We recently went on a family holiday to Norfolk, five adults and three dogs. We booked our accommodation through VRBO, and although it wasn’t perfect, we did enjoy the hot tub, milk frother and ice maker in the fridge, all of which we don’t have at home. Norfolk is a place that we love and this holiday didn’t let us down!
East Ruston
We stayed in East Ruston, which is a very small village. We enjoyed a visit for Sunday lunch to a local pub, The Wayford Bridge in Stalham. The pub was very friendly, the service and food were both excellent. We also tried the local Chinese takeaway, The New Hong Kong Chinese restaurant. Although the waiting time for collection was a lot longer than we expected, the food was tasty and good value for money.
Dog Walking
Because we have three dogs between us, we spent a good proportion of each day on dog walks. East Ruston is on part of the Weaver Way which is a disused railway line. We walked on there quite a few times. It was an easy walk along a fairly wide track, we met very few other people, but there was quite a bit of wildlife which made the dogs very excitable. We saw hares, rabbits, a fox, and horses.
Beaches
The beaches in the area are all beautiful, and most of them are relatively quiet, especially in the evenings. We walked the dogs and paddled in the sea most evenings. Our favourite was Waxham, a very quiet beach because there wasn’t a car park or toilet facilities- but it was a beautiful beach where the sea was warm and calm. It was also near The Dunes café, which is a delight to visit for meals, snacks, and drinks. We sampled delicious Norfolk Shortbread and all the dogs were treated to a doggy ice-cream.
We also visited Happisburgh beach, the coastline beneath Happisburgh lighthouse. This beach has a pay and display car park and toilets. Access is down a wide ramp, and there is a local van supplying drinks and refreshments nearby.
One day we took a very long walk through the dunes from Winterton to see the seals at Horsey Gap. Although this isn’t the best time of year to seals on the beach, we were rewarded for our long walk by views of sunbathing seals on the shore, and little black heads of seals popping up regularly in the sea.
Day Trips in Norfolk
Lucy, Jess, and I made an afternoon trip to Great Yarmouth to visit Merrivale Model Village. We enjoyed a couple of hours walking around the village seeing all the sights, laughing at the comical names, and spotting the plays on words. We especially enjoyed the penny arcade where you could buy 12 old pennies for £1 and then use them in the old style slot machines. Good old fashioned fun and entertainment! Once again, we sampled Norfolk Shortbread in their tearoom before we left. The afternoon was good family fun, and we would recommend Merrivale as an entertaining visit.
Lucy, Adam, Chris, and I spent one of our days visiting Cromer. This was a bigger coastal town, and so more commercialised. We saw lots of people fishing for crabs off the pier, had a fish and chip lunch in N0 1 Cromer, played crazy golf and sampled ice cream and doughnuts on the promenade. As well as this, we had a wander around the gift shops and bought some souvenirs. We had never visited Cromer before, and although the beach was very pebbly, it was a traditional seaside town which made for an interesting visit.
Travel Fairie Amy returns to Norfolk
As on our previous holiday, we had taken some of Travel Fairie Amy’s ashes to scatter with us again. We decided to scatter them in the sea at Mundesley. We had holidayed there when Amy was a little girl, so it seemed a fitting place to commemorate her life once again. Amy will always be a part of our travels and she will never be forgotten.
