Note: We want the Spar shop & Post Office, the Dukes Head pub and the Art Gallery in Corpusty to stay open. Like all village establishments across the country they are under threat. Please try and make use of them all whilst you are here.
In the Village:
There is a Corpusty Historical Booklet in the cottage which makes very interesting reading.
The Church
This is actually in Saxthorpe and only a few minutes walk away. Well worth popping into. The guide should be in this file. The Church booklet delivered every month lists when the services are.
Playgrounds
The nearest is just down the road to the right and was been totally refitted in 2015. Turn right at the pub and a larger one, complete with zipwire, is on the right by the Village Hall.
The Spar Shop
This stocks most everyday items like milk, bread and papers. Check on the door for opening hours.
Post Office
This is inside the Spar and is open weekday mornings. You can access cash at the counter if you run short. The nearest postbox is there, outside the shop.
The Pub
There are new landlords there. Unfortunately the only food available at the moment is a few hot pies and pasties but, hopefully, this will soon change when thye build an extension to the tiny kitchen. Dogs are very welcome!
The Art Gallery
Jill Corbett is also very welcoming. Prices are very good and the cards, pottery and other items are lovely. The picture in the Master Bedroom of the three boats is from there, as is the Bonfire Night poster in the Red Room. All of the blue and brown pottery are also from there. Jill, does sewing and alterations. The handmade furniture is made in the village by a family member (Kay) and is just beautiful. We’re saving up to buy something! Kay also supplied the wood for the mantlepiece for us.
Plants, Fruit and Veg
A few people sell produce at their gates. You’ll find them as you wander around.
Good free-range eggs are available in Little London (turn left outside the cottage and keep going a little way and take the turning on the right).
Back To The Garden, Fakenham Rd, Letheringsett NR25 7JJ is a farm shop/cafe/restaurant. Expensive but nice! Obviously the Spar sells things too.
Pubs, Restaurants and Tea Rooms We Recommend
Please add to the visitor book any discoveries you consider worth passing on.
The Duke's Head in Corpusty:
They serve a few bits food. (See above) Please tell them you are staying here. Dogs welcomed.
Tel: 01263 587529
Mary Jane's Fish and Chip Shop in Cromer:
Not to be missed! They serve mushy peas and gravy as well as the usual range of fish. They also have burgers and pizza but it would be a real shame not to try the fish and chips. There is a restaurant and a take-away. Be prepared to queue – it will be worth the wait.
No.1 at Cromer:
Near the pier. Excellent sea food.
The Lighthouse Café in Cromer:
Face the sea and it’s on the left from the pier, along where the fishing boats are. It’s in the old Lifeboat Station. Good cakes! If you’re lucky with the weather you can sit on the balcony and watch the surfers. Really excellent for breakfast/brunch.
Dogs allowed in the closed in balcony area.
The Pigs at Edgefield *:
Also known as The Three Pigs. Wonderful upmarket fare. They grow their own vegetables in the pub allotment and source their meat from the surrounding villages. We won't spoil it by telling you too much but their signature dish of Roast Belly Pork is very hard to resist. It does get busy so we would advise booking ahead.
Tel: 01263 587634
Dogs allowed in the left hand room or bar area, and sometimes in the main restaurant.
The Ship Inn at Weybourne:
Good food. Italian dishes available. We've had some of that and the Haddock and Chips and both were fine.
The Tea Rooms at Heydon:
Lovely traditional English tea-time cakes and sandwiches.
The Earle Arms at Heydon:
Can get busy at peak season times so advisable to book. We have been told the Sunday lunches are wonderful.
Tel: 01263 587376
Dogs allowed at lunchtime only.
Heydon - Husk Fired Bakery:
Laura and Rob have discovered a wonderful bakery in Heydon - Friday is Pizza night.
The Feathers Hotel, Holt:
Good, solid pub food at very reasonable prices.
The King’s Head, Holt:
Superb steaks!
