Places to explore in NorfolkEngland · East of England

Striking layered cliffs of white chalk over red limestone and rust-brown carstone above the Wash.

Britain's only independently run lighthouse, a red-and-white striped Norfolk tower saved by local subscribers after Trinity House proposed closing it.

The royal family's country retreat and gardens.

Classic Victorian pleasure pier with a lifeboat station and the last surviving end-of-pier variety show.

A vast golden sweep of sand backed by pinewoods and saltmarsh, regularly voted Britain's finest beach.

Shingle spit crowded with grey and common seals.

10 km²

Britain's largest protected wetland — a watery maze of rivers, fens and windmills.

302 km²

Early 19th-century tower mill above the marsh at Cley, long since converted to celebrated guest rooms.

Working harbour town with crab boats at the quay, a Georgian green and a beach of huts and pinewoods a mile north

Norfolk

A huge sweep of sand, pinewood and grazing marsh on the north Norfolk coast, backed by Holkham Hall and loud with geese in winter

35 km²

Norfolk's longest narrow-gauge steam railway, tracking the Bure between Aylsham and Wroxham.

Preserved steam line running along the coast between Sheringham and Georgian Holt.