North Norfolk Living Spring 2026

Norfolk North LIVING

Contents Spring 2026

WELCOME to our spring issue of North Norfolk Living magazine. We’ve just had a balmy few early March days, giving a real taste of spring, with the first boats going back into the water, the daffodils and old plum hedge at home in full bloom.

As ever, we’ve a packed issue for you, sharing, amongst other things, the delights and rites of spring in this beautiful part of the world. We celebrate the centenary of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, 50 years of the Norfolk Churches Trust and discover 26 things to do this year that encourage meaningful connection with others. Plus, we’ve the latest from the local foodie and arts scenesand events galore!

Enjoy the issue and we’ll be back in mid-May.

Amanda Loose

Editor

COVER STORY

This issue’s front cover features ‘Boxing Hares by Moonlight’ by Michael Sanders, painted in mixedmedia, capturing two Norfolk hares under a silvery moon. Michael paints from his studio in Sheringham, where he also has Sanders & Christie Gallery on the high street. This atmospheric image is available in a limited-edition print on paper and canvas from the gallery or www.sandersandchristie.co.uk

@northnorfolkliving

North Norfolk Living Magazine

www.northnorfolkliving.co.uk

Editor Amanda Loose

Email: amanda@northnorfolkliving.co.uk 07796 645427

Write to North Norfolk Living Magazine, PO Box 208, Stamford. Lincs. PE9 9FY

Advertising Manager

Bridget Steele 01733 707538 / 07745 107897

Email bridget@northnorfolkliving.co.uk

Head of Design

Steven Handley

Publisher Nicholas Rudd-Jones 01780 765571

Email: nicholas@bestlocalliving.co.uk

Published by North Norfolk Living Limited

www.northnorfolkliving.co.uk 01780 765571

Printed by Warners of Bourne

Details correct at the time of going to press but may be subject to change

4-10 HEADLINING THIS SEASON

What’s on, what’s good and where to go

12-19 NORTH NORFOLK PEOPLE

Natalie Douglas meets David North, a volunteer reserve guide at NWT Cley Marshes; Caroline McGhie reports on Melton Constable’s landmark community festival this May and Amanda Loose talks to debut author Sharon Ring about a hidden manuscript which revealed a family secret

21-41 ARTS & CULTURE

Hot tickets for spring, the latest from the local gallery scene, Amanda Loose interviews novelist Sally Page, Rachel Bowles shares her cultural guide to King’s Lynn and Harriet Cooper talks to author Justine Picardie about The Crown, crises and couture

43-44 STYLE

Your spring style bulletin and we channel this season’s ruffles, blooms and bows

47-51

BEAUTY & WELLBEING

Harriet Cooper shares some of the North Norfolk spas, salons and studios to have on your radar

55-58 REWILDING

Natalie Douglas talks to Tristan McLean of the Eastern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority and Robin Chittenden celebrates the sights and sounds of the new season

61-82 LIVING

Gardens to visit, your room-by-room guide to switching up your home for spring, interiors news and fab finds from local shops. Plus 26 ways to get connected in 2026 and prepare to pack your bags with our ideas for staycations

87-92 FOOD & DRINK

Sarah Hardy serves up a helping of foodie news, joins the supper club scene and raises a toast to her favourite breakfast and brunch dishes

94 THE LAST WORD

Sarah Hardy finds out more about the Norfolk Churches Trust as it celebrates its 50th birthday

Headlining Spring has sprung!

One minute the world is muted and grey, the next, it’s splashed with daffodil-yellow and fresh, electric green. The clocks go forward, the days are longer, and suddenly North Norfolk looks brighter by the day; hedgerows budding, fields warming, skies widening. Join Natalie Douglas to celebrate the season

Signs of new life

There’s a particular kind of joy in spotting signs of spring. Gambolling lambs with their slightly-too-long legs; blackbirds sounding as if they’ve got something important to announce. Hedges sharpening from brown to green almost overnight. Even the light changes; less silver, more honey, and the air starts to carry that faint, earthy sweetness of warmed soil. It’s not one grand moment, but a hundred small ones that gently add up to the same message: begin again.

Allotment ambitions

This is the season of seed packets, scribbled plans and slightly over-confident timelines. If you’ve got a plot, now’s the time for hardy starts peas, broad beans, onions, spinach; the kind of veg that doesn’t mind a chilly morning. Potatoes can be chitted on a bright windowsill, ready for their moment. And if you’re dreaming of an allotment, spring is the time to get your name down: applications are handled through your local council, often with a waiting list (but plots do come up).

Blooming beautiful

Norfolk does tulips brilliantly; in big, bold, camera-roll-filling style. Start at Houghton Hall, where ‘Tulips at Houghton’ is scheduled to begin on 11 April. The team has planted 25,000 tulip bulbs supplied by Peter Nyssen, making a visit to the estate’s award-winning five-acre walled garden even more of a joy-sparking wander. Open select days until early May, dates subject to seasonal conditions (keep up to date at www.houghtonhall.com). Next head to Tulips for Tapping, where streams of colour ripple across the countryside and every ticket helps support Tapping House Hospice. Keep an eye on Tapping House’s socials and website for this year’s dates and tickets.

Mini beasties

This season belongs to the small things. Look closer and you’ll see them everywhere: bees working the first blossom like they’re on a mission; ladybirds warming themselves on sunlit fences; the jittery return of butterflies along sheltered hedgerows. It’s also when gardens quietly become ecosystems again, if we let them. Leave a corner a little wild. Hold off the ‘perfect lawn’. Add a pot of nectar-rich flowers by the door. The reward is movement, hum, and a living sense that the season has properly switched on.

Epic events

2026 has that ‘let’s go’ energy and the diary is particularly tempting. Simon Reeve brings his live show To The Ends Of The Earth to Epic Studios, Norwich on 12 May. If you like your wildlife with a big name attached, Chris Packham’s Wild Norfolk lands on 22 April (find out more at www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk).

For a bookish night out, head to Dragon Hall for Daniel Hahn’s If This Be Magic: Shakespeare in Translation on 16 April, a love-letter to language, performed live.

Try something new

It’s the time of year when the body wants to move again, not to punish itself, but to wake up. If you fancy something bold and grin-inducing, Norfolk Snowsports Club runs beginner options including ski taster sessions (age 8+) and a six-hour beginner course taught over four weeks; no mountains required. For a salty hit of courage, Cromer is the place to try surfing, the kind of experience that leaves you laughing, slightly windswept, and very glad you said yes - check out the town’s Glide Surf School for surf and SUP lessons.

Let the games begin

When the Norfolk weather decides you’re staying in, you might as well lean into it. Muddy lanes, a grey-silver sky, the sort of drizzle that means the dog’s towel gets used twice. Then comes the best part: a warm kitchen, the table reclaimed, and the board games brought out like a ritual. UNO if you want chaos, Cluedo or Norfolk-themed Monopoly if you fancy drama, something strategic if you’ve got masterminds in the house. The little ones bring the noise, the teens pretend they’re too cool (until they’re winning), and everyone ends up laughing. Simple, silly; perfect.

Books for brighter days

Reading is best done with the windows open and a cup going cold because you’ve got lost in a chapter. Keep it local: The Holt Bookshop is a joy for discovery, and it often anchors the diary with author talks and ticketed evenings (a brilliant excuse to make reading social again). For a Norwich or Aylsham day out, The Book Hive is the perfect browse; independent, thoughtful, and rather good at making you leave with ‘just one more’. Closer to the coast, Old School Books in Burnham Market doubles as a cafe, with shelves stacked for real-life use: cookbooks, nature writing, gardening inspiration and irresistible finds.

Easter and the hare (not the bunny)

Easter in North Norfolk is at its best outdoors: fresh air, muddy shoes, and the promise of a treat at the end. Holkham’s parkland trail is a brilliant excuse to roam. Grab a trail sheet, follow the boards, crack the code, and let the landscape do the rest. Their Walled Garden Easter event brings handson games, meet-the-animal moments, arts and crafts, and The Totally Amazing Magic Show (book via www.holkham.co.uk). And just so we’re clear: before the bunny stole the PR, Easter’s original mascot was the hare, all wild energy, renewal and ‘Did you see that?’ field-boxing drama.

Off to market

Norfolk always does markets brilliantly, the kind where you arrive ‘just for a browse’ and leave with bread, flowers, and something you absolutely didn’t know you needed. Holkham’s Spring Market (3 to 5 April) is a big, buzzy favourite, packed with local food, drink and makers. Visit The Norfolk Artisan Fair at Fakenham Racecourse (18 and 19 April), for gifts, treats and small batch finds for the whole family. And for the ultimate local-top-up, Creake Abbey Farmers’ Market lands on the first Saturday of each month, with stalls that make weekend cooking feel exciting again.

Headlining this season…

From Easter trails to crustacean festivals, a classic car pageant to a hat parade, North Norfolk is full of the joys of spring. It’s time to start hatching plans…

FESTIVALS: FROM CRABS TO CANINES

Have a claw-some weekend

Cromer Crab and Lobster Festival (15 to 17 May) kicks off with a variety show on Friday evening at the Pavilion Theatre, hosted by Olly Day. On the Saturday and Sunday, there’ll be heritage displays on Evington Lawns, including crab pot making, as well as live music and local chefs whipping up crustacean dishes in the cookery theatre. www.cromercrabandlobsterfestival.co.uk

Be the top dog

It’s the 125th anniversary of Cromer Pier and to mark the occasion, the much-loved Paws on the Pier festival returns as part of a year-long programme of celebrations. Canine lovers and any four-legged companions are welcome to gather at the historic pier from 10am on 29 March for a tailwagging day of dog shows and demonstrations, as well as stalls selling goodies for pooches and their owners. www.cromerpier.co.uk

Channel your inner Viking Sheringham Viking Festival, a one-day event that celebrates Norse culture and traditions, always delivers on family fun. On 11 April, visitors will descend on the coastal town to watch re-enactments and take part in creative and educational activities in the ‘Viking Village’ on Beeston Common, followed by a lively parade and boat burning on the seafront. www.experiencesheringham.com

ALL THE EASTER EGGS-CITEMENT

Hop along to Blickling Estate

Blickling Estate hosts an Easter Adventures Tea Party from 21 March to 13 April, and everyone is invited. Follow a trail of games through the daffodil-filled gardens: can you gather all Mr Duck’s ducklings? And will you find all the hidden teacups?

Other seasonal National Trust trails include Felbrigg, with 10 nature-themed activity stations (28 March to 12 April). At Sheringham Park, take part in challenges featuring hand-crafted wood from the park (28 March to 12 April). Pick up your Easter trail sheet, bunny ears and a chocolate egg. www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Play it wild at Pensthorpe

Pensthorpe’s Easter Garden comes into bloom between 28 March and 6 April, with colourful decorations, nature-themed surprises and hidden eggs waiting to be discovered. Every child who takes part receives a free chocolate treat. Afterwards, hop along to the nature reserve’s brand-new outdoor play area. At this time of year, you’ll likely spot lots of cute chicks and goslings as you go. www.pensthorpe.com

A cracking start to the day

Start your Easter Sunday with a little exercise by signing up for Active Fakenham Festival of Running on 5 April. Roads in the town centre will be closed for the chiptimed 5km race, 1km Fun Run, and a Toddle ‘n’ Trike for under-fives. There’ll be a barbecue, free face painting and complimentary pre- and post-race massage. www.activefakenham.org.uk

Headlining this season…

HORSES AND HATS

Saddle up for equine excellence

The FEI Barefoot Retreats Burnham Market International Horse Trials has long put North Norfolk on the eventing map. Riders of all abilities, from grassroots competitors to elite champions, are set to gather for the equine event on 17 to 19 April, promising a weekend of top-class sport as they tackle the challenging courses. In addition to watching the competition unfold, there’s no shortage of entertainment, with a fun fair and shopping village.

www.musketeer.co.uk

Keep your hat on

For something a little different, this year’s Fakenham Hat Walk takes place on 10 May. Organised by the Extraordinary Hat Co. and Active Fakenham to mark World Hat Walk Day, participants are invited to wear something on their head, whether a baseball cap or an avant-garde millinery creation, for the one-mile circular route.

www.activefakenham.org.uk

BOATS, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES

Climb aboard the North Norfolk Railway North Norfolk Railway invites you aboard the Easter Eggspress (28 March to 12 April). As you choo choo between Sheringham and Holt on the restored steam train, can you help Morgan the Railway Cat find all his eggs? Afterwards, be sure to spend time in the Play Coach at Holt station, complete with a mini ticket office and children’s model railway. And the Classic Comedy Weekend is back from 2 to 4 May, with period music and special skits at Weybourne Station inspired by the three classic sitcoms filmed there: Dad’s Army, ’Allo ’Allo and Hi-de-Hi! www.nnrailway.co.uk

Set the sat-nav for Sandringham

to September), which includes a new ‘Tea at Twilight’ sail. Taking place on 21 May and 9 June, the three-hour trip in the Broads National Park leaves at 4pm so you can enjoy the sunset while savouring tea and homemade cakes. www.wherryyachtcharter.org

FAIR DO’S

Spring into action at Creake Abbey

Whether you’re looking to pep up your home or refresh your wardrobe, you’ll find everything at Creake Abbey’s Spring Gift Fair on 11 April (10am to 4pm), from pottery to knitwear, garden ornaments to handmade soap. Making their first appearance at the fair are Sole of Summer with rainbow-bright espadrilles and Norfolk Eye Pillows. There’ll be plenty to eat and drink too!

www.creakeabbey.co.uk

Do market research in Holt

On the first Sunday of each month, from April to December, the centre of Holt is lined with stalls for the popular Sunday Market. It’s a jolly affair, with around 80 local independent craftspeople and food producers showcasing the best of Norfolk.

www.holtsundaymarket.com

Even if you’re not a petrol head, you’ll enjoy the Pageant of Motoring, which returns to Sandringham Parkland on 24 May (10am to 5pm). Marvel at the classic car line-up, including the Morris Minor Owners Club celebrating its 50th anniversary. New 2026 cars will be on display and there will be activities in the main arena - don’t miss the extreme bike battle show. For those who prefer things less adrenalinefuelled, there’s live music and a craft and vintage fair. www.sandringhammotoringpageant.co.uk

Take tea at twilight

Wherry Yacht Charter Charitable Trust, which maintains and operates five of the remaining eight wherries left on the Broads, has launched its summer season sailing programme (May

Browse and buy in Burnham Market

The Burnhams Market at St Mary’s Westgate Church in Burnham Market returns on 28 March. The monthly Saturday market is a perfect reason to shop local, with artisan makers and indie producers offering a range of curated products.

www.theburnhamsmarket.co.uk

Headlining this season…

What’s on, what’s good and where to go

Tulip

fever

Blooming gorgeous tulip-themed finds from under £4

MY DORIS SMALL TULIP CANDLESTICK HOLDERS

£10.95 each, Thornham Deli; www.thornhamdeli.co.uk

TULIP MUG £7.99, Holt Garden Centre; www.holtgardencentre.co.uk

GISELA GRAHAM LONDON PACK OF 20 PAPER NAPKINS £3.95, HortiCo Nursery & Garden Emporium; www.hortico.uk

Spotted by Richard Campey

TULIP KEYRING £12, The Tannery; www.thetannery. co.uk

BLUE AND WHITE TULIPIERE £285, The Red Dot Gallery; www.thereddotgallery.com

There is an obvious change to our birdlife in the early spring. Many of our winter visitors like redwings and fieldfares are departing for northern climes, while other bird species are heading to spend spring and summer in North Norfolk after wintering in Africa.

