Our Norfolk Guide: Favourite Places to Visit, Eat & Stay

Norfolk, if you do it properly, has a way of recalibrating your internal settings. Everything slows down just enough for you to notice things you’d normally steam past, light on water, the absurd prettiness of a pub sign, the fact that a really good coffee can feel like an event rather than a refuelling stop. It’s all very gentle, slightly indulgent, and extremely persuasive.

Here are some places that capture that particular Norfolk spell.

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Coffee Stops Worth Planning Around

Cross Street Union

Bircham Stores

The Old Stores 

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Places to Visit

Mannington Hall

Mannington Hall is one of those Norfolk places that feels quietly removed from ordinary time. A moated medieval house wrapped in still water and soft greenery, it has a gentle, slightly dreamlike quality. The gardens are the real pleasure, intimate, well-kept but never showy, with winding paths, old trees and quiet corners made for lingering. I also recommend packing up a picnic and enjoy a few hours there just enjoying wandering, sitting, and the calm atmosphere all at once while there.

Burnham Overy Staithe & Scolt Head Island

This is where Norfolk turns properly elemental. You take the little ferry across, or you paddle, or you just watch other people attempt both with varying degrees of competence. It’s salt marsh, sky, and the kind of wind that makes you feel like you’ve earned your lunch. Afterwards, everyone ends up at The Hero, which is exactly what a coastal pub should be: hearty, welcoming, slightly sandy at the edges.

Holt

Holt is what happens when a town decides to specialise in good taste and independent thinking. Bookshops, galleries, antique-y temptations, and coffee that makes you linger longer than strictly necessary. The pleasure here is in wandering with no agenda and pretending you might need a hand-thrown ceramic jug.

My favourite coffee spot is Owl Tea Rooms for a delicious salad and coffee, one of those unpretentious places where you sit down intending a quick stop and somehow stay long enough to feel properly recharged. This is also where our first little perfumery is, so do visit and make sure you book yourself in for a free hand and arm massage while you’re there.

Holkham Hall Estate

Holkham does the full Norfolk fantasy: vast skies, stately house, deer, and a landscape that looks like it was designed by someone slightly overqualified. You can roam the grounds, cycle, or just sit in the café congratulating yourself on your excellent judgement.

Sandringham Estate

Sandringham - a royal estate, yes, but also a deeply civilised day out. Woodland walks, walled gardens, and the pleasing possibility of a very polite brush with history. It’s all immaculately done, in that slightly reassuringly orderly way Norfolk sometimes has. And if you wander into the gift shop, you’ll find our collaboration hand care and pet collection tucked amongst the treasures, including, delightfully, the famous Corgi Cologne too.

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Places to Eat (and Repeatedly Think About Later)

• Sculthorpe Mill
•  A quietly confident country stay with excellent food, soft edges, and the pleasing sense that time slows down a little here.
• The Gunton Arms
•  Part pub, part gallery, part theatre; expect great roast dinners and a slightly eccentric, very enjoyable atmosphere.
• The Victoria
•  Effortlessly elegant, perfect for walking, eating well, and repeating the whole thing in Norfolk style.
  
• The Dun Cow
•  On the list for next time, which in Norfolk is really just another way of saying “definitely happening”.
• The Ship at Brancaster
• Shares the same easy coastal charm as Sculthorpe Mill: comfortable rooms, excellent food, and that lovely feeling of being exactly where you should be.

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Places to Stay

Do let me know if you end up visiting, our little perfumeries are in both Holt and Wells, and we’d genuinely love to see you.

Talk soon,

B x