Dogs aren’t the only ones to enjoy the Norfolk seaside

For many people, the equation has always been a simple one – seaside sights, sounds and smells add up to sunny smiles. And it appears that the songs and postcards are right – a study suggests we really do like to be beside the seaside, whatever the season.

The study of 2,750 people presented to the British Psychological Society examined the effects of different types of outdoor environments on people. Researchers found the bracing seaside air had a more positive effect than the countryside or an urban park and that being beside the coast was significantly more likely to create a feeling of well-being. The greatest sense of pleasure came from exercising beside the sea.

It is unclear why this would be – perhaps people respond positively to the way light plays on the water, or the sounds of the sea, or could it just evoke happy childhood memories?

Five beaches in Norfolk have just been given prestigious Blue Flag Awards for their high standards of clean sea water, safety and beach management and a number of Norfolk beaches were also recently recommended in the annual Marine Conservation Society’s Good Beach Guide.

Cromer, Sheringham, Sea Palling, Mundesley and Hunstanton have all been given the flag for their facilities.

Hunstanton beach has also been awarded a Quality Coast Award, one of only 36 beaches in England to gain both honours in the annual Keep Britain Tidy scheme.

East Runton beach has also gained a Quality Coast Award for the first time.

If you are thinking about booking your self catering cottage and holiday with Kett Country Cottages, here are 10 great reasons to be beside the North Norfolk Coast…..

Watching the sun rise from Cromer Pier.

Seeing the fishermen land their crab and lobster catches at Cromer, East Runton and Sheringham.

Picking samphire from the coastal marshes.

Walking on the wide sandy beach at Holkham.

Eating fish and chips on the prom or beach.

Boating lazily along the creeks near Morston.

Sheltering in a beach hut with a hot cup of tea as the night steadily draws in.

Seal Spotting on Remote Horsey Beach on Norfolk’s East Coast.

Seaside at Hunstanton

Watching  the perfect sunset from Hunstanton, the only west facing resort on the east coast.

Crabbing off the harbour wall at picturesque Blakeney Harbour.

Let us know your favourite things to do on the Norfolk coast!

A Bird on the Brink of Extinction

Hot on the heels of the somewhat soggy but nonetheless super May Spring Festival weekend, Operation Turtle Dove was launched at Pensthorpe Nature Reserve this week in an urgent bid to save one of the UK’s most threatened birds from extinction. Read on….

Wild About The Wensum

Bill Oddie will be opening Wild About the Wensum, an Environmental Awareness event for all the family Saturday 19th May from 10.00am – 5.00pm. Read on….

As usual, there is plenty to see at the Reserve itself. For an update from the wardens on Farm and Reserve, read on…..

Operation Turtle Dove is designed to reverse the decline of one of England’s best-loved farmland birds, which has seen the bird’s numbers, plummet by 91pc since 1970. The farmland bird, revered in literature and folklore as a symbol of love and devotion, has a distinctive “purring” call which was once a common sound across much of England.

The cause of its population crash is not fully understood, but its diet consists almost entirely of seeds from wild plants which have become scarce in a modern countryside dominated by intensive farming. The Pensthorpe Conservation Trust is part of partnership including the RSPB, Natural England and sustainable farming specialists Conservation Grade, which is exploring ways to replace lost nesting habitats and food sources.

Captive birds are being studied to see which seed mixtures are the most palatable and nutritious – and the most viable for farmers to plant under agri-environment stewardship schemes.

While working with farmers to re-establish the seed-rich summer feeding grounds vital to the species’ survival, the partnership is also urging consumers to buy foods sourced from Conservation Grade farms, which are accredited with a bumblebee logo. That way, farmers can be rewarded for planting areas of land for the benefit of the turtle dove and other threatened birds.

Tim Nevard, executive director of Conservation Grade and a Pensthorpe trustee, said “They are running out of food in a modern agricultural landscape, but they do not have to. We can tweak the system, but farms still need to be commercially viable and practical. It cannot be at the expense of food production, because the world cannot afford that. But we cannot allow this species to become the next dodo.”