FAUX TULIPS £3.50 each, HortiCo Nursery & Garden Emporium

Annabel de Capell Brooke - founder of the ‘old fashioned’ matchmaking service Norfolk Cupid - has added another string to her bow. She’s just launched The Cupid Connection, which will bring subscribers together at bespoke events, relaxed socials and via tailored introductions, to meet and mingle, whether they’re looking for friendship, love or to expand their social circle. Expect a calendar of dates where the emphasis is on ‘connection’, perhaps a wine tasting at a local vineyard, a trip on the North Norfolk Railway, or a visit to Norwich Cathedral and lunch.

info@norfolkcupid.co.uk

In my garden, the changes are more subtle. Robins are fewer as my local birds set out their territories and defend against rivals. The large numbers of visiting blackbirds this winter are slowly reducing as some move away and others, like the robin, start to set their territories and embark on nest building.

Perhaps the most dramatic change in my garden over the last three years has been house sparrows - it’s not a big garden but used to have a flock of some 20 or so. The UK population is in a severe decline with recent estimates of a decrease by 60% in the last 45 years. According to the RSPB, some 30 million of these birds have vanished from the UK since 1970. My garden is no longer filled with the noisy hustle and bustle of these most social of birds. The decline locally is a patchwork with other gardens in the village retaining their birds, while slightly further afield they are becoming a rarity.

There is a glimmer of hope for the house sparrow, with results from the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch showing signs of a slight increase. I shall be watching closely this year from my study window.

Richard is owner of The One Stop Nature Shop, Burnham Deepdale, www.onestopnature.co.uk. News of the latest sightings can be seen on the board outside One Stop.

Tel: 01485 525714 Email: hello@joyfulliving.co.uk

The New Barn, Drove Orchards, Thornham, Norfolk PE36 6LS www.joyfulliving.co.uk

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Norfolk Wildlife Trust by numbers

As 100 comes up for the NWT, we count some of the charity’s recent achievements

• 60+ nature reserves are now cared for by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, spanning 5,100+ hectares, roughly 1% of Norfolk, across every major landscape in the county.

• There’s a county-wide team of 150+ staff, keeping it all moving, growing and protected.

• There are 400+ volunteers giving their time, on beaches, under trees, across meadows, and behind the scenes in communities, schools and offices.

‘When we give nature half a chance, miracles happen.’

David North

• 650+ events were held in the last year, helping more people fall in love with (and fight for) the natural world.

• 4,800+ schoolchildren were involved through classroom sessions, school grounds projects, and hands-on days out on reserves.

Figures quoted cover the period 2024-2025

The man who reads the marshes

As the Norfolk Wildlife Trust celebrates its centenary, Natalie Douglas meets volunteer reserve guide David North back where it all began - at the Trust’s Cley Marshes nature reserve

CLEY Marshes is a place that makes you look up. Not just at the birds, though they are everywhere, but at the sky itself. The cloudscapes, the rainbows, the passing storms rolling in off the coast. The wind, always a presence. The wide horizons that remind you, gently but firmly, that nature is larger than you are.

For David North, Cley has been life-changing in the truest sense. It’s a reserve he returns to in every mood, and one that meets him with moods of its own: dawn and dusk, peaceful summer days, or the wild drama of winter weather.

‘Relationships with place,’ he says, ‘like those with people, deepen over time. Paying deep attention deepens love, knowledge and understanding.’ That sense of connection lies at the heart of David’s story, and at the heart of Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s centenary year.

Founded in 1926, Norfolk Wildlife Trust was the first of its kind, born from the purchase of Cley Marshes as a breeding bird sanctuary to be held ‘in perpetuity’. One hundred years on, Cley remains its spiritual home: a landscape shaped by tide and shingle, by conservation pioneers, and by the countless visitors who have come here to feel part of something wilder.

David first joined the Trust during a challenging period in his life, starting a new role while his son was in hospital. What he remembers most clearly is not the job title, but the welcome. ‘There really was a family atmosphere,’ he recalls, and a deep sense that everyone cared profoundly about Norfolk’s wildlife. He was inspired early on by colleagues whose passion and drive helped shape the work they built together.

Conservation, for David, was never a late discovery. It began in childhood, nurtured by parents, bird clubs, and heroes like David Attenborough, Gerald Durrell, Peter Scott and David Bellamy. Birds became his first great love, and Cley, he says, remains connected to half the planet through migration. ‘It’s busier than Heathrow every day,’ he smiles, with arrivals

and departures written across the marsh.

In winter, great skeins of pink-footed geese and brent fill the sky. Wigeon whistle over the freshwater pools. Curlews and redshanks call across the open landscape. In summer, the reedbeds are alive with sound: sedge warblers, reed warblers and bearded tits; swallows that choose to nest in the hides, delighting visitors. Offshore, terns call and plunge-dive for silver fish. Every visit is different. Always full of beauty.

Over the decades, David has watched Cley Marshes evolve. The most significant changes, he says, have been in how people experience the reserve: the opening of the larger visitor centre in 2007, and later the Simon Aspinall Wildlife Education Centre, bringing more people into closer contact with nature than ever before.

The landscape itself has also reminded everyone of its power. David speaks vividly of December 2013, the storm surge that pushed seawater across the reserve and shifted millions of tonnes of shingle in a single night. For a time, it seemed the freshwater marsh might become saltmarsh forever. Then, within weeks, natural processes sealed the breaches again. ‘To witness nature’s forces shaping the landscape

on that scale,’ he says, ‘is a very moving experience.’

Ask David where still stops him in his tracks, and he doesn’t hesitate: Cley’s East Bank. He has walked it hundreds of times, yet each walk brings different birds, different light, different weather moods. ‘You can’t know Cley without knowing its winds,’ he says.

In a world that can feel increasingly disconnected from nature, David’s hope is simple: that visitors leave with a deepened love of wild places, and the feeling that they are not separate from nature, but part of it. That sense of belonging, he believes, is where care and protection begin.

Looking ahead, he worries, like many, that action on climate and biodiversity may not come fast enough. But he also holds onto hope in nature’s resilience. ‘When we give nature half a chance,’ he says, ‘miracles happen.’ Avocets, marsh harriers, spoonbills and egrets have all returned to Cley because habitat was protected and allowed to thrive.

If Dr Sydney Long who founded Norfolk Naturalists’ Trust (today’s Norfolk Wildlife Trust) could stand beside him today, David thinks he would be astonished by the visitor centre, by the numbers of people who now come daily, and by the legacy that began here: a movement of Wildlife Trusts and nature reserves across the UK.

And what does he hope for the next hundred years? That Norfolk Wildlife Trust will still be known for its vision, its reserves, and its willingness to reach out to everyone, residents and visitors alike, to share love, respect and gratitude for the natural world.

A centenary invites us not only to look back, but to find our bearings. At Cley, under that vast Norfolk sky, David North remains something of a north star, guiding people, quietly and steadily, towards wonder.

For more information on how to get involved in celebrating 100 years of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, visit www.norfolkwildlifetrust. org.uk/centenary

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Full steam ahead!

Anyone interested in hidden stories and lost railways in Norfolk should head to Melton Constable in May for a landmark community festival called Back On The Right Tracks. Caroline McGhie reports

THIS festival is the culmination of a year of preparation and includes a major exhibition, artworks, house histories, vivid recollections, spectacular photographs, talks, a film, walking trails and a tapestry as beautiful as Bayeux.

Old railway families are being asked to dust down their memorabilia to be exhibited. Most of it won’t have been seen for decades because The Works shut in December 1936, followed by the passenger line in 1959. ‘Melton Constable was the hub of the railways. All the engines and carriages came in to be repaired here. More than 1,000 people were on the wage bill at one time,’ says Raymond Meek, aged 87, archivist for the M&GN Circle.

As an expert on railway history, he keeps a fine collection of station clocks, lamps, bridge plates, a ticket cabin, ticker stamp (with a complete set of boxed type) and railway signs. His father, uncles, grandfathers and great uncle all worked on the railway at Melton Constable, in the fitting shop, signal boxes, paint shop, boiler shop, while his mother taught the sons and daughters of railwaymen at the school. Raymond keeps a stationmaster’s uniform, which he wears as a volunteer on special steam days at Whitwell & Reepham station.

This festival has been made possible because the Friends of the Briston and Burgh Parva Churches won a £23,500 grant from Historic England as part of the Everyday Heritage Grant Project. ‘We got this to shine a light on working-class history and celebrate our railway heritage,’ says Shannon Howell-Fuller, community engagement manager for the Friends. ‘It gives people a chance to find out about their past and the place where they live.’

The tapestry group has already put in hundreds of hours of stitching in pinks and blues, working to a design, pictured, by artist H.J. Jackson, himself born into a railway family in Melton Constable. Visitors will be able to watch them continuing their marathon as part of the exhibition at Burgh Parva Church.

‘We began in August last year, meeting every fortnight in the Tin Church but now we meet for longer and some of us take our work home to carry on with it,’ says Alison Millen, one of eight seamstresses, all aged between 65 and 81. ‘There are hundreds of stitches to choose from so we make quite a lot of it up as we go along,’ says her co-stitcher Allyson Crawford.

The railway spirit will be revived with a showing of the 1966 film The Great St Trinian’s Train Robbery. The history group will also be on hand to help residents find out about the history of their houses and Fakenham Town Band perform on the Sunday.

In the Country Club there will be talks by H.J. Jackson, by author Hazel Mindham on the men of Melton Constable who gave their lives in the First World War, and by Derek Haynes and Paul

Young, trustees of the Melton Constable Trust, looking at the future. I must also confess that I will be talking about my novel The Sitter, which is based on the village and summons up the great age of steam.

Back On The Right Tracks festival runs from Friday 8 to Sunday 10 May.

www.melton-constable-history.co.uk

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‘I felt a duty and a compulsion to tell the story’

AFTERdecades in Fleet Street working for national newspapers including the Mirror and the Daily Mail, before going on to edit OK! Magazine, Sharon’s biggest story was actually much closer to home, concealed in a dusty tin box, at the very heart of her family.

Rewind to 1930s Berlin. A knock at the door. Two men in uniform, ordering Sharon’s Aryan grandmother, Erna, to divorce her Jewish husband, Sigi, to protect herself and their two ‘mischlinge’ children - Edie and Heinz. Who were the so-called mischlinge? Well, it’s a German word for mongrel and was used by the Nazis to legally define people with joint Aryan and Jewish ancestry. Edie and Heinz, known as Heini, were five and nine when Hitler came to power. They were raised as Christians but had two Jewish paternal grandparents.

So begins Mischlinge, Sharon’s forthcoming book based on Heini’s manuscript, talking to her mother, Edie, and extensive archival research. This haunting account of the true story of Edie and Heini, their parents and the wider Bernstein family is epic in sweep, spanning major historic events; from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, their life as Jews in Berlin during The Third Reich, to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

‘I always knew my mum was a bit special, but I didn’t really realise how special she was, until one day she said, “I’m getting on now, I think you ought to know where my will is”. So, we looked and at the back of the cupboard was a dusty old tin. We opened the tin, and there was the will, but next to it was this faded envelope. I said, “What’s this Mum”, it just had an H written on the front and she said, “That’s my brother’s memoir”. I replied, “I don’t know anything about this” and she said “Well, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to burden you with it.”

‘I opened it - and I speak a little German but not a lot - and when I read the first page, I thought this is interesting and my uncle has taken the trouble to write it and it looked like it was written on Izal paper, it was really old. I approached the German master at Gresham’s and he translated it and it was an absolute revelation, because my uncle had an incredible life, beginning with singing at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. It’s very rare to have an eyewitness account of Jewish survival in Berlin, this was the capital of The Third Reich, yet some of the Bernstein family survived there.

‘My mum had been very clever. I knew that she was a Berliner. I knew that she’d had some trouble in Berlin as a child, but she never really went into detail and when I think about it now, I think she was very wise. She didn’t want to make a Pandora’s Box out of it; she didn’t want to make it so scary that I was fascinated. When I said weren’t you curious to read it, she said “I

Discovering an old manuscript in her mother’s bungalow in Heacham changed everything for Sharon Ring, and became the basis for her first book, to be published this spring. Amanda Loose reports

was there, Sharon, I know what happened.”’

Finding the manuscript was ‘a very emotional moment’ recalls Sharon. ‘It’s an amazing thing that she kept that secret for almost 30 years. When I asked her about it, she said “That’s very simple. I decided early on that to make a success of my life I had to look forward and not to look back”, and really, that was her philosophy.

‘My mum and I were always close, she was a great mum, but I didn’t realise the price she paid. I knew that she got depressed sometimes, but I didn’t know why and she was very hard on herself about her depression. I think she would beat herself up and say, “I don’t know why I get down sometimes because I’ve got a fabulous husband and a wonderful daughter and I’ve got everything in life.”

‘Of course, when I read the manuscript, it changed the way I thought, because how did she lead such a normal life when that had happened to her? I mean lots of other things made sense. You see, she was told by her Nazi teacher that he wouldn’t teach her because she had Jewish blood. That really made her very keen on education. Now she was not in any way a pushy mother, but she wanted me to have the best, so she got a second job to pay for me to go to prep school because she wanted me to get into grammar school, which I did. She said “Sharon, education gives you choices.”’

