Country diary: cranes grace the Broads with their gangly elegance
Hickling, Norfolk: Once extinct in Britain, these hulking birds have made a welcome return, helped by the creation of new wetlandsWe’re late heading for Hickling Broad, but the day is bright and cold,...
View ArticleSea views and seal trips on the Norfolk coast: hotel review
The Blakeney – in Holt, north Norfolk – is large, cosy and has an award-winning restaurant, and makes a great base to explore this lovely part of the countryWhere is the hotel? On the north Norfolk...
View ArticleExploring the Broads at dusk: Country diary, 2 April 1970
2 April 1970 After threading the boat through dark and stately alders, we cross still waters with a path of sunset gold limning black coot and a lone cygnetNORFOLK: It might be winter still on the...
View ArticleFrom the end of the pier to the circus, UK seaside resorts in lockdown hope...
Norfolk’s picture postcard destinations were set for a bumper year – now they are fighting for survivalOn a cloudless May morning, the seaside resort of Great Yarmouth on England’s east coast looks...
View ArticlePost-lockdown camping: 'It's a taste of freedom'
On a first foray out of London, our writer kicks up her heels with a stay in a (freshly sanitised) yurt, boating on the Norfolk Broads – and drinks in several pubsWe arrived at our yurt and said hello...
View ArticleCountry roads, take me Holme: Dorset to Norfolk by bike
A route on ancient walking trails across England makes for a challenging but magical ‘bikepack’ tour“You’re not riding to work with all that stuff, are you?”With bags strapped to the saddle, handlebars...
View ArticleWe spend our summer holidays 20 minutes from home, in underrated east Norfolk...
While north Norfolk became gentrified, its east coast remained undervalued, except by marine life and our writer. But don’t dally … this is the ‘changing coast’In the mid-1990s, thousands of tonnes of...
View ArticleWellness sailing: shed the stress in the Norfolk salt marshes
Achieve a state of calm with a peaceful boat trip through the last wilderness in southern BritainAn expedition on the fastest Norfolk “mussel flat” boat ever built by fishermen of yore does not, I have...
View ArticleA floating cabin break on the Broads
Reopening on 12 April, this boatyard on the Suffolk-Norfolk border is an idyllic base for rowing, kayaking, wild swimming and forgetting about the world under big, beautiful skies“Mum! I’m taking the...
View ArticleGreat Yarmouth: mixing Victorian seaside charm with a renewable outlook
The Norfolk resort, like a ‘half-baked Naples’ for our local writer, has been refreshed and now has its own London Eye-style ferris wheelIf Brexit gave Britain’s seaside towns a momentary pulse, then...
View ArticleMy return to the Fens and their coast – a land of brooding intensity
Revisiting his childhood haunts of Skegness and Mablethorpe, our writer finds the epic landscape surrounding them a good place to be alone yet still connectedThere’s a ship passing seawards beyond the...
View ArticleCountry diary 1971: transient splendour of sunrise over the fen
16 September 1971: Through a haze of rose countless geometric webs of spiders bridge darkling gaps, glittering and opalescentNORFOLK: Sunrise over the fen on these autumn mornings brings transient...
View ArticleI took a sailing holiday – on one of Norfolk’s historic wherries
The elegant wooden boats that once cruised the Broads ferrying groceries – and George Formby – are once again carrying daytrippersThere is a rightness about sailing a Norfolk wherry that leaves you...
View ArticleSeals, the circus and seaside walks: a car-free break on the Norfolk coast
The coast around Great Yarmouth is home to some of Britain’s best wildlife, Roman ruins and classic seaside entertainmentEvery winter, thousands of grey seals give birth on the beaches near...
View ArticleA great walk to a great pub: Sculthorpe Mill, Norfolk
Wander through weeping willows on the Wensum then tuck into gamekeeper’s pie and ‘beers that belong’ at a beautifully restored watermillStart All Saints Church, HelhoughtonDistance 5¾ milesTime 2½...
View ArticleBenoli, Norwich: ‘If this place was closer to my house, I would eat here a...
‘Few things give me greater pleasure than wandering out of a hotel on the hunt for dinner, expecting nothing and finding a local gem’While eating a bowl of fresh pumpkin cappellacci at Benoli in...
View ArticleNotes on chocolate: A picture-perfect town offers a tasty treat
Where better than Holt to indulge in chocolate peanut butter?I’m still in North Norfolk, this time in Holt, a delightful little town. The first time I came here there was a ‘wanted’ poster in Bakers...
View Article10 of UK’s best active rural holidays
Stay in a shepherd’s hut for the lambing season, try dry stone walling in the Peak District or go trekking with sheep or alpacasThe Barrel Top, a shepherd’s hut in Devon, is surrounded by a flock of...
View ArticleInside the lair of the She-Wolf of France: why you should visit Castle Rising
Norfolk seat of the Plantagenets and once home to Isabella, wife of King Edward II, this fortress is a trip that satisfies the mind, lifts the spirit and takes its visitors back in timeCastle Rising...
View ArticleRiding the new Rebellion Way: a cycling adventure through Norfolk’s history
A 232-mile cycle loop around the county offers pastoral charms, big skies and a look back at the region’s surprisingly defiant sideAs King Prasutagus of the Iceni was dying in AD60, he reneged on an...
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