We can all help to save the Turtle Dove by…

• buying products that are Conservation Grade-accredited
• making a donation to help fund the research and support advisory activity
• reporting sightings of Turtle Doves

For more information see www.operationturtledove.org.

Wild about the Wensum is an annual event hosted by the Pensthorpe Conservation Trust at Pensthorpe near Fakenham and brings together a wide range of organisations that have a passion for the Wensum Valley.   This great environmental awareness event is back for its sixth year, enjoy a fun packed day with lots of things to see and do.  Activities on the day are based around the Wensum Valley and especially our nominated species, which in 2012 are Dragonflies (Odonata). Funds raised on the day will be put towards creating habitats for Dragonflies in the Wensum Valley. 

Activities will include Archery / Folk music / Wood Carving / Human Fruit machine / Word Orchestra / Build a giant dragonfly / Small Crafts / Pond dipping / Guide in the hide and lots more.

Take part in the Wensum Badge trail

Entry to the event and Reserve is free but there will be a £4 car parking charge or take the X29 bus from Fakenham or Norwich

Update on Farm and Reserve

• Kingfishers nesting in the artificial bank. Visitors getting fantastic views from both hides
• Two hobbies hunting over the Wader Scrape on Tuesday.
• Bluebells and primroses in flower around reserve.
• Swifts, house martins, sand martins and swallows in good numbers feeding over the lakes.
• Two tawny owl chicks ringed in box on old railway line.
• 5 dunlin, common sandpiper, little ringed plover, 3 redshank and 7 avocet all spotted on scrape within the last week.
• Roe deer and hare seen on tour route regularly.

 So if you are holidaying in Norfolk this May, you certainly won’t be short of things to keep you entertained!

Wallace and Gromit Jubilee Bunt-a-thon at Felbrigg Hall

Wallace & Gromit have teamed up with the National Trust for a summer of celebration kicking off with special Diamond Jubilee events on Monday 4th June!

The inventive pair will be hanging the bunting in preparation for over 70 Jubilee tea parties held across the country, where they will be featured in a brand new one minute  animation; ‘Wallace & Gromit’s Jubilee Bunt-a-thon’. Busy preparing for the big Jubilee weekend, the animation shows our loveable duo decorating a magnificent National Trust manor.

This new short animation will be shown at the events across the country, alongside behind the scenes footage, other Wallace & Gromit classic films and a host of fun activities! There will even be Aardman model makers teaching you how to make a Gromit out of clay. 

If you are staying in one of Kett Country Cottages holiday homes in Norfolk this Summer, make sure to catch the event at Felbrigg Hall near Cromer. Enjoy a day of fun family films and activities. Starting at 11.15am and running throughout the day they will be showing a selection of Wallace and Gromit films on their big outdoor screen. Take along chairs or a blanket to sit on and enjoy the show. When you need to stretch your legs, why not enjoy a Wallace and Gromit themed children’s trail or model making workshop. Then stay for the evening and watch the Jubilee Concert on the big screen from 7.30pm. It’s the perfect opportunity to chill out with friends and enjoy the party atmosphere.

Food will be available to buy throughout the day or you could take along a picnic.

The film, concert screenings and children’s trail are all free of charge so what are you waiting for? Join the party!

Celebrating real life, real people and real places, this year’s Festival, which runs from May 11th to 26th, promises a line up that is at once local and international, established and emerging and boasts some of the most electric performers in the world today. 

Norwich is the perfect place to immerse yourself in the full Festival experience. Not only is it a beautiful city, but it’s compact enough to mean that most Festival venues are easy to get to on foot – great for evenings when you want to see two or three shows.

Then there’s the relaxed, friendly atmosphere. Norwich has plenty of  bustle and confidence, but without the hassle of some of our bigger brothers. When you’re not watching a show, the shopping’s great and the surrounding countryside is just stunning.

