Snettersham

When holidaying on a tight budget, the last place we needed to camp was close to somewhere that is likely to drain the wallet. So staying at the back of the Victoria Inn in Snettersham with its fine range of real ales did cause a few problems, but I was determined to put temptation aside, at least until later. The village itself was about 2 miles east of the Queens residence at Sandringham and was the perfect place to unwind after a busy 2 days at Skegness. We’d finally left Lincolnshire and were now in Norfolk.

“How far to the beach?” I asked. “It’s about a 45 minute walk, but it’s a beautiful route” replied the lady at the bar. Just over an hour later after crossing a busy road, walking through a dense wood, along the edge of a corn field, down a Farmers lane, through 2 meadows, over a river, through six foot high reeds and over a tall bank we were sitting on a fabulous deserted beach. Over in the distance across the Wash, we could see the wind farm opposite Skegness. It was hard to imagine a greater contrast from the noisy crowded resort 20 miles across the Wash to where we were sitting now.

We live on an island of 60 Million people and as this was now August and all the schools were closed it was the main holiday season. The recession and low value of the Pound meant that more people were staying at home this year and holidaying at the British Seaside. So where were they? We could see for about 2 miles in every direction, and not a soul. In the hour or so we walking we passed just 1 other couple. The dog loved it, he could run around, chase seagulls, dig in the sand and there was no-one to take offence. If he could describe paradise, this was probably as close as he would get. After about 20 minutes or so, looking out to sea we saw a canoeist battling against the tide and doing an admirable job, and then almost at the same time a couple of walkers came past on the coastal path. Where have all these three people come from? It was beginning to feel claustrophobic!

Walking back through the meadow, I’d almost forgotten just how pretty an English meadow can look in summertime. Along with the yellow and white flowers, there were more butterflies than I’d ever seen before; common White ones, Red Admirals and a beautiful blue variety. The sun seemed to reflect off their wings as they danced about. Not to be completely outdone there were these incredibly coloured dragonflies with either bright red or bright blue bodies. I could easily have spent hours just sitting there, but stomachs were rumbling and there was a long return walk ahead of us.

Back at the pub the temptation was too great and I had to sample the ales on tap. I made the mistake of taking Tom with me, who complained that, when I drink too much, I have a tendency to snore very loudly and have been known to pass wind. With this in mind I decided to do what any considerate father would do and had a couple more. It would serve him right for telling everyone that my blog was boring.

If Skegness was my idea of a holiday nightmare, then Hunstanton was probably closer to a holiday dream. After all the noise and fast paced entertainment we witnessed a couple of days previously it was so nice to be in a place where time seemed to pass just that little bit more slowly.

I particularly liked the large grassy area that stretched from the town to the promenade. Apparently there used to be a pier here but, after a series of accidents which first shortened it and the completely destroyed it, there now stands a new building which calls itself the Pier Family Entertainment Centre. Now here is where the holiday maker has a choice. Turn left and there is a funfair, amusement arcades etc, but turn right and there is landscape gardens and very distinctive multi coloured cliffs. I must have thought about it for a whole nano-second before heading towards the cliffs.

The cliff face has a very distinctive two tone effect, the lower half being a reddish colour which dates back over 100 million years, whilst the top white half is just a mere 65 million years old. Hunstanton faces the Wash, a roughly square inlet which measures approximately 10 miles across. As such, the water didn’t have the icy feel to it that the North Sea has. It was like walking in a heated paddling pool and was very pleasant, or at least it was until we stepped in the soft thick mud. Laura and I were trudging through this black treacle-like mud, which fortunately stopped at our knees. I must admit all those stories of quicksand swallowing people did briefly cross my mind. This didn’t seem to bother Ollie the dog who somehow managed to skim right over it.

We decided to take the much firmer route across the cliff top to get back to the town. The kids, being real lightweights, decided to take the road train with the dog whilst Kim and I decided to walk. It was lovely and firm with no mud and had great views across the Wash. We could quite clearly see the land on the other two sides of the square body of water.

When we finally got back to Hunstanton, the next job was to find the kids. As we have a very lively young teenager and an early twenty something,we naturally assumed that they would be over by the funfair or racing along the beach or something. But no, they were fast asleep on the green!

Before leaving Snettisham we had to look in the local bookshop. The lady who owns it is now in her seventies and so only opens Wednesday mornings, Fridays and Saturdays. As today was Wednesday we were in luck. She has been buying books for 33 years and the shop was amazing. It is basically a converted house with 2 rooms downstairs and a further 3 upstairs filled from floor to ceiling with books. I’d forgotten just how much fun it is looking through books to find something of interest, and the whole family found numerous books of interest. I asked her where all these books came from and she told me that when someone dies locally or moves away they sell the whole book collection to her. She has never been on the internet to buy or sell a book. It was so refreshing to see a place like this still exists in the modern world.