Holkham National Nature Reserve

The mile-long shingle ridge at Holkham is one of those stretches of Norfolk coast that stops you mid-stride. Walk out across the dunes and the landscape just opens up - vast, quiet, and properly wild. You're moving through sand dunes and marram grass with the sea somewhere beyond, and it feels genuinely remote even though Wells-next-the-Sea is just down the road.

This is a proper nature reserve, not a manicured seafront. Birdwatchers come here obsessively - waders, terns, and winter wildfowl make it serious for anyone with binoculars. But you don't need to be a twitcher to get something out of it. Families with older kids will enjoy the walk; it's straightforward enough, though the shingle can be a bit slog underfoot. Younger children might lose interest after forty minutes or so.

The whole thing is free to wander, and you can spend anything from an hour to a half-day here depending on how much you want to poke about. Early morning or late afternoon light is genuinely worth timing for if you're into photography. Storm days have their own drama too - the light can be extraordinary.

It slots perfectly into a Norfolk coast holiday. Pinewoods Holiday Park sits just 1.6 miles away, making this an easy morning outing before heading to Wells itself for lunch. The Norfolk Brickyard and Deepdale Camping are equally well-positioned if you're basing yourself nearby. Come expecting solitude and big skies rather than facilities or crowds. That's rather the point.