Sharon’s parents were enormously proud of her achievements; despite being initially worried about her becoming a journalist. ‘I was in Fleet Street at 22 and they were so proud of me,’ she says.

Alongside the shock of finding the manuscript and the secret it contained, Sharon’s journalistic instincts also kicked in. ‘It was really weird. I worked on the Mirror and the Mail, helped arrange the coverage of the Beckham’s wedding, all these big stories and yet this big story was under my nose, and I didn’t know anything about it. I felt a duty and a compulsion to tell the story, and I think it is important

the world knows who mischlinge are.

‘Sitting down in her little bungalow in Heacham and writing this story was a very emotional thing, because she was finding out things, I was finding out things, and it was a really special time. Mum was pleased she did it, but it cost her. She got very upset and I got very upset, but in the end, I know she was really pleased she did it.

‘When I got upset, she came over and she hugged me and she said “I don’t know why you’re upset, don’t be upset. I met your dad when I was 19 and he was such a lovely man and he rescued me and then brought me to England, and everyone, well almost everyone was really lovely and then you came along.

‘She had two kind of choruses in her life; one was “I always look forward, I never look back” and the other was “The world got better after you were born, the world gets brighter” (because I was born on the shortest day). It’s such a lovely thing that she thought that way and she adored my father, Jimmy, who was a desert rat. They had such a happy marriage.’

After Edie’s husband died, she decided, age 70, to move to Norfolk to be closer to Sharon, and made Heacham her home, living in a bungalow opposite the duck pond.

‘What happened to my mum made her into a very special person. She loved everything about Norfolk. She loved the community she found in Heacham, the peace and tranquillity, the element of feeling safe on the streets.

‘She’d say when we were writing the book, “A lot of my friends have regrets in life. I don’t have many regrets in life. I married the most wonderful man; he made me happy for all those years.” She made her life happy by locking away the story in her head.’

There were thousands of mischlinge across Europe, but their story is largely untold and unknown until now. Writing Mischlinge took Sharon many years, an emotional and often lonely process, especially living in the Norfolk countryside. Her persistence has resulted in a haunting, gripping and incredibly moving book which stays with you long after you’ve turned the final page. Ultimately, Edie wanted her story to be told, and her daughter has more than done her duty.

Mischlinge by Sharon Ring will be published by Harper Collins on 26 March, £16.99

Photos courtesy of Sharon Ring

“I

decided early on that to make a success of my life I had to look forward and not to look back.”

Edie Ring

PAUL DICKSON

TOURS

IN CROMER

George Skipper in Cromer – celebrating the legacy of the great Victorian/Edwardian Norfolk architect.

The Birth of Poppyland – the development of Cromer as a tourism resort from the late 18th to the early 20th century.

57a The Market Place, Burnham Market, PE31 8HD (Behind The Great Outdoors) (01328) 738273

For tour dates, including Norwich tours, see: www.pauldicksontours.co.uk/tour-dates or email paul@pauldicksontours.co.uk, 07801 103737

For tour dates, including Norwich tours, see: www.pauldicksontours.co.uk/events or email paul@pauldicksontours.co.uk, 07801 103737

Hot tickets

Our round-up of where to get your culture fix this season From concerts and shows to creative workshops and open exhibitions, Amanda Loose shares her round-up of some of the best ways to get your culture fix this season

Face the music

SPRING CONCERT SERIES

King’s Lynn Festival’s spring concerts at King’s Lynn Town Hall continue on 27 March, with a recital by Trio Havisham, who’ve recently appeared at Wigmore Hall. A duo of trios by Haydn and Schubert will be on the programme which begins at 11am. Next up, is the festival’s inaugural cocktail concert on 9 April at 6.30pm, with saxophonist Huw Wiggin and harpist Oliver Wass. The series will conclude with a Young Musicians’ Showcase at All Saints’ Church, King’s Lynn, on 19 April from 3pm. www.kingslynnfestival.org.uk

HARMONY IN THE COTSWOLDS

This April marks the 150th anniversary of the death of composer and organist Samuel Sebastian Wesley. Sheringham & Cromer Choral Society’s 18 April concert at Cromer Parish Church will include anthems and other selected works by him, and Elgar’s The Music Makers. From 7pm. Tickets from www. sheringhamlittletheatre.com www.sheringhamandcromerchoral.org.uk

A NIGHT AT THE MOVIE MUSICALS

Head to Sheringham Little Theatre on 25 April for an evening of songs from some of the best loved movie musicals, including Dirty Dancing, Footloose and The Wizard of Oz, with Emma Riches and Josh Marlow from 7.30pm. Singalong and look out for a few surprises along the way!

www.sheringhamlittletheatre.com

CELEBRATING THE MUSIC OF SIR KARL JENKINS

Internationally renowned classical musicians will gather at St Nicholas Chapel, King’s Lynn on 9 May from 7.30pm, to honour the music of composer Sir Karl Jenkins, who is due to attend. The British Sinfonietta, King’s Lynn Festival Chorus and Norwich School will be

accompanied by musicians including cellist Adrian Bradbury and violinists Benedict Holland and Joo Yeon Sir. Expect to hear some of Sir Karl’s most celebrated works. The concert, hosted by Music in the Burnhams, will raise funds for Norfolk and Waveney Mind. www.musicintheburnhams.com

MISS SAIGON

This new production of Boublil and Schönberg’s legendary musical - presented by Michael Harrison, in association with Cameron Mackintosh - is coming to Norwich Theatre Royal from 12 to 23 May, as part of a major UK and Ireland tour. Set during the last days of the Vietnam War, 17-year-old Kim is forced to work in a Saigon bar where she meets and falls in love with an American GI, but they are separated by the fall of the city. www.norwichtheatre.org

MAYFEST

The 21st North Norfolk Music Festival opens on 13 May, with a return to Holkham’s Marble Hall and a performance by the Royal College

of Music’s Archie Bonham, Scott Storey and Levi Andreassen, featuring new work by Simon Rowland-Jones for the viola, piano and double bass. Six concerts will follow at The Church of Our Lady St Mary in South Creake, including the Lodestar Trio on 16 May and the Fibonacci Quartet with Levi Andreassen on double bass on 17 May, rounding off the festival. There will also be talks at the Yorke Trust Chapel in South Creake by Hermione Lee on 15 May and Edward Seckerson who will speak on the life of Leonard Bernstein on 16 May. www.northnorfolkmusicfestival.com

CELEBRATION

The Norfolk Symphony Orchestra’s concert on 17 May will feature soloist Viv McLean performing the joyful Piano Concerto No.2 composed by Shostakovich as a gift for his son. Beethoven’s groundbreaking Symphony No.3 ‘Eroica’ will follow. King’s Lynn Corn Exchange, 3.30pm.

www.kingslynncornexchange.co.uk

Arts & Culture

Curtain up

MATTHEW BOURNE’S THE RED SHOES

This double Olivier Award-winning ballet returns to Norwich Theatre Royal from 7 to 11 April, a captivating tale of one girl’s dream to become the greatest dancer in the world. It’s based on the film of the same name by Powell and Pressburger, and the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, with music by Bernard Herrmann. www.norwichtheatre.org

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

A sell-out on Broadway and in the West End, Aaron Sorkin’s award-winning stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is now touring the UK and Ireland for the first time. Coming to Norwich Theatre Royal from 28 April to 2 May, this courtroom drama, set in 1930s Alabama, explores racial injustice and childhood innocence. www.norwichtheatre.org

GOD OF CARNAGE

When two sets of parents meet to discuss a playground incident between their children, things soon unravel in this comedy of manners - and bad manners - by Yasmina Reza, at Westacre Theatre from 6 to 16 May, select dates. Directed by and starring Matt Grist with Kieran Gough, Sadie Grist and Tamsin Wheeler. www.westacretheatre.com

BEING MR WICKHAM

Written and performed by Adrian Lukis (who played Wickham in the BBC’s 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice), this one-hour, one-man play is coming to the Assembly Room in King’s Lynn Town Hall on 7 May at 7.30pm. Wickham is now 60 and looking back on his life. Presented by The West Norfolk Committee in aid of the King’s Trust. Tickets £45, from tracy. long@stephenson-smart.com

CLUB MISTERO

Silverstage Theatre Co are bringing this murder mystery play to Princess Theatre in Hunstanton on 8 May at 7.30pm. Set in 1920s New York, we meet a flighty barman, secretive showgirl, a neglected wife and more; all become suspects when someone is seemingly nowhere to be found. Expect glamour, glitz, suspense and a mystery worth solving. www.princesshunstanton.co.uk

Work it out

BOTANICAL MIXED MEDIA PRINTMAKING

Artist and printmaker Judith Handley is running this one-day experimental workshop at Norfolk Creative Arts in Grimston on 28 March, combining watercolour effects with hand-pressed linocut blocks. www.norfolkcreativearts.co.uk

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO SOLVING CRYPTIC CROSSWORDS

Join Peter Moore Fuller (Bard from the Independent Crossword) at Wells Maltings on 15 April at 3pm, for the lowdown on crosswords; from different types, famous setters and how a cryptic crossword clue works to the sort of knowledge you need to solve them. Enjoy an afternoon tea, too. www.wellsmaltings.org.uk

FIGURING IT OUT

Norfolk-based portrait artist Rosie Phillips will be teaching a two-day portrait painting workshop at Norfolk Creative Arts on 16 and 17 May, offering an opportunity to learn Rosie’s contemporary twist on figure painting. www.norfolkcreativearts.co.uk

A Night at the Opera

At Norwich Theatre, we are committed to bringing world-class opera to our stage, and this season proves the genre is anything but boring. From ‘true crime’ grit and heartbreaking romance to laugh-out-loud comedy, get ready for the high notes, the high drama, and everything in between.

English Touring Opera presents: Pagliacci

24 Apr | Norwich Theatre Royal

Art imitates life in English Touring Opera’s new production of Pagliacci. Ripped from the headlines about a real-life crime case from composer Ruggero Leoncavallo’s own childhood, Pagliacci packs passion, melodrama and revenge into an intense 90 minutes of drama.

Sung in English with English surtitles.

English Touring Opera presents: The Gondoliers

25 Apr | Norwich Theatre Royal

The Gondoliers, Gilbert and Sullivan’s last great success, is a fizzing comedy of mistaken identity that marries joy and chaos with a sharp satire of monarchy and class. This new production is helmed by Liam Steel, who directed ETO’s Olivier Awardwinning production of Paul Bunyan. Sung in English with English surtitles.

La traviata

31 Jul – 2 Aug | Norwich Theatre Royal

Step into the glittering world of nineteenth-century Paris as one of opera’s most unforgettable love stories takes centre stage. La traviata is Verdi at full brilliance, weaving a tale that shimmers with glamour, passion and heartbreak. At its heart is Violetta, a woman adored by society yet living a life defined by fragility and compromise. When the earnest and hopeful Alfredo enters her world, she dares to imagine a future shaped by love rather than expectation.

This new co-production between Norwich Theatre and Buxton International Festival brings together a world-class creative team and exceptional cast to tell the story with freshness, colour and emotional depth. Sung in Italian with English surtitles.

Dine Like a Diva

Why rush? Make a night of it at Prelude with a seasonal set-price menu. The best part? Your table is yours for the entire evening, meaning you can skip the bar queues and head back to your private spot for drinks and dessert during the interval.

Strictly Priscilla: Talking to Kevin Clifton

Best known for his years as a professional dancer on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, Kevin Clifton is now taking on the role of Tick, and drag alter-ego Mitzi, for the 30th anniversary tour of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which heads to Norwich Theatre Royal between 30 Mar – 4 Apr.

Were musicals a big part of your life growing up?

Yeah, massively. I remember when me and my sister were kids, we went on a trip from Grimsby to London to see Cats. It felt like this massive thing.

What’s the best thing about performing in them?

I love being part of a team. In a competition, you’re against each other. Whereas what I love about musicals and theatre is that you go out as a team to do something together, and you’re helping each other out, playing off each other.

What drew you to Priscilla?

When my agent first asked if I was interested in auditioning, I didn’t know whether I was the right person for it. But then they sent me the scene where my character, Tick, is talking to his son, and he doesn’t know how he’s going to be received. I think that scene they have together is really beautiful, because kids are not jaded by divisiveness or politics. They just see what’s in front of them. And I thought, I’d love to play this part.

Priscilla is a story of resilience against transphobia and homophobia. Why are you proud to be a part of the show?

I think we need it more than ever. There’s so much divisiveness now. I can’t open Instagram without some politician having a go at some minority, whether it’s trans people or immigrants. It does my head in.

I’ve never been the most confident person. Being on stage is the safe bit. So I relate to Tick when he, as his drag character Mitzi, can be anything he wants to be. Priscilla is not my story, but if I can play any part in this story, then yeah, I’m proud of that.

