Family summer fun in Norfolk
Enjoy our 90 miles of coast... 93 when the tide's out!
Norfolk is blessed with some of the best coast in the country – 90 miles of it! (93 when the tide’s out!). All of it is great for sandcastle-building, crabbing, playing games like beach cricket and kite flying, going for a refreshing swim! The east Norfolk coast has great beaches and dunes topped with marram grass. The north Norfolk coast has fab beaches too, with dramatic cliffs at Sheringham, tidal salt marshes at Blakeney and Scolt Head, with huge, dramatic sands at Wells-next-the-Sea, Holkham (voted the best beach in the UK) and Brancaster. Colourful cliffs resume at Old Hunstanton before the mudflats of The Wash take over.
Three fabulous seaside resorts
Indulge in the traditional seaside activities of amusement arcades, eating candyfloss or donuts while strolling along the Prom, or playing crazy golf at our three fab resorts of Great Yarmouth, Cromer and Hunstanton. Great Yarmouth has its Golden Mile of attractions, Cromer has the last end-of-pier show in the country and Sunny Hunny (as we affectionately call it) is one of the best places in the country for kitesurfing.
SOOOO many family-friendly attractions
Talking of which, we’ve got some of the best visitor attractions in the country too! If you want to burn off some energy and behave like Tarzan then we’d recommend Go Ape in Thetford Forest, BeWILDerwood in the Broads, Hilltop Outdoor Centre, Extreeme Adventure or Pensthorpe Natural Park. We've got great zoos like Banham, Amazona and Thrigby, natural parks like Pensthorpe and even dinosaurs at Roarr!!
Festivals and fun events throughout the Summer
Summer is the time of carnivals, festivals and family-friendly events! Try the Wells Pirate Festival, the King’s Lynn Festival and Festival Too, Holt Festival, Lord Mayor’s Procession in Norwich or Great Yarmouth’s Maritime Festival, Out There or seaside fireworks. Oh, and how about the WORLD snail racing championships? It's all here...
Walk in the footsteps of the first ever UK tourists
.jpg "Rockpool rummage at West Runton by Matthew Roberts")
We have our very own version of the Jurassic Coast – in north Norfolk they’ve found a mammoth skeleton, Neolithic flint axes, Seahenge and more recently the oldest-known human footprints outside the Rift Valley in Africa. Yes, Norfolk had the country’s first tourists! Go rockpooling and look for fossils at West Runton, and scour the beach for signs of our prehistoric ancestors!
See the Broads by boat... it's the only way
If you really want to explore the Norfolk Broads, there’s only one way to do it… on a boat! The Broads has more than 125 miles of navigable lock-free waterways so it’s a very relaxed way of getting into the heart of this unique National Park (and discover that a lot of it is actually man-made!). You can hire a cruiser for a few days, a picnic day boat or take a canoe!
Easy walking and cycling
We’re not as flat as some people suggest… in fact, we’re generally very bouncy! But it’s true we’ve not got mountains so Norfolk is a great place to enjoy less strenuous cycling and walking. And you can get to enjoy thrilling scenery, like the one above at Kelling Heath.
The county has 11 distinct long-distance walks which cover off every aspect of our countryside, from Broads to coast, from Fens to Brecks… and they’re all joined up as well, so you never need stop! And there's many places to hire bikes if you've not brought your own.
Discover our Downton Abbeys
What better time to imagine you’re in Downton Abbey (upstairs of course, not downstairs) and wander around the gardens of our stately homes as if you owned them? At Sandringham you can even imagine you’re Royalty. And all have fantastic grounds and parkland to explore!
... and just in case there is precipitation
Norfolk’s beautiful countryside is very green and lush, so, yes, it does rain sometimes. If it does, fear you not! We’ve got great museums where you can shelter and act as if you’re archaeologists, Victorian farm workers, Norman knights… anything your imagination allows! You can also stay dry at the Sealife centres in Great Yarmouth or Hunstanton while you watch the marine life get wet or hop aboard a heritage railway.
