Wiveton Downs, from where you can cast a last lingering glance to the sea.
    Blakeney harbour
    Wiverton bridge
 

Accommodation

This holiday features a particularly enticing selection of accommodation – from quintessential country pubs to impressive Victorian properties.

We offer an upgrade option in Cley-next-the-Sea (please note the stay here is on a bed-and-breakfast basis). We ask that you indicate your hotel preference at the time of booking.
 
Prices & travel options
All prices are in £ sterling (GBP). If you'd like to see what they equate to in your currency, use the converter. For general information on pricing, see the 'your holiday price explained' page.
Currency converter

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  • 6 nights: 01 April 2021 - 31 October 2021

    Start any day | End by latest date(s) shown above

    Starting Price Single room
    1 - 30 Apr 2021 £795 £495
    1 May - 31 Aug 2021 £840 £540
    1 Sep - 25 Oct 2021 £795 £495
    3rd & 4th person discount -£25
    Single traveller supplement £25

    Please note: dogs are not permitted on Inntravel holidays

    Included travel: transfer Blakeney or Cley-Snettisham to collect car OR from King's Lynn railway station / to Sheringham railway station

  • 6 nights, staying at Cley Windmill: 01 March 2021 - 31 October 2021

    Start any day | End by latest date(s) shown above

    Starting Price Single room
    1 Mar - 30 Apr 2021 £840 £530
    1 May - 31 Aug 2021 £885 £575
    1 Sep - 25 Oct 2021 £840 £530
    3rd & 4th person discount -£25
    Single traveller supplement £25

    Please note: dogs are not permitted on Inntravel holidays

    Included travel: transfer Blakeney or Cley-Snettisham to collect car OR from King's Lynn railway station / to Sheringham railway station

  • Extra nights (£ per person per night) in a double or single room

    The Rose & Crown, Snettisham (B&B) Double room Single room
    01 Apr - 31 Oct 2021 £90 £165
    The Victoria Inn, Holkham (with dinner) Double room Single room
    01 Apr - 31 Oct 2021 £145 £220

  • Room upgrades (£ per person per night)

    Cley Windmill, Cley-next-the-Sea
    Deluxe: 01 Mar - 31 Oct 2021 £45

    Extra nights (£ per person per night) in a double or single room

    The Rose & Crown, Snettisham (B&B) Double room Single room
    01 Mar - 31 Oct 2021 £90 £165
    The Victoria Inn, Holkham (with dinner) Double room Single room
    01 Mar - 31 Oct 2021 £145 £220
  • Prices below are based on 2 people travelling together. If you are travelling solo or as a party of 3 or more and our arrangements include a taxi, please contact us for prices; additional passengers often pay less.

    Connecting travel options - out via King's Lynn, home via Sheringham

    Outward route Price per person Latest train
    arrival time
    taxi King's Lynn station to hotel (0h30) included flexible
    Homeward route Price per person Earliest train
    departure time
    taxi hotel to Sheringham station (0h20) included flexible
What is included
  • 6 nights
  • 3 dinners
    6 breakfasts
  • luggage transported
  • route notes and maps
  • taxi to/from local railway stations or to collect car
 
Reviews

If you've experienced this holiday first hand, why not write a review?

We are keen for as many customers as possible to review their holiday. To make it easier to do so, we include a specific review section on our post-holiday questionnaire, and this is what we publish here, unedited. Read our full review policy >

All 6 reviews
  • Natalia
    02 November 2020

    The walk to the coast and back was great. On the second day we went to Sandringham and enjoyed the walk through the country park, the gift shop and cafe. Inntravel was great with booking and amending our holiday, we appreciated that. We also received the holiday pack in record time. We look forward to our next holiday with Inntravel.

  • Mrs C Sowerby
    Hereford
    31 October 2020

    Well done to Inntravel for putting together this gem of a holiday. We stayed at The Rose and Crown, Snettisham, and The Victoria Inn, Holkam, before having to return home because of lockdown. So ours was a 4 night break. We enjoyed it immensely and will return when we can to visit Blakeney. The accommodation was excellent, and the staff all very friendly and super efficient. The food was outstanding and there was a very varied choice. The deli at Thornham was brilliant. We enjoyed a late lunch of freshly made sandwiches, coffee and home made pecan pie. We tailored our walking to enjoy maximum bird watching opportunities including the RSPB reserves at Snettisham and Titchwell. The bus service was on time, so no problems at all. Waking up to the sounds of flocks of migrating birds was memorable. There just seemed to be so much space and vast blue skies.

  • Mr D Sidwell
    Tring
    29 October 2020

    All the accommodation was excellent, especially the windmill at Cley: we could see it for miles before we got to it, surrounded by reed beds, just beautiful. 

    Although it is a very flat coast, we were surprised by the variety of the walks: huge sandy beaches, raised dykes winding their way round the salt marshes, raised board walks, Holkham Estate, RSPB reserve and a couple of seaside towns thrown in. Add to that lots of birds (really, thousands of them) and plenty of water to sit and stare at.

    This walk being a Level 1 felt less of a challenge than other Inntravel holidays we're been on but we really enjoyed it: it was so characterful and the food (especially at The Rose and Crown and The Victoria) was outstanding.

  • Ms A Martin
    London
    16 October 2020

    Walking was easy and invigorationg with all that fresh sea air! Watching the birds along the coast even to our unknowledgeable eyes was wonderful.

