Perched on a clifftop overlooking pristine sandy beaches, Cromer found fame as a traditional seaside resort in Victorian times, when the new railway line brought visitors from the smog-filled industrial cities to take the sea air.
The Queen herself, of course, was just round the corner at Sandringham… you can’t imagine Victoria eating an ice cream, can you? Less so, having a swim. She wouldn’t have been amused.
A legacy of those days is Cromer’s magnificent pier, which now hosts the last end-of-pier show in Europe and was voted 2015 UK Pier of the Year. It was also featured in the denouement of the Alan Partridge film, Alpha Papa.
Film and TV locations in Norfolk
While you’re here, how about learning to surf or paddle board.
At the bottom of the cobblestoned Gangway is the Henry Blogg Museum, named after the town’s most distinguished lifeboatman, who won the George Cross and the British Empire Medal. Nearby you’ll see on the shingle the fishing boats that go out every day to catch the famous and eponymous crab. The reason these little brown crabs are so tasty, meaty and succulent? It’s because they feed on the chalk reef just offshore, the longest in the world.
Fish and chips are pretty good here too. Eat in at No 1 Cromer with its view of the pier or get take-out and sit on the promenade taking in the sea air.
Take a look around Cromer Museum, where you can see mammoth bones from Norfolk’s Deep History Coast, and head into the parish church of St Peter and St Paul – its 50m tower is the highest in Norfolk.
Or just luxuriate on the 4 mile stretch of fine sand that runs from West Runton to Overstrand.
C is also for cycling, coast, crabbing
