Sea Palling - Norfolk

Again, another great day for us to visit a blustery beach with the dogs, but this time we headed further North than yesterday to Sea Palling.

Only a 20 minute journey from our base at Clippesby, but if you follow the coast road, it is a very pleasant one.

Similar to Winterton-on-Sea, you can park at the end, and walk over the dunes to the beach. There is also a fish and chip takeaway and restaurant, together with an Ice Cream come small family fun arcade, the 2p slot machine sort... not all singing and dancing and expensive!

As we walked along the beach it was quite evident that this was the place to be to spot coastal birds. There were plenty of 'twitchers' about some on the beach others up high on the dunes all with their telephoto lenses.

After the dogs had had their fun and the children were worn out from the dunes, we headed for fish and chips. They were fantastic - Suzie had the haddock whilst the children and I had the scampi - no complaints - well only one; being charged 10p per sachet of tomato ketchup when you spend over £20.00 on a take away, although we did 'eat in'.

A quick play on the 2p arcade games, Ice Cream and we were headed back for the campsite where my son informed me football was our afternoon activity.

Wiki History
The Domesday Book (1086) records that Palling comprised nine villagers and fourteen smallholders. There were 20 acres (81,000 m2) of meadow, 14 wild mares, two cobs, 23 pigs and 71 sheep with a total value of £4.00. It was surrounded by areas of salt marsh

Winterton-on-Sea - Norfolk

Great weather to start the day off, so we wrapped up warm and headed North East from Clippesby Hall to Winterton-on-sea. This is a small seaside village with a great beach. You can park right at the end by the beach - £4.00 all day or £1.00 per hour which was great as we only wanted to walk the dogs.

The wind had a real chill but having seen that the cafe by the car park was open we knew we could treat ourselves to a hot chocolate afterwards.

There is plenty of erosion along this stretch of coast, but that only lends itself to some fantastic sand dunes to play in. Our children had immense fun running down and climbing back up, together with playing hide and seek!

This was the view from the top of the dunes looking back to Winterton Lighthouse as the clouds started to roll in.

Wiki Info:

A Lighthouse has been known to have stood in this location since the 17th century This first lighthouse was constructed between 1616 and 1618. This lighthouse was destroyed by fire and was rebuilt in 1687 and had an octagonal tower. This lighthouse was privately owned by the Turner family. The owners were entitled to a penny for every ton for every ship that sailed within the light. The lighthouse can be seen clearly on Faden’s large-scale map (at one inch to the mile) of the county of Norfolk of 1779.

Horsey Corner and Beach

We awoke to snow flurries - Great!!!, but thankfully it had been snowing the previous week at home so we were well prepared for cold weather - indeed we had the caravan as opposed to our trusted tent.

Once we were all up and fed - we headed for Horsey Beach, a firm favourite of ours and the dogs. You have to go 'off road' from Horsey corner, but it's well worth it as you can park at the end near the beach - no facilities though!

You can often see seals in the sea and on the beach here so take care with your dogs as they will attack other animals.

The Nelson Arms public house is not too far away on the way back to the campsite. A great pub with good food and ale all wrapped up in a pet friendly atmosphere. Always worth a visit and hasn't disappointed in the past 3 years. It's a busy pub, so book if you want to eat!

Once back at the campsite, our afternoon was fun filled for the children, who enjoyed the parks and zip wires as well as the BMX track that circles the site. We'll get to the crazy golf and other activities another day!

Wiki Info.

The coast next to the village, known as Horsey Dunes, is a major wildlife site. Grey Seals on Horsey Beach. During the months of December and January the colony heads on to the beach to give birth to seal pups. Creating a beautiful local attraction for many wildlife enthusiasts.

Annual Easter Trip

So today we have been to the School Easter Assembly - packed as usual but managed to get a seat - this is the first I have been. so am somewhat of an assembly virgin.I thought the whole performance was great until both my children started getting upset as they were led off stage back to class.

As soon as it had finished both my wife and I headed home and started packing for the Easter Break - hitching up the new to us (but old) caravan and heading for Clippesby Hall in Norfolk. We've been there a few years now at Easter and simply love it!

Collecting the children from school hitched up, we travelled for 2 hours without hassle to our destination - set up relatively quickly - not as quick as our Karsten Tent! but hey ho....we'll improve and settled down having played a few games on the cold camping field.