Tel: 01263 71294 *
Byford’s, in Holt:
Superior coffee shop. Wonderful for breakfast too. They also have a de-luxe B&B there if you really want to splash out next time you come.
* Same company as The Pigs in Edgefield and The King’s Head in Holt.
Dogs allowed but only outside.
Cookies at Salthouse:
Again, very busy at peak times so advisable to book ahead. Serves all sorts of seafood.
Tel: 01263 740352
Dogs allowed but only outside.
The Dun Cow at Salthouse:
Very close to Cookies. Good pub food and a garden, with a telescope, overlooking the marshes.
Dogs allowed inside.
Tel: 01263 740467
The Bell Inn in Cawston:
Very good pub food and very reasonable prices.
Tel: 01603 871430
The 'All Things Nice' Deli in Cawston:
Superb breakfasts!
The Walpole Arms in Itteringham:
Lovely food but a bit pricey. A lovely snug!
‘Dogs on leads and well behaved children welcomed’.
Tel: 01263 587258
The Folly Tearooms, Hoppers Yard, Bull Street, Holt:
Tel: 01263 713569
A vintage style tea rooms with a pretty garden setting. Also light lunches. We thoroughly recommend this place for its wide choice of teas and cakes.
Dogs are allowed at the outside tables.
The Three Swallows in Cley-Next-The-Sea:
Good pub food. Large portions!
Dogs allowed inside.
Tel: 01263 740526
The Hunney Bell in Hunworth:
Restaurant in a lovely barn setting in a attached to the Pub. Food is very good and decor impressive.
Tel: 01263 712300
Dogs allowed inside in the bar area.
The Red Lion, Stiffkey:
A bit of a distance from here but a nice place to pop into if you are that way. Good sandwiches and visitors have recommended the cooked meals.
Tel: 01328 830552
The Black Boys Hotel, Bar and Restaurant, Aylsham:
Superb food and service. Centre of Aylsham. Varied menu – all delicious! Highly recommended.
Tel: 01263 732122
Dave’s Fish and Chip Shop, Sheringham:
The one down the side street on the right, not the one on the High Street.
Superb quiet restaurant, not a takeaway. Very good value and service.
NO dogs.
Wiveton Hall, Wiveton:
Coffee, cakes, scones etc. Light lunches. Tapas at the weekends in Summer – must book! You can also Pick-Your-Own fruit and walk around the estate. Pricey farm shop. Keep your eyes open as they sometimes have Emma Bridgewater 2nds Sales in their big barn.
Tel: 01263 740515
Dogs outside only.
Morston Hall:
For that very special meal. Rob and Laura loved it!
Tel: 01263 741041
The Gunton Arms :
Half an hour away but worth the journey. Thorpe Market area. Off the A149 in Gunton. The food is highly rated and superb but not cheap. Ideal for that special meal. Surrounded by a deer park and has a lovely garden.
Dogs allowed inside in the bar area and outside.
Tel: 01263 832010
The Sacarcen’s Head, Wolerton:
Superb food. Leaflet in this file.
Tel: 01263 768909
Biddy's Tea House, Alysham:
Superb afternoon teas. Recommended by Dave and Rose who are regular visitors to Daisy Cottage.
The Dales, Sheringham:
A hotel accessible from the Park (near the Temple/Folly) as well as by the main road. Good meals and cream teas.
Wells Crab House Cafe, 38-40 Freeman Street, Wells-next-the-sea:
This comes recommended by a visitor. "This cafe is one of the best fish restaurants I have been to!"
Rocky Bottoms, East Runton:
Super new restaurant on the Cromer end of East Runton. Terrific seafood meals but it gets very busy so you need to book well in advance in the more popular periods. Take your own wine option is a very good idea as bottles are £25 and corkage only £2.50 per person.
Dogs are welcome outside. Plenty of run-around area for kids and outside seating on the grassy areas and decking.
