Wells-next-the-Sea: North Norfolk Seaside Charm
If you want the quintessential Norfolk town, this is it. Situated on the North Norfolk coast, this is all sandy beaches and pastel-coloured beach huts, perfect for enjoying a cup of tea, while watching children build sand castles. And seeing boats drift past.
If visiting the coast, read our post on keeping dogs safe by the seaside. Barbecues are banned on the beach (and in local pine woods).
The pinewoods behind the beach add shelter and are great for shaded strolls. The tidal creek means the view changes with the day and the time of year.
The Wells & Walsingham Light Railway
This is the world’s smallest public steam railway, and links Wells with the village of Walsingham (England’s Nazareth, full of churches and religious shrines).
You can’t book online (you have to just turn up and wait your turn). The journey takes 30 minutes and goes through beautiful countryside, over and under bridges, and even passes a hill-fort and a real ghost platform!
The train is currently fighting for survival (because people prefer celebrity TV shows to keeping an iconic steam railway alive). Join Escape to the Country presenter Jules Hudson, who is leading the campaign to buy a new boiler (very expensive) to save it.
The town is from the Anglian word for spring wells, and the ‘next-the-sea’ was simply added in the 14th century to avoid confusing it with other places (like Wells in Somerset, England’s smallest city).
The Great Flood of 1953
The town suffered many casualties in the great 1953 flood (which killed many people on the East Coast). Police officers Charles Lewis and Leonard Deptford received George medals for heroic rescues, including of a bedridden elderly couple, and a local dog.
