Seascapes of North Norfolk

The highlight to us was that we were seeing the most beautiful countryside, in fact Norfolk at its best because of the weather.  Wonderful to have our trip planned for us and going to 3 locations meant that the week seemed longer.  Excellent!

HIGHLIGHTS: The meals at The Victoria hotel were outstanding, visiting Walsingham early in the morning by bus, watching the birds from the paths, sunset over Blakeney Harbour on our last night. We had a picnic of crab from the smokehouse in Cley and bread from the shop in Cley and sat on a bench near the Church in bright sunshine - magical...

We particularly enjoyed this walk as we were able to combine our love of walking with birdwatching.  We carried binoculars with us every day and there was plenty of time to stop and look for birds.  We fitted in a visit to Titchwell Marsh on Day 2 and spent a half day at Cley Reserve at the end of our holiday.  The route is easy to navigate and we hardly needed to refer to the detailed notes or maps, which allowed more time for tea or lunch stops.

Highlights & Tips: RSPB Snettisham was well worth the circular walk all the way round. Morston Staithe is very attractive, with the NT cafe a pleasant bonus. Blakeney is a very attractive place to stay. Monday is not the best day to visit Burnham Market - many places, including cafes, were closed. Wiveton Down is worth a quick detour - it is a different type of habitat, being heathland - good picnic spot. 

Enjoyed the holiday, first time in that area and interesting that the coastal path is not really on  the coast! Holkham was brilliant great estate and hotel and did beach walk to Burnham. We think the distances we walked were more than indicated in your notes - as indicated by our phones / fitbit.

Fab holiday in a wonderful part of England.  Birds and flowers galore.  Amazing food, which we thankfully walked off ready for the next meal! Weather glorious.  Accommodation great, but the 'Vic', Holkham was perfect.  Include long sits on the beach and take a swimming costume with you on the walks. Thank you.

Nice variety of walks and hotels lovely. Went seal watching when staying in Blakeney and saw lots of seals.

Overall, it was a great walking experience, especially the stretches on the coastal path; to us, a unique landscape, with wonderful  wildflowers, even on the dunes. It was good to know, especially when caught in heavy showers that we would have an attractive and very comfortable place to stay that night and that often we could catch a bus to our destination if it all got a bit much. 

Mostly a very enjoyable holiday particularly because of the weather in the first three days. The hotels were all very good and the first three walks very enjoyable. We didn't manage the last walk from Blakeney to the windmill because I fell over and felt a little too shaky to carry on - but it was relatively minor.

Our favourite place to stay was the Victoria Inn in Holkham although all the accommodation was very good. We thoroughly enjoyed our walks and the meals at the end of the day. The holiday was excellent overall. The only negative we felt was that the beaches weren't really safe for swimming at and often the tides were so far out that you had another long walk to get to the sea. Obviously, this is nothing that Inntravel have any control of but should be borne in mind by people who enjoy swimming.

Our best walk was from Hunstanton to Holkham. We stopped in the town and walked the beach with its famous cliffs rather than start from Old Hunstanton. We also walked on to Titchwell which was very good and easy to get to and from. All accommodation and food was excellent with the Victoria Inn the pick of the three with outstanding facilities and service.

We had a wonderful walking holiday in a part of the UK that most of us had not experienced before. The walks, coastal scenery, wildlife and weather were just lovely and the accommodation is top notch!

Holkham was a good place to spend time and we very much enjoyed our e-bike experience in the beautiful grounds. We were glad that we had added an extra day there.

We had a superb meal in The Old Bank, Snettisham and another in the Wells Crab house, Wells-next-to-the-Sea, both of which we had booked well in advance. The Deli in Burnham Market was also very pleasant on our walking day in and around there.

All the accommodation was very good with the Country House atmosphere of the Victoria Inn and its beautiful rooms standing out, although the delightful Rose & Crown in Snettisham is a close run second. Blakeney House was comfortable with everything that was needed and good food but the other two stand out. 

Generally this was a very good experience. We thank Inntravel for their organisation and the way they have coped with the challenges of these difficult days.

Despite the weather fantastic holiday. Accommodation above our expectations. Walking not too arduous and easy to follow. Recommend you get to know the easy bus route (generally about 1 per hour) to get back from some lovely pubs. We did take a car to Norfolk. Parking was easy and Inntravel guides adjusted accordingly. We'd highly recommend.  

The RSPB reserve near Snettisham has a new 'hide' which allows you to be very close to the nesting black-headed gulls and have a panoramic view of their nesting without disturbing them. Don't miss it.  

The nature reserve at Holkham has coastal access, woodland walking, views over the saltmarsh and sightings of the marsh harrier which we had heard about. Another walker, a more experienced bird watcher, helped us to locate him gliding over the saltmarsh.  

Rose and Crown outstanding.

Routes interesting and wildlife extraordinary.

A really enjoyable holiday: accommodation in three very different but uniformly good places (a pub, a hotel and a windmill!), excellent food, and some excellent walking, helped by (for 2021) unnaturally fine weather!

So relaxing, so beautiful...  We felt like we were in a secret corner of the country while eveyone else rushed off to the southwest. Great food as well. We will be back!

We have never been disappointed or let down in any way by Inntravel. The holiday was made so easy and relaxing by the fantastic attention to detail in the notes about the area, the maps and the local knowlege. It saves so much precious holiday time if you know where to look for the best experiences and Inntravel certainly go out of their way to provide all the information you could possibly need.  

We thoroughly enjoyed our 6 night break in Norfolk. If you wish to visit Holkham Hall do book in advance. We also pre-booked restaurants. The Victoria Inn is very special and the food is excellent. We stayed at the Windmill in Cley-next-the-Sea and our room was first class overlooking the broads. All in all we would recommend this trip. We could certainly have stayed longer. We may rerturn and do the walks we didn't manage. Also the bus service is first class.

The coastal bus was very useful & we used to combine routes & so more in a day

We very much enjoyed the walking & xploring an area that was new to us

A thoroughly enjoyable holiday in an area that was new to us. The perfect antidote to lockdown.

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.

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.

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.

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

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. 

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.