Norfolk walking weekend

Chris and I have just returned from an energetic weekend spent in Norfolk where we walked for 28 miles in 2 days with a 16.5 miler on the Saturday and another 11.5 miles completed on the Sunday. Both were circular walks and both began and ended in the pretty market town of Burnham Market close to the north Norfolk coast.

Day 1: Burnham Market Circular Walk (East) 16.5 miles

Our friend Mike had organised both walks and after an early start and a 2 hour drive, we met him and his wife Flo, together with Russell and Roza in Burnham Market at 9 am on the Saturday morning. We all parked in the Burnham Market car park PE31 8UR at a cost of £6.80 per car for the day. You have to pay either by cash or (somewhat annoyingly) via an app. There wasn’t a facility to tap your card so you need to have a signal to download the app if you don’t have the cash. Anyway – following a quick breakfast snack in Tilly’s cafe the 6 of us set off in the sunshine with Mike leading the way.

Burnham Market is a 17th century village and in 2022 was rated by Conde Naste Traveler as one of the most beautiful in a final shortlist of 20 villages across the UK and Ireland. The first part of its name comes from the short 7.6 mile River Burn which runs through. The second part… well it’s a traditional market town with a weekly market! The village green is surrounded by colourful pastel artisan shops, cafes and pubs and there are also some stunning top notch houses making Burnham Market a desirable place to live.

As a county Norfolk has over 650 churches which is the greatest concentration of churches in the world. This is because of strong traditional trading links with neighbouring countries across the North Sea and the Baltics.

We saw several churches throughout the weekend the first being St Clement’s at Burnham Overy which is located on the road between Burnham Market and Wells. The church was built by the Normans as a cruciform church with a central tower, although the tower was shortened in 1200.

We continued on our way through fields and some shady woods to walk through.

The next church was of historical importance! All Saint’s Church is located in the village of Burnham Thorpe where Admiral Horatio Nelson was born. Nelson’s father was the rector of Burnham Thorpe during 1755-1803 and it was this church where Nelson was baptised. The graves of his mother and father are inside the church and those of his brother and sister can be found in the churchyard.

From his birth in the village Nelson later became best known for his victory at the Battle of Trafalgar of 1805 which took place in the Atlantic Ocean to the south west of Spain between the British Royal Navy and the Spanish. Lord Nelson is regarded as the greatest officer in the history of the Royal Navy. And got married in 1787 a sugar plantation in Nevis where Chris and I visited in November last year. And he spent 3 years living in a naval base in Antigua which became the UNESCO Nelsons Dockyard.

On any trip it’s always good to have some interesting elements and to learn some history and in high spirits we had a pleasant walk through more fields and around the edge of the stone wall of Holkham Hall before we entered the long driveway towards another, this time large, historic building.

Holkham Hall is a stately home which is set in extensive parkland. The Holkham Hall website explains this place is ‘steeped in history’ and delves back into the past 400 years. There are a number of attractions at Holkham Hall with areas for families, gardens and a cafe. We didn’t go inside but enjoyed our walking route through the grounds.

A resident herd of fallow deer roam around in Holkham Hall deer park and it is advised (on the website) to observe them but not too closely so as not to agitate them.

From Holkham Hall we crossed the road and walked straight on through a long line of cars who had parked for access to Holkham Beach. By now it was lunchtime so we brought drinks and snacks from the Lookout Cafe and sat in the sun at a wooden picnic bench. With quite a few tourists as we are still in the Easter school holidays!

Following lunch within a few minutes we were at the coast and the sand dunes of Holkham Beach. The weather was warm at around 20 degrees by now and we were all in tee shirts.

There are paths which lead down to the sand however we decided that walking in sand would be quite an effort so we stuck to the woodland path.

We continued to follow Mike through the pine woods adjacent to the coast path.

In one part of the forest we noticed some interesting clumpy mossy stuff which looked like little green sponges.

Until we decided to walk through the sand dunes with the sea in the distance.

Throughout the day it had been windy at times as we endured the edge of Storm Kathleen which had been busily disrupting flights and causing a bit of chaos along the west of the UK and Ireland. Here in the east of England the weather was blustery but not too bad. Although we did feel the effects as we walked along this part of the exposed coast path!

Many birds live in the habitat of the tidal salt marshes and creeks which line the edge of the 1.5 mile stretch of coast path which links the sand dunes and Burnham Overy Staithe village.