Tel: 01263837359 website: www.rockybottoms.co.uk
The Buckinghamshire Arms:
Known as the Bucks Arms this pub/Restaurant is next to Blickling Hall. We have been there lots of times. It is busy during Peak Season , even at lunchtimes, so you will need to book. They allow dogs in. Delicious food. Very friendly staff. Local produce and good prices.
Tel: 01263 732133
The Black Lion Hotel, Little Walsingham:
Near the Abbey so ideal if you go there to see the snowdrops.
Whelk Coppers Tea Rooms, Sheringham:
One of our guests recommended this place. " Wonderful food at good prices. Dogs are very welcome!"
Tel: 01263 825771
There is a booklet in the cottage that lists pubs, restaurants and beaches where dogs are welcome.
Nearest Takeaways:
There is an Indian and a Chinese in Alysham.
Holt has a Fish & Chip Shop.
Briston has a Chinese.
Shopping further afield
Holt :
There is a Budgens large store but, much nicer, is the range of smaller shops in the town itself. There are a lot of lovely small shops, galleries, delicatessens, antique shops... Byfords Deli is expensive but wonderful food and Baker's Deli is a favourite too. There are two very good butchers that sell game of all descriptions.
Cromer Crab and Samphire :
Crab and fish can be bought in Cromer itself and also in Salthouse and in Holt.
Samphire (pronounced sam-fur) is a local plant that grows on the Salt marshes. You cook it by boiling water, put it in and cook for 3 minutes. Serve with butter and ground pepper. You can buy it very cheaply by the side of the road in Salthouse. The shop there, ‘Cookies’, sells crab and other seafoods too.
Itteringham Community Shop:
Award winning local shop run by volunteers. Open every day. Super range of breads, cakes, organic produce, plants and essentials like lightbulbs. Jenny loves the Florentines! It now does coffees, teas etc in a new room at the side with some unusual gifts for sale. Very worthwhile finding time to pop in!
Aylesham:
Good local centre not too far away. Auction Rooms.
Norwich:
All the big stores and some smaller ones!
Places to Visit
*There are various OS Maps in the cottage. Please feel free to take them out and about with you, along with the binoculars and the coolbag /rucksack..*
Norwich : If you don't know the area then you will find Norwich interesting. All the major big stores of course, but try and find time to visit the Cathedral and Castle whilst you are there.
Cromer : All the usual seasidey bucket and spade shops and an amusement arcade. There is a Budgens there, near Mary Jane's Fish & Chip shop. The ice cream shop just along from Mary Jane's is worth a visit, or two or three...
Beaconsthorpe Castle:
Near Holt. As you enter the roundabout on the edge of Holt , take the 3rd turn to Comer. 1st right and follow the brown signs. Tudor ruins. Lake. Free. Nice for a picnic.
Dogs allowed on leads.
BeWILDerwood:
Our younger visitors have claimed this as ‘perfect’! Ideal for little girls in particular. Max rates this as 'Brilliant!!!' and takes all our younger vistors there.
Tel: 01692 633033
Weybourne to Comer (or reverse) walk:
We parked at the Beach car-park at Weybourne, intending to walk to Cromer along the cliff tops. The wind was the ‘wrong way round’ so we caught the Coasthopper bus from the village and got off at Cromer and walked back to Weybourne with the wind behind us. Fish and Chips at Sheringham broke the 7 miles nicely. We felt it might have been better to get off at West Runton and walk from there along the beach, as you have to walk along the roadside path, past the caravan parks, between Cromer and West Runton. Consider the tide timetable if you want to walk the beach route.
Mannington Hall:
Very close. We’ve yet to catch it open! Lovely walk around the estate all year round. There is a bird hide. Car parking charge.
Walsingham:
Famous for its shrine and a pilgrimage site. The Abbey is wonderful for snowdrops in the early spring and well worth a visit. Small shop where you can purchase snowdrops and a small range of gifts.
Wiveton Farm:
Café with tapas! Pick your own. Nice farm shop too. Worth a walk around the garden (small charge) and in the woods.