Talk the talk

HOW AMAZING MISS SAVIDGE MOVED HER HOUSE

May Savidge saved her ancient house by moving it brick by brick, 100 miles to Wells-next-the-Sea. This story - soon to be made into a film - will be told by her niece Christine Adams at The Friends of Binham Priory’s Spring Talk on 24 April at Binham Village Memorial Hall at 7.30pm. Book via www.wellsmaltings.org.uk

AN AFTERNOON WITH PAUL MARTIN

The presenter of BBC’s Flog It! is coming to Cromer Pier’s Pavilion Theatre on 6 May, where he’ll discuss his career in TV and antiques, as well as doing a q&a session and book signing. Audience members are welcome to bring their own hand-held objects into the Pavilion Bar at 1pm for valuation and potential auction, before the talk starts at 3pm. www.cromerpier.co.uk

Open season

IN PROXIMITY: NORWICH CASTLE OPEN ART SHOW

One of the largest open art shows ever held at Norwich Castle, ‘In Proximity’ is showcasing the work of 87 artists working in East Anglia, including sculpture, paintings, ceramics, photography and film. Its theme is experiences of closeness, to places, objects, people and other life forms, with participating artists including Maria Pavledis, Tessa Newcomb and Tor Falcon. All the works on show are available for sale, with the proceeds going to the artists and towards East Anglia Art Fund’s support for exhibitions and art education in the region. The exhibition continues until 14 June.

www.norwichcastle.norfolk.gov.uk

THE GRIMSTON CREATIVE ARTS OPEN EXHIBITION 2026

Norfolk Creative Arts in Grimston is hosting its annual exhibition from 28 April to 4 May, 10am to 4pm daily. It’s a great opportunity to view a diverse range of art, from paintings to sculpture, all by talented local artists, both amateur and professional alike. All the art is for sale and there’s a cafe, too.

www.norfolkcreativearts.co.uk

Step back in time

THE HERITAGE CENTRE, AYLSHAM

The centre has recently reopened for 2026, with a new exhibition about the history of Aylsham Market Place, which has been home to many businesses and notable people, and the backdrop for major events. Open until the end of November, The Heritage Centre also runs an events programme including history walks and craft sessions. www.aylshamheritage.com

CROMER WALKING TOURS

Join Paul Dickson’s ‘George Skipper in Cromer’ walking tour on 24 April at 10.30am, to learn more about the architect’s legacy in Cromer. Skipper worked on projects in the town from the late 1880s to the 1930s and designed seven hotels, notably the Hotel De Paris, The Cliftonville and Sandcliff. Paul’s ‘The Birth of Poppyland’ walking tour on 30 May at 11am will look at the development of Cromer as a tourist destination from the 18th century, including the story of Clement Scott and other writers who discovered the area, Victorian hotels, the pier, promenading, the

impact of the railways, and more. www.pauldicksontours.co.uk

Family fun

CLOWNING AROUND

Bippo’s Circus Adventure is coming to Princess Theatre Hunstanton on 2 May at 2.30pm, complete with stunts (think plate spinning, juggling and more), surprises and mischievous antics from Bippo, one of the UK’s top circus clowns. www.princesshunstanton.co.uk

GET CREATIVE

Norwich Theare is hosting a series of creative workshops during the Easter holidays. There are two ‘play in a day’ sessions on 1 April, one in the morning for seven to 10-year-olds, and one in the afternoon for ages 11 to 15 years. Children will explore everything from movement to directing, culminating in a short, original performance. Sensory Stories for SEND, on 8 April at 10.30am, will be accessible for non-verbal children. This hour-long journey of imagination and play for ages seven to 11 years, will offer a relaxed, supportive environment, using sensory materials and props. www.norwichtheatre.org

A Potted History 75 Years of Holkham Studio Pottery

NEW for 2026

Our major exhibition tells the fascinating story of Holkham Studio Pottery, a pioneering, female-led business established by Lady Elizabeth, the 5th Countess, in the early 1950s.

From a visionary idea to a globally collected brand, the exhibition explores the people, purpose and - of course - the pottery of this groundbreaking enterprise. Holkham Hall

Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays

From 29th March to 29th October

Included in standard admission

Find out more at holkham.co.uk

Arts & Culture

Houghton Hall

Since 2015, Houghton has hosted major exhibitions of contemporary art and sculpture, showcasing big-name artists including Antony Gormley, James Turrell, Damien Hirst, Chris Levine and, last year, Stephen Cox. In 2026, the focus is on Lynn Chadwick (1914-2003), in what is the largest display of the British sculptor’s work in over two decades. Opening on 2 May, expect to see over 30 works spanning from the early 1950s to the 1990s, including Chadwick’s best-known paired figures (‘couples’), installed across the neo-Palladian Hall and the extensive grounds. Afterwards, swing by the exquisite five-acre Walled Garden, open from mid-April for ‘Tulips at Houghton’, as 25,000 bulbs come into bloom. If ever there was a harbinger of spring, this is it. www.houghtonhall.com

Around the houses

From tulip fever at Houghton to an exhibition to potter around at Holkham, Norfolk’s stately homes and country estates are a hive of activity this spring, says Harriet Cooper

Blickling Estate

The Jacobean mansion and estate are always a joy at this time of year, when lambs gambol in the meadows and the gardens spring to life. Now you’ve another reason to visit, with an exhibition opening on 22 May, ‘Journeys: Global Textiles from the Karun Thakar Collection’. Pieces loaned by avid collector Thakar will be on display, from Japanese kimonos and Punjabi kanthas to French chintz and Kente cloths from Ghana, all curated to spotlight Blickling’s commercial history and how textiles are interwoven with stories of identity, trade and transformation. www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Holkham Hall

Though Holkham is a hive of activity in 2026, a highlight has to be ‘A Potted History: 75 years of Holkham Studio Pottery’ (29 March to 29 October). The new exhibition shines a light on the stories and legacy of the Studio, which was founded in 1951 by Lady Elizabeth, 5th Countess of Leicester, who transformed the old laundry and bowling alley close to Holkham Hall into a lightfilled space for creativity. Here, visitors could observe the potters at work and buy souvenirs, with pieces making their way across the country and around the globe - indeed, at its peak the pottery employed around 90 workers. Feeling inspired? In keeping with the spirit of artistry, this year’s programme of workshops at Holkham includes willow weaving and floragami to candle making and oil painting, reflecting the estate’s long-standing connection with craft and making. www.holkham.co.uk

Oxburgh Estate

Love is all around Oxburgh Hall this spring with ‘A Regency Romance’, a new show that has a pair of portraits at its heart. The paintings of Thomas Molyneux-Seel and Agnes Bedingfeld are by the neo-classical artist Ferdinando Cavalleri and were commissioned by the newly-married couple during their lengthy Grand Tour honeymoon in the early 19th century. The portraits were bequeathed to the National Trust and for nearly 50 years, Thomas’s likeness hung in Oxburgh’s library, while the painting of Agnes remained in the attic. It has now been unearthed and restored and the pair have been reunited, becoming the centrepiece for an exhibition exploring the language of love during the Regency era and the couple’s relationship, through extracts from letters, diaries and collection objets. www.nationaltrust.org.uk

For all times and ticket prices, visit the individual websites

April

In the picture

Local galleries are putting on a fine show this season, with exhibitions and newness aplenty. It’s time to follow your art, says Amanda Loose

LET’S start in Sheringham, where Sanders & Christie Gallery (www.sandersandchristie. co.uk) is set to launch its spring exhibition, running from 21 March to the end of May. The gallery is welcoming two new Norfolkbased artists to the fold - Keith Nash and Trevor Woods. A collection of Keith’s framed watercolours featuring atmospheric skies with geese flying over the marshes adorn the walls, along with Trevor’s mixed-media paintings capturing well-loved locations along the North Norfolk coastline and new abstract landscapes inspired by a recent trip to Iceland.

Speaking of newness, Michael Sanders has unveiled a collection of original seascapes and the latest additions to his limited-edition print range. There’s also new work featuring studies of Norfolk hares. Fresh linocuts by Joanna Padfield focus on marine life and seaside activities.

We’re heading west to Cley, where The Cley Exhibition (Instagram @the_cley_exhibition_) - comprising a group of five makers from North Norfolk - will take place at Cley Village Hall over the Easter weekend (4 and 5 April, 10am to 4.30pm) plus six other weekends during the summer. Participating artists Steven Paterson, Steven Levitt, and Joanna Culling, ceramicist Flora Grant and Jennifer Ramsay of White Boat Jewellery all take inspiration from the colours, textures and atmosphere of North Norfolk’s natural environment. Expect to see Norfolk landscapes in oils painted en plein air by Steven Paterson, Steven Levitt’s more abstract interpretations using mixed media and collage, and much more. Handily, the venue is next to the free village car park.

Over on Cley high street, Pinkfoot Gallery (www.pinkfootgallery.co.uk) will be showcasing ceramics at their ‘Grounded’ exhibition during the Easter holidays, featuring some stunning new pieces by Stephanie Cunningham, who is known for her animal forms, especially dogs and horses. Spring will also bring new animal sculptures from Adam Binder, recent North Norfolk paintings by

Daniel Cole and a special collection of smaller paintings from Peter Wileman.

I visited the nearby Lockwood Studio (www.rachellockwoodartist.co.uk) a few weeks ago, a new, purpose-built exhibition space showing recent work by local artist Rachel Lockwood. It’s open by appointment only (contact info@lockwoodstudio.co.uk) - if you arrange to visit you’ll see it’s the perfect venue to view Rachel’s recent woodland paintings, inspired by North Norfolk and beyond, alongside her oils of local wildlife (and a few rather handsome cats!)

Next stop, Glandford, where BIRDscapes Gallery (www.birdscapes.co.uk) is hosting an Easter exhibition by members of the prestigious Society of Wildlife Artists, from noon on 28 March to 19 April. Many new paintings and original prints which will feature have come from the Society’s annual showcase - The Natural Eye - at the Mall Galleries in London. See works by SWLA artists Carry Akroyd, Richard Allen, Dafila Scott and Matt Underwood, to name a few, each with their own distinctive style and techniques.

Arts & Culture

As ever, there’s much for art lovers to enjoy in Holt. The Red Dot Gallery (www.thereddotgallery.com) on Fish Hill is embracing spring, with a fine selection of both original work and editions by Janet Treby. Janet’s colourful and gentle nature studies are always popular in the gallery. Pictured is ‘The Reality of Dreams’ with swallows ducking and diving alongside a running hare. New paintings will be on show through March and April.

Next door, local artist Laura Weekes (www.lauraweekesgallery.com) opened her eponymous gallery earlier this year, exhibiting her own abstract paintings and prints, plus work by local and national sculptors, homewares and more.

If you’re quick, there’s still time to catch ‘The Power of Small’ at Bircham Gallery (www.birchamgallery.co.uk), which continues until 25 March, comprising a selection of paintings, prints, ceramics and sculpture, all small in size, but not in magnitude. Next up is the gallery’s spring mixed show (28 March to 22 April), featuring colourful earthenware ceramics by Irena Sibrijns and new paintings and prints from selected artists.

Atmospheric landscape paintings by Sarah Lees will sit alongside earthenware ceramics by Barry Stedman from 25 April to 20 May, followed by a show bringing together maritime linocuts by James Dodds and H.J. Jackson from 23 May to 17 June, with ceramics by Ant and Di Edmonds, and Nigel Lambert.

Across town, Antonia Clare’s Chapel Yard Studios (www.antonia-clare.com) is reopening after the winter break with a spring exhibition featuring a new collection of colourful still life and seascape paintings by Antonia, together with ceramics by Katrina Wheeler and Rose Brettingham. Chapel Yard itself has been transformed, with a new seating and planted area, plus an offering of wellbeing and creative workshops including writing, crafting and painting.

Over in Lees Yard, the Big Picture Gallery (www.kathawood.com) - run by fine art photographer Katha Wood as her studio and gallery space - has also reopened for spring. This year, Katha is releasing a new collection called ‘Looking for Light’ following on from the success of her ‘Darkness & Light’ series. Each month, she aims to release one new piece; also expect more luna studies to add to her growing ‘Moon Collection’. Katha edits her photographic work in a way that makes it look like a painting and prints directly onto aluminium meaning it changes with the light. Open Fridays and Saturdays (check before making a special journey).

We’re Great Walsingham Barns bound, where ’tis the season for Sarah Caswell (www.sarahcaswell.co.uk) to be painting to deadline for her exhibit at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in late May. Meanwhile, you can see some of her exquisite botanical works on the gallery walls. Off the walls, Walsingham Gallery & Framing (www.walsinghamgalleryandframing. co.uk) is highlighting its exceptional 3D artists. Innovative sculptor John Mallett creates tactile and flowing bronze forms, whilst Carol Pask’s owls are made from smoked fired ceramic but often mistaken for stone or bronze.

Arts & Culture

Green and pink tourmalines are being used by neighbour TJ Adam Silversmith in an array of new rings for spring - think new shapes, colours and textures. Tracey is also running workshops in Swaffham and Wells in March and April, and weekly bespoke workshops are also available. Check www.tjadamsilversmith.co.uk for availability.

Fairfax Gallery (www.fairfaxgallery.com) in Burnham Market is opening its exhibition season with two exciting shows. From 28 March to 8 April, they’re hosting a solo exhibit of new work by award-winning artist David Atkins, known for his richly textured, expressive oil paintings created en plein air, capturing the beauty of the North Norfolk coast. ‘Surface and Substance: Still Life in Colour’ will follow, from 25 April to 9 May, a mixed show bringing together work by 10 of Fairfax’s most soughtafter artists, celebrating the enduring appeal of still life painting. The show will see the return of work by Dorion Scott, Paul Stone and Adrian Parnell, along with the introduction of local artist Simon Wright to the gallery, whose still life compositions of paper and cardboard models offer a contemporary perspective on the genre. In addition to local contemporary artists, Pocock’s the artmonger (Instagram @pocockstheartmonger) in Burnham Market

also shows interesting 19th century works, particularly watercolours, often coastal landscapes, but also far-flung places. It’s a great place to pick up art supplies if you’re feeling creative, too!

Local artist Rebecca Lloyd (www.rebeccalloyd.co.uk) is on the move this spring to a new studio in Bircham Tofts. Packing up around 800 sticks of pastel is no mean feat, she tells me, but ‘this year will be a fresh start with a new body of work.’ Working solely with her hands, Rebecca produces largescale paintings of our wonderful big skies and landscape, creating a sense of space and place. Visitors to the studio, which is open year-round by appointment (bex@rebeccalloyd.co.uk, 07977 227708), will see her smaller framed studies and limited-edition prints, too. These are also available from Holkham Courtyard Gift Shop, along with two new large originals.

Over at Dersingham Pottery & Gallery (www.dersinghampottery.co.uk), June Mullarkey creates hand-thrown porcelain with a crackle glaze and work with translucent gold lustre decoration, together with hand-thrown stoneware with a trailed or poured glaze. Her vases and planters, platters, candle holders, tea bowls and more are in the gallery, in colours often inspired by our coastline.

Our final stop is King’s Lynn, and The Viewing Room (www.contemporaryandcountry. com), launched last year by Paul Barratt and Paul Vater of Contemporary and Country. This exhibition space showcases art and craft by creatives from across East Anglia, in a programme of monthly exhibitions.

Until 28 March, paintings by Melanie Goemans are on exhibit alongside ceramics with luminous glazes by Cecilia Willis; from 1 to 29 April, Mary Blue’s paintings capturing the North Norfolk coast and landscapes experienced during her residency last year in the Scilly Isles will be on show with ceramic forms by Caroline Chouler-Tissier. Ceramic sculpture by James Evans and paintings by Claire Cansick will follow, from 2 to 30 May.

‘This iteration of our Viewing Room series brings together artists whose practices explore material, place and emotional resonance through painting and ceramics,’ says Paul Vater. ‘Across the exhibitions, the transient, the tactile and the deeply personal converge.’