The river splits into several tidal creeks which allows small boats to navigate through this stretch between Burnham Overy Staithe and the North Sea.

We arrived at Burnham Overy Staithe, a small fishing village which has a boathouse on the waterfront where you can hire kayaks, have your boat repaired or buy a new boat. The boathouse also contains information about tides, weather, ferries and suchlike.

We next walked up to Burnham Overy Staithe Mill which has a 6 storey tower. This windmill was built in 1816 and according to Wikipedia, is currently used as a holiday let.

Nearby and opposite a large pond is the picturesque Old Water Mill which was built in 1790. Unfortunately it is permanently closed so we were unable to have a closer look.

Continuing along the Norfolk Coast Path we crossed over the River Burn as we made our way towards Burnham Norton.

In Burnham Norton we came across a traditional phone box which has been repurposed into a village library where people are able to swap their books.

We finished our 16.5 mile walk at about 4.30 pm with a welcome cold drink in the Hoste Arms in Burnham Market before driving the 4.5 miles or so to our accommodation for the night, details of which can be found at the end of this post.

Day 2: Burnham Market Circular Walk (West) 11.5 miles

Following Sunday morning breakfast we set off again in our cars, drove from our accommodation and parked again in the same car park in Burnham Market. This time, Mike lead us in the opposite direction for a different circular walk!

We set off towards Sussex Lane and along this very quiet road we passed farm meadows full of spring flowers.

After a couple of miles we could next see Sussex House on the right which is part of a large estate owned by Jeremy Thompson. His wife restored the nearby ‘White House’ a lovely Georgian guesthouse where you can stay in one of the 12 rooms.

From the Sussex estate we walked up a quiet road and along some tracks and through some woods until we reached Barrow Common.

With grassland, woodland and gorse Barrow Common is part of a large elevated piece of land which from where you can see the sea in the distance. With its height above sea level, this was the location for a radar station during World War 2.

We had just left Barrow Common and started heading in the direction of the sea.

Before long we came to Brancaster Staithe which was once a Roman town and a thriving port. National Trust explains this part of the Norfolk coast is famous for mussels and here you will be able to see quite a few fishing boats. The harbour is where Brancaster Sailing Club can be found.

Brancaster Staithe and Burnham Deepdale have merged into two villages strung out along the coast.

Continuing along the coast path this took us across the salt marshes, similar to the path we had taken the day before. At very high tide this area can become flooded. This section of the path seemed to go on forever and was excessively windy!

We turned off the raised path towards the right and through a gate arriving in a slightly more sheltered muddy and boggy path.

We walked in the mud past tall reeds which were swaying in the wind.

We were by now about a mile or two away from completing our walk and found ourselves back in the lovely village of Burnham Norton. From here we headed straight back, past ‘millionaire row’ with its huge and expensive houses on the edge of Burnham Market.

After 4 hours 20 minutes and 11.5 miles we arrived back at the village green of Burnham Market at around 2.15 pm so just in time for Sunday lunch! We hadn’t booked anywhere and tried our luck for a table for 6 back in the Hoste restaurant. Their large restaurant was busy but thankfully we were accommodated and Chris and I enjoyed a delicious mushroom and cashew nut wellington – the perfect end to a long and bracing Sunday walk.

Accommodation

We spent the Saturday night staying in the Ostrich Inn which is located in the pretty village of South Creake, about 4.5 miles from Burnham Market. This village happens to be the source of the River Burn and it forms a ford next to the green in the centre of the village.

Our room was warm and comfortable and even had its own little private terrace with a table and chairs just outside the door. It was cold when we woke up on the Sunday morning but Chris and I sat outside the room drinking tea in the sun.

For the Saturday evening we had enjoyed a few drinks and a lovely meal in the Ostrich Inn together with Roza & Russell and Flo & Mike. This was followed by a delicious Ostrich Inn breakfast on the Sunday morning which set us up nicely for the second walk.

Summary

Just a two hour drive from home this lovely scenic weekend was fabulous break and felt like a mini holiday! The two walks were full of features, interest and character with a mixed terrain of meadows, woods, marshes and coast. We had lots of fun and laughs as always and with 28 miles of walking, we felt a small sense of achievement with a bit of training for our forthcoming holiday in Norway.