  • John Robertson, Oxford
    12 October 2020

    The whole holiday was a pleasure, especially in COVID circumstances.  In mid-October one needs some good fortune with the weather, and I had it: not only limited rain, but a cloud cover that often lifted over the coast, revealing expansive blue skies.  The North Norfolk coast itself is intriguing not only for its wonderfully large beaches (as at Holkham), but for its 'in-between' spaces - mud flats, lagoons and reed beds, and grazing marshland - places where nature teems on its own terms, and humans can observe and conserve but do not compete for the spaces.  The final day's walk takes one back into richly-cultivated countryside, and adds further value to the experience - the Blakeney Esker is of particular interest.  Good (varied) hotels, and good food too.  A holiday to lift the spirit in a bleak year. 

  • Anon
    07 October 2020

    Great holiday. We were unable to stay at Holkham but this didn't have a negative impact on the holiday. Beware that Blakeney House does not serve food on Mondays and there are limited alternatives in the village. The last bus from Wells to Blakeney leaves at 16.30pm so be sure to check your walking times.

    If you wish to visit the RSPB reserve at Snettisham it is possible to continue along the beach and enter the reserve at the far end. There is a small causeway across the lake and a footpath takes you across the fields and through to a disused railway line at Ingoldsthorpe which leads back to Snettisham. This extends the walk to about 15km.
 

FAQs

If you have any questions relating to this or any other Inntravel holiday, our friendly travel experts will be happy to help. You might also find our General FAQs section helpful.
  • We sincerely hope that your holiday experience will be as enjoyable as it would have been before the pandemic – walking holidays are ideal in these times of social distancing, and we’re not operating holidays if the key highlights can no longer be delivered – but, naturally, there will be some changes to ensure your and other people’s safety.
    Your holiday experience: what to expect >
    Safety measures being taken by hoteliers & others >
  • We’ll send you route notes and maps 2-3 weeks before your holiday. The route notes not only contain directions to get from hotel to hotel, but also include practical information about places of interest and eateries along each route, plus cultural information about the area. If/when you are moving between hotels, you leave your luggage in reception as you leave, and it will be transferred ahead to your next accommodation, meaning that all you need to take with you are a camera, sun cream, drinks, food and waterproofs.

    For more detailed information, see our walking holidays in Europe page.
  • Yes, absolutely. Over the years, we have arranged a great many walking holidays in the UK for customers living in the USA, Canada, Australia and beyond.

    If you've never travelled with us before, it's worth reading the web pages which explain how we can cater for customers who live outside the UK. The main thing to bear in mind is that our tour operator's licence doesn't allow us to book flights that originate outside the UK, and nor are we able to book rail travel in the UK, so we can't make travel arrangements for you, other than pre-arranging taxis between the local railway station and the accommodation – see the ‘prices & travel options’ section for the options available.

    As regards entry requirements, it is your responsibility to ensure that you have the correct travel documents, with the correct validity. Our essential travel information page provides links to websites where you can find out about the applicable requirements, along with general official travel advice.
  • Since our holidays are self-guided, we recommend calling us for a chat about your plans before making a booking, especially if it’s the first time you’ve booked with us.
    The price panel shows the supplement for a single room and also the single traveller charge (this covers (luggage) transfers and other costs which are usually shared between two people).
  • Once you’ve decided on your exact itinerary (our travel experts will be happy to offer advice), you need to provide us with your party’s details, either by phone or via our booking form. At this point we also ask you to pay a deposit so that we can secure a room for you immediately on confirming availability with the hotel(s). If it turns out that we can’t secure the accommodation for the holiday you’ve requested, or offer an acceptable alternative, we’ll refund your deposit promptly and in full. After booking your accommodation and other key elements, we'll then book your travel (or you can do so if you’re making your own arrangements) and send you a Booking Confirmation and Invoice.

    More information about the booking process >
    Information about accommodation, general practicalities and more >
    Booking conditions >
  • Yes, it’s something we insist on, even for holidays in the UK. The vast majority of holidays go smoothly, but when things go wrong, it can be expensive to put them right. Buying a new pair of walking boots after your suitcase is stolen mightn’t seem so bad, but the bill for being airlifted down from a mountain with a broken leg or flown home while still recovering from an illness or accident can cost tens of thousands of pounds.

    You don’t have to take out our recommended travel insurance policy (if you live outside the UK you’ll definitely need to make your own arrangements, as the policy is only for UK residents), but you do need to make sure that you’re covered for medical emergencies – including falling ill with Covid-19 while on holiday – and repatriation. We also recommend that you are covered for other eventualities, such as cancellation and loss of luggage and passports.

    We'll ask you for the details of your policy (insurer, policy number and medical emergency phone number) so that we can help out if the worst happens while you are on holiday. It's up to you, though, to check that your policy covers the activities you'll be doing on holiday and that it is adequate for your own individual needs; we don't check alternative policies.
  • You are the best judge of your child’s/children’s capabilities. We are happy to take bookings for families of older children/teenagers if they walk regularly, love the outdoors and are comfortable with the distances and ascent/descent involved. Please note that the bedrooms at most of the accommodation we use will normally only sleep a maximum of 3 people, and sometimes only 2.
  • Unfortunately not. The Inntravel team includes many dog owners, but the extra considerations – such as whether taxi firms accept dogs for transfers to the start of walks, whether routes cross private land on which dogs are not allowed, and proximity to a vet’s – would add another layer of complexity to what are already quite complex holidays.
Last fetch time is : 3/3/2021 4:36:15 PM