Check opening hours before making a special journey.

BIG PICTURE GALLERY

Bestselling author Sally Page talks to Amanda Loose about community, creativity and why her latest novel just had to be set in North Norfolk

IT’S been a busy few years for Sally Page. Her debut novel - The Keeper of Stories - published in 2022, was a word-of-mouth success story, becoming a Sunday Times bestseller, with more than half a million copies sold to date. Three more books followed, including Six Little Words, set in North Norfolk and published this March.

In fact, Six Little Words is something of a departure for Sally. It’s a novel where setting is at its very heart. ‘It’s not something I’d done before in a book and it was about representing a place, and a feeling and all the gorgeous things about North Norfolk,’ says Sally, who has visited the area since childhood and spent many hours writing Six Little Words looking out over the creek at Wells.

‘Once I knew I wanted to write a place, it was absolutely North Norfolk. My brother and my late father were keen birdwatchers, so it was a place they’ve always gone to. My brother and sister-in-law live in Cambridgeshire and North

A sense of place

Norfolk is their favourite place and they’ve reintroduced me to it. I think with the passing of my dad I’m turning into him, because I’m now becoming a birdwatcher, I’m out there on the marshes with my binoculars.

‘It also for me not only harks back to my brother and late father. The first children’s book I ever read that had a powerful impact on me was a book called When Marnie Was There and that’s set up in North Norfolk. I can just remember being blown away, not just by the story but the place, so I think in some ways that coming back to something you’ve loved and has made a powerful impact on you, even without ever having visited at that stage, that it was through literature, writing, that sense of how powerful that was and you kind of want to share that.’

Creativity is central to Six Little Words, a beautiful, uplifting novel which follows its cast of engaging characters, who span the generations, as they join a local group which aims to encourage residents to rediscover their creative spark. Friendships are forged and you’ll find yourself rooting for them, as you follow their struggles, be it with writing, painting, textiles, or even knitting ‘interesting’ outfits for a whippet; creative struggles which Sally can identify with.

‘Years ago, I wrote non-fiction books about flower shops, and I think at that stage I thought I could write journalistically or non-fiction. In fact, my daughter Libby Page, she was a Sunday Times bestseller before I was. She was

the writer in our family, she was always writing and it wasn’t that it stopped me, but it was ‘Libby’s the writer’. I didn’t think I could do it and then just before I turned 60, I woke up one day with an idea for a book and once I started writing, then I couldn’t stop. It took me forever to find an agent and get a publisher, but yes, it came to me later in life.

‘My second book, A Book of Beginnings, I think it is kind of based on the George Eliot quote “It’s never too late to be what you might have been” and I think I’m an example of that. You never know what’s out there.

‘Particularly with Six Little Words, I wanted to write about creativity and how we struggle to do the thing we set ourselves, but actually what a blessing it is when you just do it, it enriches your life. Where I was exploring why we stop ourselves being creative, I could really appreciate that from my painting [where] I encounter all the problems that my characters did - not good enough, not allowing myself enough time to get better, struggling with inspiration sometimes. I also learnt a lot talking to people. I go to a lot of book clubs and just chatting to mainly women there it’s like ‘Oh my goodness, I felt that; I’m not alone, there are a lot of people feeling like this about creativity.’ I would just encourage everybody to have a go, give yourself some time.’

Six Little Words is published by Harper Collins, £9.99. Signed copies are available from Holt Bookshop.

‘Once I knew I wanted to write a place, it was absolutely North Norfolk.’

Sally Page

Talk of the town

King’s Lynn is a town shaped by movement and exchange. For centuries, ships arrived at its quays carrying people, ideas and goods from across the North Sea, while merchants, craftspeople and musicians left their mark on its streets and buildings. Whether you’re visiting for the first time or rediscovering familiar scenes, these 10 cultural stops reveal why the town remains one of Norfolk’s most rewarding places to explore, says Rachel Bowles

1 Celebrate 75 Years of King’s Lynn Festival

Founded in 1951, the King’s Lynn Festival has long been one of the town’s cultural cornerstones. What began as a classical music festival has grown into a vast programme of concerts, talks and visual art, with historic buildings across Lynn providing atmospheric settings. This summer’s festival (12 to 25 July) will bring an exciting, diverse programme, featuring both established international artists and emerging talent.

2 Visit its historic churches

At the heart of the town stands King’s Lynn Minster, also known as St Margaret’s. One of the largest parish churches in England, it was built between the 12th and 15th centuries, its impressive scale reflecting Lynn’s medieval wealth. Inside are soaring arches, stained glass and carved memorials to merchants and townspeople. Today, the Minster remains a vibrant space, hosting concerts and events. Other historic churches, including St Nicholas’ Chapel and All Saints, add further layers to the town’s story.

3 Bookmark the town’s new library

Libraries have always played a quiet but important role in cultural life. Lynn’s new town centre library represents one of the most significant cultural investments in the town for many years - a modern public space, rather than simply a place to borrow books. Set across three floors, it includes a bespoke children’s and young people’s library, study areas, adult learning facilities and an events space. The library also provides a permanent home for some of Norfolk’s historic collections, placing local heritage at the heart of a contemporary setting.

4 Catch a show at the Corn Exchange

Spring is a busy season at King’s Lynn Corn Exchange, with a programme reflecting the venue’s role as one of the town’s cultural hubs. The line-up blends touring theatre, live music, comedy, tribute acts and family-friendly shows, alongside regular cinema screenings and one-off events. From big-name performers to community showcases, the season offers plenty of reasons to plan an evening out.

5 Discover St George’s Guildhall and the Shakespeare story

St George’s Guildhall is one of King’s Lynn’s most extraordinary buildings. Built in the early 1400s, it’s the UK’s oldest working theatre and a rare survival of medieval architecture. Recent research supports the long-held tradition that Shakespeare’s company performed here during his lifetime. More recently, the Guildhall has hosted performances, exhibitions, talks and tours, and is currently undergoing a major restoration and redevelopment to secure its future as a significant cultural and heritage space.

6 Learn about power, people and port life

Stories of Lynn offers an engaging introduction to the town’s past. Interactive displays explore themes of power, trade and everyday life, showing how the town developed as an important port. Former gaol cells add a tangible sense of past lives, while exhibitions reveal how maritime connections shaped the town’s fortunes at home and abroad. The museum

- at King’s Lynn Town Hall - is also home to The Treasury, displaying Lynn’s civic regalia, including the remarkable King John Cup, a rare 14th century secular medieval vessel. Free tours of the first floor of the town hall, taking place most Tuesdays and Sundays, include the 15th century Stone Hall, Georgian assembly rooms and a window etched with centuries of personal messages.

7 Uncover the town’s Hanseatic trading links

During the medieval period, King’s Lynn was one of England’s most important ports, trading extensively with towns of the Hanseatic League. These international connections shaped the town’s wealth, architecture and identity. Find out more at Stories of Lynn and Lynn Museum, and by following the Hanseatic Trail, a selfguided walk linking historic merchant streets and riverside sites. Spot the Grade I-listed Custom House, built as a merchants’ exchange in 1683, and now subject to approved plans which will revitalise and reconnect the landmark with Lynn’s maritime past. The town joined the new Hanseatic League in 2005; Lynn’s maritime heritage is celebrated at the King’s Lynn Hanse Festival, taking place on 24 May this year, with events across the town.

8 Delve into King’s Lynn’s ancient past

Lynn Museum is home to one of Norfolk’s most remarkable discoveries: Seahenge, a Bronze Age timber monument found on Holme beach in 1998. Dating back more than 4,000 years, this extraordinary structure offers a rare glimpse into prehistoric ritual and belief, long before King’s Lynn emerged as a port town. Beyond Seahenge, the museum explores Roman settlement, medieval trade and everyday life across the centuries. Clear interpretation, hands-on elements and familyfriendly displays make Lynn Museum an accessible and engaging visit for all ages.

9 Explore maritime King’s Lynn

Set within original cottages, yards and smokehouses in the North End, True’s Yard Fisherfolk Museum focuses on the everyday lives of fishing families who worked the river and The Wash. Run by dedicated volunteers, it brings social history to life through preserved interiors, boat models, tools and working spaces. It’s also a natural starting point for the King’s Lynn Maritime Trail, a self-guided walk

Lynn Museum is home to one of Norfolk’s most remarkable discoveries: Seahenge, a Bronze Age timber monument.

Date for the diary

Mark 13 September for King’s Lynn Heritage Open Day, when historic buildings and museums open their doors free of charge and vintage buses offer rides around the town. www.kingslynncivicsociety.co.uk

marked by bronze pavement plaques that links the historic fishing quarter with quays, warehouses and the Custom House, revealing how the sea shaped the town’s identity.

10 Step back in time

Historic King’s Lynn is easily explored on foot, with many highlights linked by walking routes. The Walks is the only surviving 18th century town walk in Norfolk. Restored in 2007, this spacious park features tree lined paths, open lawns and landmarks including the Bandstand, the Guannock Gate and Red Mount Chapel. The King’s Lynn Town Guides offer guided walks from the Saturday Market Place, exploring medieval streets, churches and riverside trade. The Strange Stroll is a short self-guided route uncovering folklore and curiosities, including the carved heart above a house in Tuesday Market Place.

Visit www.visitwestnorfolk.com for more information about the town and to download the self-guided walks mentioned

SNETTISHAM | NORFOLK | PE31 7UD

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The Crown, crises and couture

From washing-up with Queen Elizabeth II in a bothy at Balmoral, via Sandringham and Windsor Castle, Norfolk-based author Justine Picardie tells Harriet Cooper about the links between royal fashion, wartime espionage, and the reshaping of the monarchy

JUSTINE

Picardie has met many captivating people, both in her job - she was editorin-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, as well as writing books including the biography of Coco Chanel and Miss Dior - and as the wife of Philip Astor, godson of the late Prince Philip. So I’m a little in awe when we sit down to talk about her latest work Fashioning the Crown - A Story of Power, Conflict and Couture.

The beautifully researched, utterly readable book, published to coincide with the centenary of Elizabeth II’s birth in April 1926, charts the history of the House of Windsor from 1917 until the Queen’s coronation in 1953. Specifically, how its leading ladies - Queen Mary, the Queen Mother, the Duchess of Windsor and the late Queen - and their husbands navigated revolution and abdication, the rise of fascism and two world wars; and how their sartorial decisions correlated to these challenges.

‘I became interested in the story through [couturier and senior intelligence officer] Hardy Amies, who I met in the late 1990s,’ Justine tells me on Zoom from her home in the Waveney Valley. ‘He was a fascinating figure, very discreet… I knew he’d been involved in some kind of clandestine capacity during the Second World War. Then when I met the late Queen and plucked up the courage to ask her about Amies [a brilliant anecdote in the book, when Justine and Her Majesty are conversing while clearing up after a shooting lunch in a bothy in Scotland, the latter wearing yellow rubber gloves], and she said to me “Of course, it was excellent cover for a spy, to be a couturier.” I thought that was so perceptive.’

It piqued Justine’s curiosity, the idea of clothing, whether uniforms or couture, concealing rather than revealing, and how the ‘monarchy expresses itself and reinvents itself through style.’ But it was only after Elizabeth II’s death in 2022 that Justine requested access to the Royal Archives and the textile archives to begin her deep-dive into how the House of Windsor projected “power and perpetuity, diplomacy and defiance” through their attire. The resulting book is packed with excerpts from diaries, memoirs and letters, written by Sir Henry ‘Chips’ Channon, Lady Diana Cooper, couturiers including Amies and Norman Hartnell, photographer Cecil Beaton, plus the royals themselves. No seam has gone unexamined as we’re taken on a journey starting with Queen Mary and George V, who

embraced full dress uniform and formality to represent stability and old-fashioned British values during the First World War.

We learn how Wallis Simpson (later Duchess of Windsor) preferred “hard chic” and wore statement-making Elsa Schiaparelli; while Edward VIII (later her husband, the Duke of Windsor) adopted “mutiny dressing”, rejecting frock coats and wearing kilts outside of Scotland when he reluctantly became Kingand about his “striptease act” when he was ‘literally stripping off all the robes and regalia that signify royalty. I mean, it’s the most extraordinary thing to do,’ says Justine.

Paradoxically, his brother King George VI and Queen Elizabeth used dress as a way to ‘reestablish the authority of the crown and a sense of stability after the rupture and crisis of the events that led up to the abdication as well as the abdication itself,’ says Justine. ‘The sartorial choices they made during the war spoke louder than words, the King always in military uniform, the Queen wearing Norman Hartnell dresses. And the young princesses [Elizabeth and Margaret] are seen to abide by making do and mending, therefore showing solidarity with the rest of the country.’ Lilibet (later to become

‘I was curious and I wanted to uncover hidden stories that hadn’t been told before.’

Elizabeth II), like her parents and grandparents, ‘had a great sense of duty that she associated with the role of being monarch’ something she made apparent when she was seen wearing her khaki Auxiliary Territorial Service uniform.

‘That’s humility,’ says Justine. ‘When I met her, I was always struck by her modesty.’

As the book takes us from the sweeping corridors of Buckingham Palace to Balmoral, from Windsor Castle to Sandringham, the depth of Justine’s research is extraordinary, the detail outstanding. ‘I was curious and I wanted to uncover hidden stories that hadn’t been told before,’ she concludes.

‘It was a journey to write the book and I hope the reader feels I’m a good and interesting companion on that journey.’

interesting companion

Fashioning the Crown - A Story of Power, Conflict and Couture by Justine Picardie is out now (£25, Faber)

FASHION FIX

Your spring style bulletin from Harriet Cooper

Into the fold

Designer Dee McGilvray tells us about her new Norfolk-based womenswear brand CLÒ FOLD and why British wool is at the heart of the label

CLÒ FOLD was established to bridge the gap between nature and the wardrobe. Based in Norfolk, we support native breeds and British farmers by ensuring every label reflects a genuine ‘Made in the UK’ journey, creating countryside clothing that truly belongs to the countryside. Traceability offers reassurance - consumers know exactly where their clothing begins and what it supports. Our garments carry British Wool authentication labels and a unique QR code, allowing customers to trace

Full circle

Looking for a little vintage? Browse these pre-loved sales for one-off gems

PRE-LOVED FASHION SALE, THORNHAM VILLAGE HALL

Saturday 28 March, 10am to 4pm

A chance to declutter your wardrobe (tables for selling your pre-loved clothes can be booked for £25 each) or browse and discover something new - either way, win-win!

