Mill Cottage

Walk into the centre Sheringham in about 30 minutes (or drive in five) for a scenic seaside promenade lined by a row of colourful beach huts (fish and chips and ice cream, anyone?), and stick around to sit among its pubs, cafés and tearooms to scoff locally produced cakes and other tasty morsels. An excellent golf course is here too, or for culture trips, visit its museum and check out the events schedule of the town’s theatre for film screenings and stage shows, music and comedy performances and art exhibitions of all kinds to fill your off-site evenings with. If you’re into the idea of seeing the surrounding countryside from a steam locomotive, the famed North Norfolk Railway, known locally as the Poppy Line, can be hopped on less than a couple of miles from base (in Sheringham town centre) for verily viewsome vintage carriage rides out to Holt, five miles away. Also close to base is the National Trust’s 1,000-acre Sheringham Park – again within half an hour’s walk – where four waymarked routes with distances ranging from one to five miles take you through the park’s smashingly varied habitats, many points along which have spectacular sea views. Felbrigg Hall is also within easy reach by car. Several wild bird sanctuaries are a short drive away too, at the saltmarshes in Cley next the Sea, Blakeney and Salthouse; a little further afield – around 40 minutes’ drive away – the rare wildlife-filled waterways of the Norfolk Broads (the UK’s biggest protected wetland, fact fans) are a prime wildlife spotting and birdwatching spot, as it’s home to more than a quarter of the UK’s rarest species.