Timeout Thursday – Norfolk Beaches

Whenever I go away somewhere
rural in England I always wonder what it would be like to live there.  My DH always jokes that he’d have to be
a bank manager and I’d have to run Mary’s Big Hair Boutique (I might point out
I can barely style my own short hair, let alone anyone else’s). I’m always
surprised that we jump to these clichés first, when in this digital age, it
doesn’t really matter where you live.

We’ve just
had a week on the North Norfolk coast.  We had a brilliant time, unlike Annie from Insideology when she visited the area. And yes I idled away a few moments imagining a life there; it was short
lived, as I love my buzzy city too much. BUT The North Norfolk coast really is an
absolute breath of fresh air, literally and figuratively. Big wide skies and
sandy beaches, steam trains and great pubs. Oh and crab sandwiches. It’s why I
love it so much. I know I live beside the sea but the Norfolk coast is a
million miles from Brighton.

We stayed in an area I really didn’t know before this trip Mundesley in Liz Addison’s cute as a button Stones Thow Cottage (available here). If you want a sleepy quiet time this place is a safe bet. Literally 20 paces from the front door was a great park (a necessity with a little one and a dog) and about 3-4 mins walk was the golden sandy beach of Mundesley. We were blessed with good weather for our whole trip  – felt rather smug about it too.  Whilst half of the southeast was seen on the news crammed onto Brighton beach, in North Norfolk we had plenty of space and plenty of beaches to choose from.

We found
time to visit several of our favourite spots; Holkham, Wells-Next-the-Sea,
Salthouse and Holt. But the beaches always drew us back.