A Holkham Day Out

Today we had a trip to the North Norfolk coast, visiting Holkham Hall and then having a walk to Burnham Overy Staithes.

It was a repeat of the day out we had last year and in 2021, but Dawn and I today only did the first half of the walk and got the bus back to Holkham.

This was the invite from Joyce...

"Wednesday August 14th a return visit to Holkham Hall and always a good day out. We will start walking at 10.30am from the courtyard area where the cafe is. I intend to have a coffee beforehand at 10am. Our circular walk will head down to Holkham Dunes  ....and then to Burnham Overy Staithe where we will have our packed lunch and then a leisurely drink at The Hero pub. You can then take the Coast Hopper bus back to Holkham as you will have walked 6 miles by now or walk the final 6 miles over to Burnham Thorpe Church (Nelson's dad was the Rector) and back to Holkham Hall.  The deer park opens at 9am.  Please bring plenty of food and drinks. £6 per car to park." 

This was our route today...

Here are a few photos.

We met at the Courtyard Café

The sausage rolls were too tempting to ignore.

We walked past the 18th Century Palladian hall at the start of our walk. It wasn't open to visit today. (read about its history here) and continued along the lake....

...to the Coke monument. Holkham Hall was built between 1734 and 1764 by Thomas Coke, the first Earl of Leicester and remains the home of the Coke family.

There is good view from here back to the house and beyond to The Obelisk we visited in January.

We exited through the main gate passing the village....

...and along the driveway towards The Lookout.

Then it was through the Holkham Gap...

...passing the sea lavender on the way.

We had a long stretch along the beach. This horserider was using her phone at the same time as riding. Is that allowed?

The sea was quite calm today and the tide was ebbing - it would be low tide about 2 hours later.

We climbed back over the dunes...

...to follow the path through Overy Marshes...

...and along the meandering river towards Burnham Overy Staithe.

The birds were foraging at the water's edge.

The coffee stall was still there, but there were people sat on the seat we used last time...

...so we headed straight for The Hero.

Kim joined us in taking the bus back to Holkham. Then it was through the gate and back to the courtyard to have our packed lunch before heading for home.

Another great day out and good test for my recovering knee (especially walking on the soft sand). In all I've done over 8 miles today and it is just a bit sore tonight.

Thanks Joyce for organising and leading us and to the others for the additional company.

You can see more details of our 6.25 mile route here on MapMyWalk (or download a GPX file here).

Other related walks you can find on my blog include:

• Norfolk Coast Path - Day 2 Burnham Overy Staithe to Blakeney (Aug 2019)
• Holkham Day Out (Aug 2021)
• A Holkham Day Out (Aug 2023)
• Wells-Next-The-Sea Walk (Jan 2024)