Holkham Hall:
Privately owned. Huge estate to walk around. Motor museum and shop. Dogs allowed outside in the park and inside when the Food Fairs are on.
If you think ahead it is really worth booking to see Father Christmas. It isn't cheap but includes a trip around the house, led by a group of Elf tour guides. Fantastically decorated throughout and then you get to meet a mediaeval Father Christmas and Mother Christmas. Personal chat with them both, in family groups. Brilliantly well organised and a real treat your children won't ever forget! Our gifts were very nice books - all included in the price.
Lovely dog walking around the estate.
Holkham Beach:
Long stretches of beach – tide goes out a long way! Walk to the right all the way along to Wells-Next-The -Sea. Parking charges by the hour but there is an all day charge which includes Holkham Hall carpark too.
Mundesley Beach:
A bit further away but worth a visit. Wide expanses of sand that are perfect for sandcastles.
Wells-Next-The –Sea:
Our favourite beach.
Long stretches of beach. Dogs allowed on the left-hand beach by the the beach huts and beyond , all the way to Holkham so you can walk for miles! A lovely walk from the main car-park to the beach. Toilets by the main car park, and in the woods (in season).
Café there allows dogs inside. Water bowls by the beach café and dogs allowed in if with well behaved owners! In the summer there are dog washing facilities too.
Cafe sells food - Flossie and Myrtle recommend the sausages!! Jenny recommends the pasties and the soup. The ice-creams are lovely too!
There is a Joules Shop opposite the cafe.
Parking charges. Parking by the hour, day or longer periods.
Beach huts can be hired in advance from the camp site.
There is a miniature train that runs from the harbour to the beach.
The beach car park is where we go and then walk up through the woods, or up the first set of steps, to the beach. Worth looking at the lifeboat too.
There are life guards on the beach in season.
The classic line of beach huts that is in every publicity shot of Norfolk!
Good fish & chips on the front, by the harbour. Laura and Rob recommend the Dutch Barge for Pancakes. Look in the side streets for shopping.
Blickling , Sheringham and Felbrigg:
National Trust and all are nice to visit. Sheringham when the rhododendrons are out and Blickling for bluebells.
Dogs allowed on leads in the grounds.
Overstrand Beach:
Lovely little cafe - excellent lunches and snacks. Beach has sand and a few pebbles. The tide comes right in so best to check timings before you go. Some free street parking but good grassy car park with loos. Dogs allowed on left-hand beaches all year. Ice cream vans on the cliff top in the car park. A Crab stall that is sometimes open.
The Bluebell Wood Marked on the OS map with a 1:
Drive to Saxthorpe, then straight across at the junction by the Church. Drive for about a mile until you see a wood on the right with a triangle of grass. Park there and then walk down the farm road until you reach the farm. Take the footpath straight ahead and you will find masses and masses and masses of them. Stunning!
Another walk close by the Bluebell Wood marked with a 2 on the OS map:
Before the Bluebell track, on the left-hand side of the road is a track. Keep along this and it leads to a delightful small wood with a tiny stream to cross. This track could be the one marked on the map by a line of green diamonds that links up eventually with the Bluebell track.
Sheringham:
Nicest way is to go to Holt and catch the steam train.
The beach is a very short distance from the station. Very trippery shops!
Cley Marshes:
Nice dog walks. Windmill. Shops.
Old Hunstanton:
I often go here on the way home to Cambridge. Lovely beach. Sometimes there are kite surfers and kite buggies. A lovely basic cafe and shop in the cliff top by the car park. loos. Geological formations in the cliffs are worth the trip alone. Norfolk Lavender Centre along the road.
Other beaches to try :
The Sunday Times recommend these but we haven't tried them. If you do let us know how you get on by writing in the cottage file or in the Visitors' Book.
Snettisham
Titchwell (RSPB) No dogs.
Cart Gap, Sea Palling. Car Park. Small Sticks Cafe . Loos.