Why not book a self catering cottage from Kett Country Cottages during the Festival? We have a great selection of properties as close as only 10 miles from Norwich, so you could join the party on your own terms!

Headlining alongside names such as Nigel Kennedy, Jerry Dammers’ Spatial AKA, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Carol Ann Duffy and Duane Eddy are a show with a cast of 100 ordinary Norfolk people (100% Norfolk), a chance to spend the night in an extraordinary treetop hotel (AirHotel) and an invitation to a party (with sandwiches and dancing) from Darren and his mum (Susan and Darren).

nigel kennedy

Now one of the most significant arts festivals in the UK, Norfolk & Norwich Festival presents a bill with over 100 events spanning classical, jazz, rockabilly, folk and, afro-punk music, world-leading outdoor arts, cabaret, theatre, circus and dance, visual arts and written word strands and an extended programme for children.

“This is an extraordinary year for us,” said William Galinsky, Artistic Director.  “We’ve collaborated with a host of visionary artists as well as local, national and international partners to create a fantastic programme. The Festival gives audiences and artists alike the chance to try something completely different, to have amazing experiences that wouldn’t be possible during the other fifty weeks of the year. It’s about seeing our part of the world with a fresh pair of eyes and having great fun at the same time. I hope audiences will dive in and enjoy as much as possible.”

Helen Lax, Regional Director, Arts Council England said:

“One of the real strengths of Norfolk & Norwich Festival is its ability to create a programme with a rich, international line-up that blends and interacts with of some of the finest emerging local artists around and this year is no exception. The programme brings together a vibrant mix of performing artists including 100% Norfolk, a theatre production that will be a celebration of the county and its people, and Spira mirabilis which brings together some of the world’s finest young musicians to perform as a chamber group without a conductor. The Festival has gone from strength to strength over the years and this year marks a new high – audiences can expect to be truly wowed by what is on offer.”

Tickets for Norfolk & Norwich Festival are now on sale to the public. Book online at www.nnfestival.org.uk, by phone on 01603 766400 or in person at Norwich Theatre Royal.

If you are staying in one of Kett Country Cottages fantastic self catering properties over  the May Bank Holiday, you can learn the art of Pole dancing – May Pole dancing, that is! There will be a May Queen/Green Man Fancy Dress Competition, Hobby Horse races, traditional dancing, storytelling, floral head dress workshops, fire performance, music, face painting and re-enactors throughout the ages bringing to life the history of traditional May Day celebrations.

There will be plenty of activities throughout the Bank Holiday weekend to keep all the troops entertained, including ‘Have a Go’ Archery, May pole dancing and Hobby Horse racing as well as Fire Breathers, Wicker Man building and Fairy Hunting! Take a look at the Pensthorpe website for full details and itinerary. 

10.00am – 5.00pm
All included in the normal admission price. No booking required
Adults £9.75   Senior £8.00   Child  £6.25  

The event is run in association with Black Knight Historical  

Which shall I choose?

The Easter Farmers’ Market on Saturday 7^th April was the busiest ever at Creake Abbey.  Approximately 1300 people flocked to grab goodies from 45 local producers selling everything from new season lamb to gold dusted brownies.  Teddy Maufe, local barley grower and owner of the Real Ale Shop at Wells, launched the North Norfolk Food and Drink Festival (which takes place at Holkham Hall on Saturday 1^st and Sunday 2^nd September).  As part of the festival Mary Kemp and Diana Brocklebank Scott are organising a Local Food Challenge where young chefs from North Norfolk’s fabulous restaurants cook local ingredients from the Creake Abbey market demonstrating their understanding of seasonality, cooking and local produce.  To get the ball rolling Chris Coubrough of the Flying Kiwi Inns and Vanessa Scott of Strattons in Swaffham cooked up a storm of Easter treats. 

Look out for the next Farmers’ Market on Saturday 5^th May when the first heat of the Local Food Challenge will take place in the mobile cookery theatre.  A young chef from The Hunny Bell at Hunworth will cook together with one of Vanessa’s brigade from Strattons Hotel in Swaffham.