Free entry; thornhamvillagehall.co.uk

their wool directly back to the specific farms it came from.

Named after my favourite Norfolk town, the newly-launched Holt Gilet was inspired by a chance meeting with the Princess of Wales in a local shop. It is proudly manufactured in Norfolk using 100% British wool and unique ‘Codelite’ buttons from Courtney & Co, which are crafted using hardened Irish dairy milk.

Following the gilet, we are launching the Elgin welly sock and a collection featuring skirts and jackets. While we are currently focusing on perfecting our womenswear, we hope to introduce menswear while keeping our Norfolk-based production small, traceable, and sustainable. www.clofold.com

PRE-LOVED POP-UP MARKET, HAPPY VALLEY NORFOLK, GRIMSTON

Sunday 26 April, 11am to 3pm

The Pre-loved Pop-up Market returns to Happy Valley Norfolk, bringing together a mix of independent sellers offering carefully curated pre-loved clothing, accessories, homeware and one-of-a-kind finds.

£2 entry; www.happyvalleynorfolk.co.uk

LITTLE VINTAGE LOVER FAIR, MANNINGTON

Sunday 10 May, 10am to 4pm

Around 50 vintage dealers will gather at the Mannington Estate for this popular Fair, bringing with them curiosities and eclectic finds from the 1920s to the 1980s. There’s also a cafe, street food vendors and live music.

£5 entry; www.littlevintageloverfair.com

Glam rock

Sea here

Gone Crabbing has created some fun new hoodie and tee-shirt designs for summer for beach-loving kids. These include ‘Sometimes Salty... always Crabby’ and ‘Steve the Seagull’, who returns to riding the skies on his eternal quest for a chip! Available online, as well as from The Sea Word in Burnham Deepdale. www.gonecrabbing.co.uk; https://seaword.shop

Woven Anew at Creake Abbey is the place to go for beautifully curated pre-loved designer fashion, as well as expert styling advice. Looking to elevate your wardrobe with timeless finds? Founder Jenny McGreal is now stocking jewellery from local brand Serucchi - think vibrant designs and bold gems. Plus, keep your eyes on the Woven Anew Instagram @woven_anew for details of their fashion show on 21 May, summer styling tips and more.

On the mend

Amanda Burr, a qualified couturier with 40-plus years of experience, has opened a studio-shop in Walsingham. As well as one-off items for sale, including repaired, reworked and restored vintage/ antique garments, she offers alterations and repairs to everything from tailoring to cushions, as well as bespoke garments made to order. And look out for workshop sessions, including dressmaking, pattern drafting, up-cycling clothing, crafts and knitting groups. Visit Instagram @burrsworkshop for opening hours

BONTÉ DARCY TOP £105, Nomad & the bowerbird

Channel this season’s ruffles, bows and blooms, and get ready for your close up!

EMU JAIDA BEIGE SNEAKERS £69, The Tannery

ESSENTIEL ANTWERP JONDA FINE KNIT POLO £149, Anna Burnham Market

FRENCH CONNECTION PATRICE JUMPER £65, Bakers & Larners

POWDER SPRING FLORA SHORT PYJAMA SET £49.99, Holt Garden Centre

ASTRID LIGHT DENIM FRILL TOTE £19.50, FatFace

PROJECT AJ117 CAMELIA DRESS IN PALE BLUSH £195, Nelle-dk

CREAM BELLIS FRILL DRESS £89.99, moochi modo

ANGULUS SUEDE BALLERINAS £175, Nelle-dk

MARIE JO LIZELOT PLUNGE BRA IN FRENCH VANILLA £96 AND THONG £46, Pollard & Read

POURCHET STRAW HALF MOON BAG £105, The Tannery

BONTÉ MIKKA REVERSIBLE JACKET £155, Ffarr

MY DORIS RAINBOW TEARDROP BEADED EARRINGS £18, Creativity KATIE LOXTON BOW KEYRING £14.99, Barefoot Living

YONDER FRILL

PYJAMA SET £115, Thornham Deli

PINK WEDGE

ESPADRILLE £125, Sole of Summer

ADDRESS BOOK Anna, Burnham Market www.shopatanna.com; Bakers & Larners, Holt www.bakersandlarners.co.uk; Barefoot Living, Burnham Market www.barefoot-living.co.uk; Creativity, Sheringham www.creativity-sheringham.co.uk; FatFace, Burnham Deepdale and Holt www.fatface.com; Ffarr, Burnham Market www.nomadandthebowerbird.co.uk; Holt Garden Centre, near Holt www.holtgardencentre.co.uk; Moochi modo, Heydon www.moochimodo.com; Nelle-dk, Drove Orchards, Thornham www.nelle-dk.co.uk; Nomad & the bowerbird, Holt and Wells www.nomadandthebowerbird.co.uk; Pollard & Read, Holt www.pollardandread.com; Sole of Summer, www.soleofsummer.com; The Tannery, Holt www.thetannery.co.uk; Thornham Deli, Thornham www.thornhamdeli.co.uk

All well & good

Wellbeing and beauty news and notes with Harriet Cooper

This spring I am…

… sweating it out. Saunas continue to be a hot topic - you’ll find them on Norfolk’s beaches, deep in the forest and now they’re in the clouds. At The Lions’ Den City, a recently opened wellness space in Norwich, the saunas are on the rooftop, so you can soak up the sweeping views as you detoxify in the heat. From cityscape to coast, where the Hidden Sauna Club will open this spring, a quiet, nature-led space at Wild Luxury in Drove Orchards, Thornham, with a bespoke custombuilt sauna and cold plunge baths. Hidden Sauna Club sessions are available on a pay-asyou-go basis, with a limited number of memberships also available, alongside private bookings. www.thelionsdennorwich.com; www.hiddensaunaclub.com

… bookmarking Emma Barker’s Thriving with Cancer, Kids and Other Crap. The Norfolk-based life coach and author wrote the book after being diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 45. This is not a publication of medical advice - rather, drawing on her own

personal experience, the pages are filled with practical insights and inspiration to help anyone navigating personal trauma to find optimism, joy and hope, even in the darkest of times.

£9.99, www.emmabarkerthriving.com

… counting down to Wolterton’s Wellness Weekend. The two-day festival, on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 June, invites guests to ‘move, connect and restore’. Taking place across the expansive grounds of the Palladian mansion, activities will include HIIT and Pilates sessions, yoga, sound bathing, crystal healing, guided meditation, swimming in the lake, wood-fired saunas, reiki and so much more. Plus, there’ll be a series of workshops and plenty of wholesome food. See you there! One-day tickets from £109, www.wolterton.co.uk

… embracing the lost art of letter-writing with the Sunday Letter Project. The initiative is

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the antidote to technology, an invitation to recalibrate and reconnect by carving out time every Sunday to put pen to paper. Each week the project offers a prompt, but people can write about whatever they like. Wildflower Holt is now a ‘letter keeper shop’, with a letter pals service (like old-fashioned pen pals), so you can drop your letter in for a ‘pal’ to collect. There’s even an area in-store where you can sip herbal tea and write your missive to leave in a pigeonhole for others to read. www.wildflowerholt.co.uk

GREEN PEOPLE SCENTFREE TRUFFLE NIGHT CREAM

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ELEMIS SUPERFOOD MIDNIGHT FACIAL

This prebiotic gel-cream is a bedtime ritual, writes Amanda Loose. Though rich with cocoa butter and banana flower extract, it absorbs quickly, leaving my skin looking brighter and feeling smooth. £48, www.retreat-spa.co.uk

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The beauty & wellness edit

Whether you’re looking for a high-tech facial, to do a little personal grooming or seeking a day of allabout-you indulgence, North Norfolk can deliver. Harriet Cooper shares some of the salons, spas and studios to have on your radar

The spas

FFOLKESPA, Hillington

I arrived at FFOLKESPA with curiosity. This was the thermal spa retreat at Ffolkes hotel which had cost a cool £3million - a space ripping up the wellness rulebook by majoring on cocktails and good times over kale smoothies and chakra balancing.

After a friendly welcome at reception, I make my way - via the candycoloured changing room - into the spa, entering the ‘Ibiza zone’, which includes four double foot spas and cabanas with heated loungers. In the centre is a vast stainless steel hot tub beneath a giant glitter globe, with a swim-up bar where I get straight down to business and order a passionfruit martini (I could have had a smoothie but…). The decor is bold, the music upbeat. It feels akin to a nightclub but with everyone in swimmers. I won’t give the secret away, but do visit the ‘disco toilet’.

With the spa’s mantra ‘Heat, Cool, Chill, Repeat’ ringing in my ears, I explore the thermal experiences - a trio of saunas, two gorgeous steam rooms (I love SEA with a salt vapour designed to recreate the benefits of a brisk coastal walk), a bracing plunge pool, cold mist shower and ice fountain. For an extra charge, you can take part in a Sauna Ritual, a 15-minute sensory experience using heat, scents, movement and music, which is a nice add-on. The hours drift by until my treatment (the 45-minute facials, massages and body treatments are an optional extra), which takes place on another floor, in one of the more pared-back treatment rooms. I have ‘Back, Neck and Shoulders’, using TempleSpa products, and my muscles breathe a sigh of relief.

You can either visit on a day package or spend the night in a ‘Spa Stay’ room, which fall into different categories but all include the Unlimited Brunch FEAST. I’m doing the Spa Stay - which enables me to enjoy the spa

FFOLKESPA © daniellaphotography.co.uk, all rights reserved

from check-in to check-out - and am booked into a Spa Loft, a spacious, brightly decorated set-up with a separate lounge area and a terrace with two outdoor bathtubs.

Spa-ing is hungry work. Even though I had partaken of the Afternoon ‘Street’ Tea - a twist on the classics, like cheesy jalapeno scones and lemon and lime macarons - I am excited for dinner in the main hotel. The evening menu changes daily; tonight is ‘Asian-inspired… with a creative edge’. My steamed dumplings of mushroom and bok choy are delicious, so too my generous salad. I sleep well and leap out of bed to do another round of thermal treatments before the inevitability of leaving this fun bubble for the real world.

If you’re a spa purist, FFOLKESPA might not be for you. But if you’re looking for an uplift, whether that’s unwinding solo or having a giggle with friends, it is. After all, who doesn’t need a bit of joy in their lives? Party/ pamper, the choice is yours.

Harriet Cooper was a guest of FFOLKESPA.

Visit the website for prices and package details. www.ffolkes.org.uk/ffolkespa

Beauty & Wellbeing

Other spas we love

Secret Garden Spa, Congham Hall Hotel, near King’s Lynn

The 31-room boutique Congham Hall has many strings to its bow. Its Secret Garden Spa is a huge draw, located in a tranquil setting surrounded by seasonal herbs and flowers. Book in for a bespoke day spa package: simply choose one of the treatments (anything from a rosemary muscle melt massage to the replenishing Elemental Herbal facial) and for an additional £55 you can enjoy the spa’s indoor swimming pool, thermal suite, and a two-course lunch or afternoon tea.

www.conghamhallhotel.co.uk

The Ficarra’s Spa, Fakenham

The family-run Ficarra’s has a loyal following and rightly so. The treatment list is extensive, the therapists are excellent, whether you’re after a little luxuriating or a little grooming (the pedicures are top-notch). They now offer two new facials - the Image Skincare O2 Lift, an oxygenating treatment designed to smooth the complexion (£90), and the Signature Lift, for brightening, tightening and rejuvenating skin (£95). There is a private pool for hire, too. https://theficarras.co.uk

Woodland Spa, Little Massingham

For rejuvenation and relaxation - but alfresco - head to the sun-dappled woods at Little Massingham Manor, where you’ll find their exclusive-use spa area, comprising a traditional Scandinavian woodfired barrel sauna and hot tub, ice plunge bath, hot-cold shower, changing room and chill-out space. For extra TLC, why not add on a skin-boosting facial or soothing body treatment at the Orchard Beauty Rooms, nestled in a nearby orchard. www.norfolkbound.co.uk

The Harper, Langham

You don’t have to be a hotel guest to enjoy The Harper’s spa menu which, although concise, covers all bases - three facials, a trio of massages, reflexology, prenatal pampering, a Foot Bliss session and a couple of special treatments, using Irene Forte’s sustainable skincare products. The light-flooded pool, which overlooks the pretty lavender-filled courtyard, hot tub and sauna are available on an exclusive-use basis for 30-minute sessions - again, these must be pre-booked. www.theharper.co.uk

The Cottage at The Maltings, Weybourne

Set in a standalone building, separate to The Maltings hotel, The Cottage is a cocooning set-up - ‘a little pocket of peace’ - with two treatment rooms and a seating area decked out in earthy tones and botanical prints. Treatments are designed to nurture and restore, whether you’re booked in for an Indian head massage, reflexology, a Pevonia Fire & Ice Facial or a hot stone back massage. Lunch or a cocktail in the Grain Store restaurant afterwards is always a good idea. www.themaltingsweybourne.com/the-cottage

Salons we love

Barnetts, Drove Orchards, Thornham Award-winning Barnetts is a recently refurbed Bumble + bumble hair salon and barbers, with an extensive treatment menu including the crystal blow dry (delivering instant shine and gloss, which lasts up to 15 shampoos), and a friendly team on hand for balayage or highlights, a trim, restyle or updo. Barnetts use Wella and L’Oréal Professionnel colour systems. You can purchase Bumble + bumble and L’Oréal products to use at home, too. www.barnetts-hair.co.uk

The Retreat Spa, Brancaster

High on a hill, in Brancaster Hall’s Old Stables, The Retreat lives up to its name. A comprehensive range of Elemis face and body treatments bring the zen, along with Environ facials, plus massages, manis and pedis (classic polish or gel), waxing, brow and lash services, makeup and more. There’s a thoughtful range of products to purchase, too, from Mii makeup to Elemis and Sensory Retreats, whose lavender self-heating eye masks are our new go-to for a good night’s sleep! www.retreat-spa.co.uk

PC Face Massage Therapy

Polina Cleeve is a face physio and face massage therapist whose bespoke treatments offer a truly deep level of tension release, as well as stimulating muscles you never knew you had and realigning the fascia. The result? A lifted, less puffy, more sculpted visage. She also offers LED therapy (she has the cutting-edge Dermalux Compact Lite device) and derma rolling.