Trimingham. 1Hour walk from Mundesley.
Woodland walks:
Pretty Corner. On the road to Cromer, between Sheringham Park and Cromer. Woodland Trust. Nice cafe for Afternoon teas.
Sheringham Park. National Trust. Lovely Rhododendrons.
Blickling Hall. Especially at Bluebell time.
The Bluebell Woods on the way to Mannington Hall. Nice any time of year.
Holt Country Park. On the way to Holt.
** Do feel free to borrow the binoculars, in the dresser drawer, and the backpack and walking poles, hanging in the dining area.**
As you near the coast you'll see the usual seagulls. If you are into bird watching then this is the ideal coastline for you.
Our garden:
Swifts fly above you as you lounge in the garden. We have had wood pigeons and blackbirds nesting in the trees and roses. The usual small garden birds come to call. A friendly young tabby cat called Tikka comes calling. An older white and tabby visits too. Ben Gibbs reckons there are Blackcaps in the garden and his family spent an evening watching an owl in the garden too.
Dogs allowed, obviously!
Blakeney Point:
Blakeney is wonderful – You'll see Avocets and a host of other birds. You can get a boat ride from Morston to go and see the seals at Blakeney Point. Booking is advised. You can do this in the village or by phone. Leaflets in the basket.
Dogs allowed in most areas. Dogs allowed in the boats but best to check first!
Salthouse:
Our favourite car park is a tiny one between Cley Visitors’ centre and Salthouse. It’s on the left hand (coast) side of the road.
We've seen a pair of Barn Owls hunting at dusk on these saltmarshes, as well as lots of other estuary birds. Egrets are there in small numbers. Marsh Harriers are usually there too, on the left-hand side as you face the sea. Lots of avocets too. I've also seen Spoonbills there!
Dogs allowed in most areas.
Cley:
An excellent Visitors’ Centre. Regular sightings of Marsh Harriers between the road and the beach. We've seen Barn Owls hunting over the marshes. I saw a water deer in the reeds too.
Dogs allowed in most areas but not in the centre though.
Holt Country Park:
You can see the entrance on the right as you approach Holt on the road from Corpusty. Different walks within the park and they often hold special event days.
Cycles are allowed. £1.50 parking all day/£20 for a year pass. Good dog walking.
Amazonia Zoo:
At Cromer. We have reports from visitors that this is well worth a visit.
Riding:
Squirrelwood Equestrian Centre, Kelling. Between Holt and Cromer, follow the signs to Holt Rugby Club. Hacking by the hour. See the leaflet in this file.
Tel: 01263 710135
Sculpture:
See the sculpture of a lady in the sitting room window. Jenny and friends each made one of these and had a great day out doing it! A lady in Briston, Amanda Seales, charges for the day, in her kitchen, with groups of up to 5 at a time. We were there from 9.30am - 4.30pm. Further examples are in the Art Gallery down the road. See her leaflet in this file.
Tel: 01268617253
Beaches:
Cromer, Overstrand, East Runton, Holkham and Wells-Next- the-Sea are our favourites. Myrtle and Flossie love them all but Flossie rates Wells as the best!
There is a booklet about where to go in the wicker basket.
Golf:
Dereham. Tom recommends this one.
Swimming:
In the sea! Life guards at Wells.
Sheringham indoor pool.
Cycling:
There is one man’s bike in the garage. The key for the bike lock is hanging by the front door (on the hook).
Blickling has cycle hire and bikes can be had for hire as you go into Holt from Edgefield.
Boating on the Broads:
Wroxham is good for boat hire by the hour – see leaflet in this file.Tel: 01603 782309
Salhouse Broad also has hire boats and canoes.
Bewilderwood:
Max rates this highly. There is a leaflet in the wicker basket. A little boat to ride on and high 'tracks' amid the trees (all very safe!), little fairy type houses to search for in the trees. He just loved it!
Holt Festival:
Excellent variety of shows, talks etc . Look out for the billboards by the side of the road.