If you are staying in one of Kett Country Cottages holiday properties in North Norfolk, you will receive a 10% Discount Voucher to use at The Hunny Bell during your stay! We have a number of fantastic holiday cottages in the area - call us for availability!

Mundesley on Sea in the 1890s

Despite steep cliffs and lack of a natural haven, a local man, Francis Wheatley, built both the massive sea walls and a coal import business here in the eighteenth century. His imposing Cliff House still looms over Mun Beck, the stream once lined with his warehouses. Around the same time, the melancholic poet William Cowper came to take the sea air. Sadly the salt winds enflamed his eyes and his spirits remained low: ‘The cliff is here a height that it is terrible to look down from…but though to have been dashed to pieces would have been best for me, I shrunk from the precipice.’ The white house in the High Street still bears his name.

Cowper House, Mundesley, Norfolk

Cowper’s Mundesley was a quieter version of Cromer, visited by gentlefolk for its bathing and fresh air. But in 1883 its fame suddenly increased after another (not so accomplished) poet, Clement Scott, visited the area and ‘Poppyland’ was born:

Brief days of desire, and long dreams of delight,
They are mine when Poppy-Land cometh in sight.

The old entrepreneurial spirit of the village surged, as purpose built holiday cottages and hotels sprung up in anticipation of an influx of tourists, expected to arrive on the new ‘Poppyline Flyer’. The trains came in 1898 but were gone by 1966. Station Road remains, but not the station buildings.

In the very year of the station closure, a third poet,Norfolk’s Singing Postman, won an Ivor Novello Award for his song ‘Hev Yew Gotta Loight Boy?’ and Mundesley was in the media again:

Then one day, she went away, I dunt see har no more,
Till by chance, I see har down along th’ Mundesley shore…

… ‘Hev yew gotta loight, bor? hev yew gotta loight?’
Molly Windley, she smook like a chimley,
But she’s my little nicoteen gal.

These days though, there is less chain-smoking at Mundesley, and more of the fresh air that once inspired poets.

Fancy a break in Mundesley? Kett country Cottages have a fantastic range of holiday properties in the area, ranging from a 2 bed chalet to a 4 bed family home a few steps from the beach. Take a look now and call us to check availability.

Details of every street and location to be visited by the Olympic torch relay in Norfolk, prior to London 2012, have been revealed by the Games organisers.

London 2012 Olympic Torch comes to North Norfolk

The Norfolk route forms part of the torch’s journey from Land’s End, Cornwall, on 19 May, to London for the start of the Olympic Games on 27 July. The relay will pass through various locations in North Norfolk on its visit to Cromer Pier, Norwich Castle and Great Yarmouth’s historic Hall Quay and Kett Country Cottages are giving away a £20 voucher for a winning photo of you and the torch!

Arriving in King’s Lynn at 12:03 BST on 4 July, the torch will visit 12 locations in Norfolk over two days. After visiting King’s Lynn’s Tuesday Market Place and Lynnsport’s athletics track, the relay will head to the Rudhams (ETA 14:54) and Fakenham. Jeremy Punchard, Fakenham’s town mayor, said: “It’s an historic moment for the area – one to tell the grandchildren about.

The Market town of Fakenham

“We’re expecting people to come from all around Fakenham to see the torch as it’s carried through the town – it’ll be hugely exciting and hopefully the town will respond as well as it did last year for the royal wedding now people know the exact route on the day.”

The relay will go via Holt, (15:57) and visit the Norfolk coast at Cromer,(16:21)  before heading inland from Aylsham (17:25) to Norwich (17:57) in readiness for an overnight stop in the city. Chapelfield Gardens, Norwich, one of 66 locations in the UK to host the flame overnight, will host a two-and-a-half hour show staged by London 2012, including a showcase of local talent. The show will culminate with the arrival of the Olympic flame to an on-stage cauldron, which is planned to be lit at 19:00.