There are plans to open a space in Holt in late spring - keep an eye on her Instagram for updates. www.polinacleeve.com; @pc_face_massage_therapy

The Beauty Boutique, Cromer

Charleigh Strange has been in the industry for nearly three decades, establishing The Beauty Boutique on Garden Street, Cromer, 17 years ago. The stylish salon (marble floor, navy walls) has two pedi and two mani stations, plus a trio of treatment rooms. The Dermalogica facials are standout - they’ll read your skin’s hydration levels preand post-treatment with a special machine, so you can see their effectiveness for yourself. You leave with a skin fitness plan, too. www.beauty-boutique.org.uk

Studios we love

Complete Pilates, Creake Abbey

Since welcoming its first clients at the end of last year, Complete Pilates at Creake Abbey has gone from strength to strength. In addition to the original reformer and tower studio, which is a small group space for duets and 1:1 sessions, Roxy Morgan and her team have now taken over the unit next door. Opening in March, the full equipment studio consists of a Ladder Barrel, Wunda Chair, reformer and the show-stopping Cadillac (a versatile, raised-bed apparatus) for 3:1 equipment classes similar to a circuit class format. www.complete-pilates.co.uk; www.creakeabbey.co.uk

Beauty by Paul Wilkins Creative, Holt

In addition to Paul Wilkins’ store in Holt, which sells curated skincare, makeup and fragrance brands (don’t miss the Fragonard 100th anniversary collection), he also runs a beauty studio, where you can book in for treatments with therapists including Olga Brennand, founder of Thirns Skincare, and Miriam Smither of Calmer Massage. A date for the diary: the Spring Glow-Up on 23 April, a day of one-to-one sessions with Paul for advice on how to create a glowing complexion. @beautybypaulwilkinscreative

Nola, South Creake

Emily Everard founded Nola, a fitness hub in South Creake, back in 2021. The premise was that exercise should never be boring and walking into a gym should not be intimidating. Five years on and it is flourishing, with people coming from far and wide for a personal training session (1:1, 2:1 or group PT) or one of the classes, including Pedal & Pump, Spin (Emily always chooses excellent tunes for getting you up those inclines!) and Tone Up. www.nolagym. co.uk

Fully qualified hair stylist offering expert colour and cuts with a personal touch.

Castell Hair Salon - 8 Station Road - Holt, Norfolk - NR25 6BS Tel: 01263 715714 (salon) or 07584 050829 E: evie.hair@outlook.com

@-eviehair- @Evie Hair

Open: Wed 8am-6pm, Thur & Fri 8am-5pm, Sat 8am-2pm

Boutique Clinical Reformer Studio

Personalised small group and one to one Pilates designed to help you feel stronger and confident in your body.

Book today at www.complete-pilates.co.uk/norfolk-nr21 info@complete-pilates.co.uk 020 3764 5668

Unit H & I, Creake Abbey, North Creake, Fakenham, NR21 9LF

WILD AT HEART

Natalie Douglas meets Tristan McLean of the Eastern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA), and shares two ways to get back to nature this season

Sea change

When Tristan McLean chose to close the door on the corporate world, he didn’t just change jobs, he changed horizon. After years coming to the coast, and 30 years diving its waters, he decided the sea shouldn’t be a weekend habit. It should be life.

He applied to work in fisheries and conservation, but without the right experience he went and earned it: joining a local fishing boat out of Cromer, then moving his family to Sheringham to start again properly.

Today, Tristan is an Inshore Fisheries & Conservation Officer for the Eastern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA), balancing the protection of marine life with the sustainable use of fish and shellfish. The district stretches from just south of the Humber estuary to Felixstowe, including The Wash, where fishing is managed to avoid any adverse effect on conservation objectives and to protect the habitats wildlife depends on.

‘No day is the same,’ Tristan tells me. Summer can mean heading out on boats, boarding vessels, checking catch and gear, and keeping things compliant, where education always comes first. Winter brings long patrols on foot, sometimes through thick mud, speaking with crews and recreational anglers.

An important ongoing project is in the Marine Conservation Zone close inshore off Cromer and Sheringham, where Tristan and colleagues are responding to concerns raised by Natural England about lobster and crab pots catching on, and potentially damaging, fragile chalk reefs. Parts of the area are buoyed off and temporarily closed, while nearby zones remain open, with both being monitored to understand the levels of damage caused by fishing activity in the context of the level of damage caused by natural disturbance. The overall objective is to seek to protect a rare habitat without shutting the door on livelihoods.

For Tristan, a standout moment has been the workaround that made the natural disturbance study possible. With anchors to secure marker buoys to the seabed off the table, too risky for the chalk, he helped create eco-friendly natural anchors: heavy hessian sandbags that held fast through storms and left no scars behind. Simple, clever, symbolic: seeking to protect the seabed and a future for those who work it.

Looking ahead, Tristan’s hopeful, but realistic. His message is simple: if we want a living coastline, we have to listen locally, manage wisely, and seek to ensure that the inshore industry can operate sustainably and still make a living tomorrow. www.eastern-ifca.gov.uk

The early bird…

May is when the coast wakes up singing: breeding season peaks, and the chorus is at its boldest in the stillness just before sunrise. So, March is your warm-up. Pick a listening spot now (garden gate, lane, dunes), keep a flask by the door, and try one dawn foray a week, 10 minutes is enough. By May, you’ll start to recognise who’s who: blackbird’s liquid flute, wren’s tiny engine, robin threading it all together.

This year, International Dawn Chorus Day is on 3 May. For guided tours, checkout local events from the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Pensthorpe and RSPB Titchwell Marsh.

Pocket safari

Four days, one small mission: step outside and notice what’s living alongside you. During the City Nature Challenge which runs from 24 to 27 April, Norwich and North Norfolk become one big, friendly treasure hunt; plants, insects, birds and fungi all count. Pick a patch (garden, park, verges, dunes), take a quick photo, then upload it to the iNaturalist app. No expertise needed (in fact, not knowing is half the joy); the app and community help with IDs later. Suddenly the same old walk has ladybirds, lichens and mystery leaves stealing the show. Download via uk.inaturalist.org

GO WILD

with Robin Chittenden

Our columnist celebrates the sights and sounds of the new season

Mellow yellow

Gorse can be in flower throughout the year, but in spring it comes into its own. The high density of small yellow flowers clustered on the spikey branches of this shrub is an arresting sight, presumably because our eyesight is especially geared to detecting yellow. If you like the smell of coconut, carefully sniff the flowers and inhale the heavenly aroma (caution is needed to avoid the spikes). You might not need to go so far. Just being on a heath or rough ground where gorse grows you can find the scent of coconut can fill the air.

You may be surprised to learn that there is more than one species of gorse. In North Norfolk it is most likely common gorse. Find it on many areas of rough ground or on heathland such as Salthouse and Kelling Heaths or Barrow Common, south of Brancaster Staithe. As the flowers are so fragrant they can be used in salads or herbal infusions but only in moderation. The rest of the plant contains toxic alkaloids and phenols - this includes the seed pods that look more edible. It is a member of the pea family of plants.

Singing in spring

Now is a great time to see woodland birds. Not only are the males singing their heads off, but the lack of leaves on the deciduous trees means they can be much easier to spot. Pairs will also be going around exhibiting nesting behaviour, such as collecting nest-building material, so they may be out and about, being more obvious.

The largest breeding thrush in the UK is the mistle thrush and its far-reaching song means it can be tricky to locate. You will probably need binoculars. They often sing from near the tops of the tallest trees; their song is a haunting, melancholic, fluty sound that seems to drift in the air. It can often be tricky to determine in which direction the bird actually is. Once spotted, it has a greyer brown back and bigger spots on the front, compared with the smaller and more common song thrush.

The song thrush has a loud, repetitive, tuneful song with notes often repeated three times, and it usually sings from lower perches. Its song can be so prominent against the general background hubbub of bird song that it can be mistaken for a common nightingale. To help, you could download the incredibly popular Merlin app, and see what birds are singing near you; this could help you locate both thrushes, which can often be found in the same habitat. The song thrush prefers wetter woodland as it famously loves snails. It removes the shell by bashing them on an ‘anvil’, which itself can be another clue to their presence, if you ever come across the remains of shattered snail shells by a stone.

On the wing

One of the more striking early moths you might spot virtually anywhere is the oak beauty. The number of flying adults peak in March. It is quite an eye-catching moth, having bands of bright chestnut and white across its wings, especially in fresh plumage. By fresh, that means it has just emerged from its pupa. Like all moths, they can get worn and tatty towards the end of their life, as the tiny scales on the wings rub off. This one, pictured, had decided to spend the day resting at the bottom of a metal post along Sheringham seafront and was surprisingly well camouflaged there. Its colouration would more normally camouflage it against the colours of bark on a tree trunk, but the rusted, paint chipped post was perfect. Despite its name, it can be found away from oak trees, as the caterpillars of the oak beauty can eat a wide variety of deciduous tree leaves.

Piping up

One summering wader in the UK is the common sandpiper. Although it doesn’t breed in Norfolk, it can commonly be found on passage and literally turn up by any freshwater body. Easy clues to its identity are its habit of bouncing its body up and down, particularly the rear end. If disturbed, it will often give what seems to be a call of annoyance as it flies away on very stiff wings. The white wing-bar is then obvious. If you are lucky, they can often be quite tame. This one turned up at the duck feeding area at Whitlingham Country Park but could easily have been at Salthouse duck pond or Holkham Park lake, as well as NWT Cley Marshes and RSPB Titchwell.

Get the buzz

With flowers come the pollinators. I have several friends who love seeking out different species of bee, and there are many. This note does not include the farmed honey bee. Yes, that’s right, the bees that produce our honey are supposedly different from the wild western honey bee, which is now a rare beast in the UK, and apparently looks darker than the farmed individuals.

Bee aficionados do not warm to farmed honey bees as they compete for nectar from flowers with our native bee species, which are often uncommon, and whose populations are often declining. Many of the wild bee species are surprisingly small and one branch of those are the mining bees, which excavate a tiny hole in soil for breeding. These can be in loose colonies. So, you may notice a section of lawn peppered with their entrance holes. Keep an eye on them and you might see a bee fly in and disappear down the hole. As not that many people search for different species of bee, there’s a good chance that if you were to, you could make a discovery near you. For example, above is a photo of a grey-backed mining bee taken in Norwich. It was only the second colony to be found in Norfolk and was on a verge by a seemingly random block of apartments. In theory there may be a similar colony just around the corner from you, say in Sheringham or Cromer.

azaleas, specimen trees, woodland walks, carpets of bluebells, spring bulbs and sweeping lawns. Includes the magical 4-acre Azalea Water Gardens (pictured).

Outdoor Living CUTTINGS

Green-fingered news and seasonal tips

Three gardens to visit this spring

Stody Lodge’s magnificent rhododendron gardens will open over 18 days this spring, including for the popular Stody Family Fun Day on 3 May, with its new fun farming theme, and Classic Vehicles at Stody Gardens on 17 May. The 14-acre gardens, near Melton Constable, are home to more than 200 varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas, plus magnificent yew hedges and pathways, ornamental and specimen trees, magnolias, camellias, late daffodils and bluebells. Stody’s Azalea Water Gardens are believed to be the largest single planting of Azalea mollis (over 2000 plants) in the country. Open days, which include every Sunday afternoon in May, bank holiday Monday 25 May and select weekdays, run from 1pm to 5pm, except 17 May when the gardens will open from 11.30am to 5pm. www.stodylodgegardens.co.uk

Enjoy a guided tour of areas of Holkham Hall’s gardens not usually open to the public on 17 April, in aid of the National Garden Scheme. Wander through the arboretum, home to rare

trees from around the world, a shell garden and former rose garden, and explore the terracesdesigned by WA Nestfield - with their parterres and impressive fountain. Pre-booking required, open 10.30am to 4pm. www.ngs.org.uk

Hindringham Hall’s garden reopens on 24 March, complete with its medieval moat and fish ponds, walled kitchen garden, Victorian nut walk and stream garden. Originally an ancient roadway, the daffodil area is a real showstopper with more than 40 varieties of this spring favourite, best seen in early April. The gardens will open on Tuesdays from 1pm to 5pm,

Diary date!

Creake Abbey’s annual Plant Lovers’ Day is back on 16 May from 10am to 4pm, with 25 of East Anglia’s specialist plant nurseries in attendance, from Predator Plants with carnivorous specimens and Seagate Nurseries with irises, to The Edible Garden Nursery with herbs and other edible plants. For 2026, nurseries will be joined by a selection of specialist horticultural suppliers offering garden tools, organic plant food and compost, and other gardenalia. This celebration of gardening raises funds for Norwich-based Priscilla Bacon Hospice Charity. Entry is £5 per person, under 16s go free. Dogs are welcome on leads. www.creakeabbey.co.uk

A natural selection

Wednesdays 10am to 2pm, plus bank holiday Mondays from 10am to 2pm, until 14 October. www.hindringhamhall.org

Visit websites for ticket prices and to book

Naturalistic planting and encouraging biodiversity often go hand-in-hand and continue to be two of gardening’s most popular trends. But how do you introduce them into your own plot? ‘I like to work with grasses and perennials in soft swathes,’ says Norfolkbased garden designer Sam Outing (www. samoutingdesigns. com), who is the RHS site planting designer at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. ‘Species like Stipa tenuissima and Salvias, Achillea and bulbs make for a long-lasting, natural look that is soothing and dynamic.’ For hard landscaping, Sam prefers to use natural sandstone or a look-alike porcelain paver, with gravel a personal favourite.

Local garden designer Ella Scott (ella_landscape@outlook.com) specialises in naturalistic planting, combining layers and texture. For a semi-shade, woodland feel she plants creeping Epimedium ‘Valor’ with delicate butter-yellow flowers, Alchemilla mollis for gentle mounds of velvety foliage, waterfall millet for elegant grassy arches, and Fritillaria meleagris with its nodding, bell-shaped flowers. ‘I’m drawn to spaces that feel slightly enchanted and make you look a little closer,’ says Ella.

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The Insider

Interiors news and notes with Amanda Loose

Take a seat

Who The Holbrook Sofa Company - they’ve recently opened their first store in The Royal Arcade, Norwich.

