North Norfolk- mini break to Thornham, Holkham and Burnham Thorpe

We had a fantastic couple of days away- I knew it would be a good un, as we planned it from the comfort of our………

Local! – in the beer garden…!

We ended up picking one of our favourites- Holkham, North Norfolk. We used the BritStop guide, as we haven’t had chance to use it since our gaunt to a scotland earlier this year.
Sunday came and we set off on our way- our recent move means we can now park the motorhome right next to our back garden and therefore we can fill easily with water before we head off!

We had phoned in advance to both places to ask permission as they were both pubs…get in (!) and were warmly welcomed both on the phone and in person on arrival.

Our first stop- number 219 in the guide was 5 mins walk to a stunning beach. Shame the weather wasn’t as nice as it had forecasted, but nevertheless, we enjoyed a 4 mile or so wander, got the cobwebs blown well and truly away, and returned to the van to fall into a deep afternoon nap!

We had booked a table for dinner at the pub that was hosting us, we’d read rave reviews, and spent half an hour drooling at the menu earlier on! The meal did not disappoint. It was simply stunning. Best of all, we could relax knowing we were safe and welcome to park overnight, therefore the wine flowed freely and the whole evening was perfect. Despite being camped on the pub carpark, we were still treated to a lovely view from our rear view lounge.

Next morning, and the cloud had thoroughly burned away, so we set off after thanking the staff at the pub. It promised to be a spectacular day weather wise, so we enjoyed a bacon sarnie over looking the harbour at Brancaster, bought some free prawns from the cabin there and set off the five miles or so to our next location, BritStop number 220, another pub 😉

This pub was of interest to Keith (and not just because of the ale…!) as he is a history buff, and this pub is linked to Admiral Nelson. We once again were welcomed with such warmth and kindness from the staff, you’d struggle to replicate it on a campsite. We decided to walk to nearby (ish) Holkham, and take a picnic to eat on the beach. It was a lovely walk, which took us through the grounds of Holkham Hall, and on to the beach, which is thought to be one of the finest in the UK. The weather was not disappointing, it got up to 32degrees!

We had a lazy afternoon on the beach and after a look on the memory map, we couldn’t believe it when it told us we had walked almost 7 miles!! Refusing to worry that we still had the walk back to manage, and feeling slightly sore and not fussed about trekking back, we nipped in for a quick pint at the Queen Victoria at Holkham to assess the best thing to do to get back to our home on wheels. After an unsuccessful ring round for cabs, and several encounters with unhelpful staff, we realised we could get the coast hopper the majority of the way back, which turned out to be our saving grace!

We enjoyed a couple of beers in the beer garden at our “digs”, which included sampling their infamous special spiced rum, made from a secret recipe handed down from landlord to landlord – and boy, was it good?!! We also were treated to some live music from a bunch of male singers rehearsing their sea shanty songs in the bar. We had a great time! The pub gave free info about a village walk that took in all the important sites linked to Nelson, so we wandered round at Dusk, enjoying the bird song and keeping an eye out for owls. We did see a barn owl we think, but not close enough to get a photo this time. 🙁

We couldn’t quite slip past the pub towards Bluebell without one last nip into the pub for a sneaky night cap of spiced rum in their really cool snug bar. Unfortunately we didn’t drink enough to enable to us to sleep through the huge thunderstorm that hit around 5am! We had such a great time, we were only 40 miles from home, but it felt like a million miles away! We love Norfolk, we love motorhoming, we love mini breaks and we LOVE BritStops

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