Norwich Castle

After the overnight celebrations the torch will leave the city following a breakfast send-off at Norwich Castle and head towards the Broadland villages of Acle and Filby.

The torch then heads onto Great Yarmouth (9:02) before leaving the town over Haven Bridge. Here it leaves Norfolk to continue its journey on into Suffolk.

If you are staying in one of Kett Country Cottages this Summer and would like to catch sight of this historic event, there is a detailed itinerary available – make sure you don’t miss it! Send us a photo of yourselves as near to the Torch as possible and we will award a £20 voucher to the winner!! Why not take a look at our Popular Destinations and Events pages, see what else is on and make a day of it?

Mundesley NCI

Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk, declared Mundesley’s refurbished Coastwatch station officially ‘open’ recently in front of a small group of staff and invited guests. 

The National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) is an entirely voluntary organisation keeping a visual watch along UK shores. Each station assists in the protection and preservation of life at sea and around the UK coastline and 46 stations are manned by 1900 volunteers keeping watch around the British Isles.

After cutting the ribbon, Mr Lamb was treated to a tour of the station where he spoke to watchkeepers about their work. Norman Lamb commented: “I am immensely impressed by the work of these dedicated volunteers.”

NCI watchkeepers provide the eyes and ears along the coast, monitoring radio channels and providing a listening watch in poor visibility ever vigilant for distress flares from boats in trouble. In fact, they look out for anyone in trouble all along the coast, including divers, wind surfers and canoeists and are trained to deal with emergencies, offering a variety of skills and experience with full training by the NCI.

Over 190,000 hours of organised coastal surveillance were completed in the UK in 2010 alone, all at no cost to the public – all helping to keep you safe during your holiday in North Norfolk.

Mundesley Coastwatch station originally opened in 1995 to provide a lookout on the coast and to alert the Coastguard to potentially life-threatening incidents at the earliest opportunity. 180 square miles of sea are visible from the station, which is open from 8am to 6pm, 365 days a year and is staffed by a team of fifty volunteers.

Mundesley has its own inshore lifeboat, crewed and administered by local volunteers. During the summer there is a safe area of the beach continually watched over by the lifeguards from the RNLI.

Mundesley is a pretty village situated on the coast of North Norfolk and has a resident population of around 2,500. It is a mixture of rich farming land and a popular seaside resort, frequented by many visitors during the summer. The beautiful beach is one of the cleanest around and there are plentiful sands stretching for miles with very little shingle. Kett Country Cottages have a number of properties in the area, from Mundesley to Walcott. Please call us for availability and prices.

The Beach House Mundesley

If you are staying in one of Kett Country Cottages holiday properties, make sure you take the time to explore the stunning North Norfolk coast. Walk circular routes of the area or whole sections of the Norfolk Coast Path and use the award-winning Coasthopper Bus to take you back to your car.  

The North Norfolk Coast Path follows the coast through the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The area is rich in wildlife, salt marshes, dunes, and clay cliffs, as well as beautiful, quiet villages notable for their flint and brick architecture.

Ending in Cromer – the Gem of the Norfolk coast - one of our cottages in Cromer would make a great place to stay with its numerous places to eat, or a Wells next the Sea cottage, which is a good centre for exploring the North Norfolk Heritage Coast. A narrow-gauge steam railway runs from Wells to Little Walsingham, 5 miles south. In the Middle Ages this obscure hamlet was one of the most popular places of pilgrimage in all of England. Today’s pilgrims can visit the remains of the medieval priory and two holy wells.

Here are some of our picks of the best circular walks in the North Norfolk area

• Holkham Beach Walk  – for maps and comments follow this link
• Wells to Holkham Gap  - for maps and comments follow this link
• Brancaster  - for maps and comments follow this link
• Blakeney  – for maps and comments follow this link
• Burnhams  – for maps and comments follow this link
• Cockthorpe – for maps and comments follow this link
• Aylsham for maps and comments follow this link

If you would like to suggest your own favourite walk, please leave a comment – we would love to hear from you!