In August 2025, my family and I headed to Norfolk for our summer holiday. We took the children, the dogs and my parents and had a great week!

Sandringham: I really enjoyed visiting Sandringham. There was an excellent playground for the children, great walks  for the dogs (which I could let them off the lead for) and a super little cafe as well as a restaurant. The cafe had vegan sausage rolls which went down well for my son who is allergic to dairy. The public toilets were also some of the best I have used! If you wished to visit Sandringham House, you would be required to pay an additional fee but otherwise you just needed to pay for your parking (this amounted to about £10 for the day per car) . There was the option to pay for a round of mini golf also which my children enjoyed with their grandparents. 

Holkham Estate: I enjoyed visiting this estate. They had an excellent play park for the children as well as some lovely walks. I kept the dogs on the lead here however, as there were free roaming deer and on the day we visited the estate was getting ready for a big event meaning there were additonal vehicles driving around. The Cafe on the estate sold the usual and we only bought a cup of tea here but again the toilets were very clean and well maintained! The Estate is about 1.5 miles from the coastal car park so if you have little ones, it is probably better to drive and park at the estate and then drive down to the coastal car park if you wish to access the beach (this is a famous beach where the pop group All Saints filmed their music video for the song "The Beach" ). 

Holt to Sheringham train: There is an old fashioned steam line/ diesel train line running from Holt to Sheringham. Due to the hot weather, the old steam train wasn't able to run the full length of the line and so we took the old diesel train. There was an old fashioned conductor and old fashioned tickets for the children and we enjoyed the short 30 minute train ride to the coast. Once in Sheringham, we were able to board the steam train for a short 5 minute journey (including the dogs). If I am honest, despite enjoying the train ride, I thought it was very expensive for what it was (about £150 for 4 adults and 2 children)!). Once in Sheringham, we bought ice cream (including finding a dairy free, oat alternative for my son) and had our picnic adjacent to the beach. The dogs were not allowed on the beach here so no paddling was undertaken! 

Blickling Estate: This estate was recommended to me by a friend and it was beautiful. There is a stunning old house with beautiful gardens and a peaceful lake to walk around. I was able to let the dogs off their lead here also, but was mindful of certain areas with fishermen. There is no play area here for the children so I would recommend taking your dog (s)/ bikes to entertain the children if they are not happy to walk only. Blickling Estate is national Trust , so parking is free if you are a member. 

Blakeney: Crabbing! I had never been crabbing before but really enjoyed it! We took the dogs for a walk along the coastal path first to tire them out and then bought our crabbing kit and bait and off we went! Sadly there was a low high tide making it trickier than usual but we still managed to catch  a few crabs (and of course release them!) If you are a National Trust member, car parking is free. Be sure to look up the tides before heading crabbing and ideally go for the hour in which the tide is coming in (high tide) as usually that's when there are more crabs! 

Wells - next - to  - the - sea: On our last full day we went to the big beach at Wells. The dogs were allowed on a large section of the beach and we spent about 4 hours here building sandcastles, flying kits and having a paddle in the sea. I was able to let the dogs off their leads despite it being busy as they were under control. There are public toilets available by the car park and also a cafe but we did not purchase anything from here.