What’s on offer? With a team of talented artisans, the company specialises in manufacturing handcrafted sofas and chairs, just five miles from Norwich. Tell us more… Although only launched two years ago, Holbrook Sofa Company was born out of running an upholstery company for over a decade. Their staff had all the skills required for furniture manufacture, and its

Shop front

Shopping at Drove Orchards, Thornham is even more of a joy, with the expansion of home and lifestyle store, Joyful Living. In their new, additional space, founder Jo Griffiths has brought together a beautiful collection of bedding and linens, bed and bathroom accessories, complete with a selection of beauty and wellness products, from natural bath steams and soaks to skincare and men’s ranges. In true Joyful Living style, natural materials and neutrals abound, complemented by some pretty splashes of pinks and fresh greens for spring. www.joyfulliving.co.uk

Full of the joys

Local homewares brand Birdie Fortescue has just launched The Vasanti Collection, a selection of furniture, lighting, rugs and decorative accessories celebrating the joys of spring. Think beautiful pinks and greens, vivid patterns and rich textures, pieces for indoor and outdoor living, including the Curato Garden Dining Collection which features weatherproof aluminium rattan-look furniture. ‘For Vasanti, I wanted to capture that feeling of stepping into spring - when everything feels possible again,’ says founder Birdie Fortescue. ‘These pieces are designed to bring joy into everyday moments, whether you’re setting a table or creating a space to gather with the people you love.’

www.birdiefortescue.co.uk

founders thought ‘why just do upholstery?’ So, they invested in a new premises and the necessary equipment, designed their own products and began to manufacture their own range of furniture. About these products… We’re coming to that. All their sofas and chairs are handmade to order in Norfolk, using responsibly sourced hardwoods, and come with a lifetime frame guarantee. Anything else? Customers can create their own sofa, choosing the style from a range of classic designs, plus the fabric and feet/ legs. All Holbrook sofas and chairs have tailored removable, washable, replaceable covers.

www.holbrook-sofa.com

We love…

These pretty Easter tree decorations from local shops

£4,

www.thornhamdeli.co.uk

GISELA GRAHAM LONDON BOX OF 16 WOODEN MINI EASTER EGGS £2.50, HortiCo Nursery & Garden Emporium; www.hortico.uk

SHOELESS JOE BUNNY DECORATIONS £3.25 each, Barefoot Living; www.barefoot-living.co.uk

SET OF FOUR EAST END PRESS EASTER EGG ORNAMENTS £15, Pocock’s the artmonger; @pocockstheartmonger

The Insider

Table talk

Richard and Julia Clarke are back from their travels with some fab finds from South Africa for Cape Vanilla, their shop at Creake Abbey. We’re particularly taken with the range of African-inspired cutlery by Paula.G Homeware. Each piece is handcrafted in silver plate, with telephone wire adorning the handles. Pictured is the salad server set (£57), with the cake slice and cheese knife also available from Cape Vanilla in assorted colours. www.capevanilla.co.uk

Property matters

Jensen & Co is a newly launched independent mortgage brokerage in Cromer. It’s headed up by director Maria Jensen, a local mum who was looking for a new challenge. ‘I’m a busy mum of three who really missed my legal career, but I wanted to come at things from a different angle,’ says Maria, who is fully qualified.

Take it outside

With the arrival of spring, thoughts naturally turn to alfresco living. We asked Simon Roberts at Norwich Camping & Leisure to share his three-step guide to creating an outdoor room

1 The key is to combine the right elements to transform your garden into a true extension of your home. It starts with structure. A pergola instantly defines the space, making it feel like an outdoor room rather than just a patio. Premium pergolas from brands such as Nova and The Cube provide shelter, shade and atmosphere; their adjustable louvres, integrated lighting and optional screens allow you to control the environment.

2 Once the framework is in place, next comes comfort. We stock garden furniture from Bramblecrest and Life Outdoor Living, designed for style and durability, in robust, all-weather materials. From relaxed corner sofas to elegant dining sets, the right furniture encourages you to linger outdoors longer, whatever the season.

3

Outdoor cooking brings the space to life, turning it into a year-round entertaining hub, whether you opt for say a Gozney pizza oven, a Weber barbecue for classic grilling, or a Traeger grill or smoker. www.norwichcamping.co.uk

‘I genuinely love helping people and after running successful buy-to-lets and a holiday let, alongside my background in conveyancing and going through the mortgage process many times myself, I could see a gap in the market. I wanted to offer something more local and more personal.

‘We believe great mortgage advice shouldn’t come with pressure or extra fees. That’s why we don’t charge for our service - our focus is simply on finding the right mortgage for you and making the process as smooth and stress-free as possible, guiding you every step of the way. We can also help with equity release and lifetime mortgages, and work remotely with clients.’ jensenandco.uk

A fine time

Three times a year, Keys Auctioneers and Valuers in Aylsham holds its Fine Art & Antiques Sales covering silver and watches, jewellery, paintings, ceramics and more - they’re where the very best pieces that come into this busy auction house end up.

But what are the most discerning bidders looking for? ‘Quality and condition are two things which are a constant, whatever the vicissitudes of fluctuating fashions,’ says managing director Tim Blyth. ‘But for the coming year I would add an important extra word: relevance. Collectors are increasingly looking for items which will fit in with their lifestyles and their homes.

‘You see this particularly with furniture. After many years in which the furniture market was in the doldrums, it has experienced something of a resurgence in recent times, but with one caveat - buyers want pieces which fit in with their 21st century homes. That means furniture on a manageable scale (space is at a premium in many modern homes), and which will dovetail with the existing contents. Hence Georgian furniture, which tends to be of more delicate design and modest size, is enjoying a boom in demand, as are mid-20th century pieces, especially from Scandinavian designers.’

Keys’ Spring Fine Art & Antiques Sale will take place on 25 and 26 March.

www.keysauctions.co.uk

Designed

Built

In a world of disposable furniture, we believe in permanence. Every Holbrook sofa is handcrafted just five miles from Norwich, using responsibly sourced hardwoods and carefully chosen fabrics. Made by skilled artisans, each piece is designed to age beautifully, endure daily life, and remain part of your home for years to come.

Quietly elegant, thoughtfully made and built to stay.

Room service

Our panel of experts share their top tips on switching up your home for spring with Amanda Loose. Here’s our room-by-room guide, from tiny tweaks and mini makeovers to proper projects!

The kitchen

‘One of the simplest ways to refresh a kitchen this spring is through texture and tone,’ says Matthew Brown, director of Anglia Kitchens & Bedrooms. ‘Swapping cool whites for warmer neutrals, adding wooden accessories, statement lighting or open shelving can instantly soften the space and make it feel more inviting. Even changing handles or taps to brushed brass or aged bronze finishes can give a kitchen a more contemporary, design-led look without a full renovation.

‘For those planning a larger update, we’re seeing strong demand for kitchens that blend seamlessly into living spaces. Hidden storage, integrated appliances and multifunctional islands are particularly popular, helping kitchens feel calmer and less cluttered while still highly practical. Walk-in pantries and dedicated breakfast cupboards are also trending, as homeowners look for smarter ways to organise everyday items.’ www.angliakb.co.uk

The sitting room

‘An affordable and high impact tweak to refresh your sitting room for spring is swapping out

heavy winter textiles for lighter, brighter options, replacing dark velvet or wool cushion covers and throws with cotton or linen,’ says interior designer, Nanci Gillett of Burnham Interiors. ‘Also, introduce fresh greenery into the room with budget friendly potted plants.

‘You can also swap your heavy winter candles with lighter, fresher scents - I like citrus, jasmine, cotton or mint scents to change the mood. Clear surface clutter by removing heavy winter decor like unnecessary books and accessories from coffee tables and shelves to create a lighter look. You can also rearrange the furniture - moving chairs nearer to windows can help you make the most of the spring sunshine.’ www.burnhaminteriors.co.uk

The bedroom

plaster finish, adding panelling, a picture rail or wallpaper. A built-in closet, with a place for everything, would be my perfect goal!’

www.tippleandco.co.uk

The hallway

‘Whether it’s fresh new bedding, layering rugs for a cosy feel or switching up your lighting to a warmer glow, there are plenty of quick and easy ways to update your sleep space,’ says Laura Tipple, colour consultant at Tipple & Co Decorators. ‘Even something as simple as adding some prints to your walls can transform a room. I find those LED stick on wall lights fascinating, a total game changer for non-diyers! For something a bit more time consuming, why not try a new paint or

‘Yes, it’s a thoroughfare to the rest of the house, but your hallway can be a stylish and functional space in its own right,’ says Laura Tipple. ‘Small updates like adding funky dog lead hooks, an old-fashioned doorbell, glass stickers (frosted patterns or faux stained glass) and art based on places you’ve been on holiday can add character. A shoe storage bench or boot room style slim shelf are cool and useful features. For a bigger update, why not change your stair carpet to a runner, which can make a massive difference, and tie it in with a brand-new colour scheme.’

www.tippleandco.co.uk

The dining room

‘Far too often, when we don’t know what to do with something, we chuck it in the dining room - a space that’s really meant for high days and holidays,’ says Emma Deterding, founder and creative director at Kelling Designs. ‘But decluttering and tweaking elements can make all the difference. Something as simple as re-hanging your artwork in a more cohesive way and a height that’s right for enjoying the pieces when you’re sitting (and not standing) can make a big impact as this is how you’ll view them for long periods of time. Consider hanging low-level lighting over the centre of the table to create a softer and more ambient glow to help draw people in.

‘Redecorating the space with a coat of paint can be really transformative. Opting for dark and moodier shades on the walls will create an enveloping and intimate feeling, while allowing your personality to shine through. If you’re not as confident with colour, then simply refreshing walls and maybe opting for a contrasting or pop of colour on woodwork and architectural details will add a touch of the unexpected, especially if you choose a bolder shade.’ www.kellingdesigns.com

The bathroom

‘Even small changes can make a bathroom feel refreshed and more luxurious, without a full renovation,’ says Aaron Buckie of Norfolk Luxury Bathrooms. ‘It sounds simple, but fresh grout and silicone can make a bathroom look newly installed. It’s one of the most cost-effective ways to revive tired tiles. Clutter is often what dates a bathroom; adding mirrored cabinets, recessed shelving or fitted vanity drawers makes the room feel calmer and more high-end.

‘If you’re looking to invest a little more, we’re seeing strong demand for statement freestanding and doubleended baths, walk-in showers with frameless glass panels and low-profile trays (or fully tiled wet room floors) and bespoke joinery - think made-to-measure vanity units and bath panels that match existing cabinetry.’ www.norfolkluxurybathrooms.co.uk

The small spare room

‘Every spring, I am compelled to do a deep clean and the spaces that have become a dumping ground for the rest of the year are the areas I like to focus on first,’ says interior designer and project manager, Kate Thomson. ‘I always start by having a real good sort out. Then I look at what I have left and divide the items up by purpose. Ask the questions: Do they belong in this space? Do I need this anymore? Is it in the best place for the use of the room? Anything left then needs to find a suitable tidy home. This is when I like to source nice storage boxes. If this is a spare room, under bed boxes are great for neatly storing items. I have some clients that swap their curtains for lighter fabrics, perhaps swapping out darker winter velvets for lighter florals and linens.’

www.katethomsondesign.co.uk

The conservatory or garden room

‘A garden room is often a prized space in a home, providing connection to the outdoor space, but a common challenge is ensuring that it is warm, dry and comfortable in winter, and temperate in summer,’ says Geoff Parker, managing director of West Norfolk Glass. ‘If windows are fogged or misted, it could be a sign that a double glazing unit has failed. People often mistakenly assume this means the whole room needs to be updated, but at West Norfolk Glass we can easily replace individual windows and doors.

‘Where budget does permit, a replacement roof can transform a conservatory or orangery, making it usable year-round without excessive heat and sun glare in the summer months, while a new structure with triple glazing will create an energyefficient room that you will undoubtedly use and spend more time enjoying.’

www.westnorfolkglass.co.uk

PRETTY IN PINK Style

From blush and rose to more vibrant hues, pink is the colour to have on your interiors radar this spring

£5,

TERRACOTTA PINK RIBBED FLOOR LAMP £280 AND TABLE LAMP £100, Hive Norfolk

CHEETAH MUG

£12.99, Holt Garden Centre

QUILTED BED RUNNER £69, Joyful Living

HK LIVING 70s CERAMICS COFFEE POT £56, Bringing the outside in

GAUZE CURTAIN PANEL £65, Joyful Living

CHERRY BLOSSOM & SAKURA DIFFUSER £17.99, Holt Garden Centre

TWIZZELL HAND BLOCK PRINTED CHEQUERBOARD NAPKIN £6.50, Thornham Deli

DUSKY LINEN PAINT FROM £28 FOR 1 LITRE OF PURE MATT EMULSION, Fenwick & Tilbrook

SET OF TWO FABRIC WRAPPED FLAMELESS BATTERY CANDLES £37, Tatty Tides

ADDRESS BOOK

FLOH A5 DESK NOTEPAD £9.99, Barefoot Living

PADDYWAX STACKED 7oz SAFFRON ROSE CANDLE £26, Nomad & the bowerbird

Aldiss, Fakenham www.aldiss.com; Barefoot Living, Burnham Market www.barefoot-living.co.uk; Bringing the outside in, Wells www.nomadandthebowerbird.co.uk; Fenwick & Tilbrook, www.fenwickandtilbrook.com; Hive Norfolk, Creake Abbey, North Creake @hivenorfolk; Holt Garden Centre, near Holt www.holtgardencentre.co.uk; Joyful Living, Drove Orchards, Thornham www.joyfulliving.co.uk; Kelling Home, Creake Abbey, North Creake www.kellinghome.com; Nomad & the bowerbird, Holt and Wells www.nomadandthebowerbird.co.uk; Ocotillo, Holt and Wells www.nomadandthebowerbird.co.uk; The Red Dot Gallery, Holt www.thereddotgallery.com; Tatty Tides, www.tattytides.co.uk; Thornham Deli, Thornham www.thornhamdeli.co.uk

We specialise in creating high-end bathrooms that combine functionality and design. Modern minimalism to classic opulence.

Get connected

Sometimes life can leave us feeling a little lonely but there are plenty of ways to avoid social isolation in North Norfolk. From book clubs to walking groups, craft workshops to community cafes, Harriet Cooper rounds up 26 things to try in 2026 that encourage meaningful connection with others

Stride out and breathe deep

Social walks

Words & Wellness Retreat

Norfolk’s stately homes are bringing people together. Every Friday, there’s a guided social walk through the park and woodland at Blickling Estate, followed by a hot drink; monthly Sunday social walks are coming soon. Holkham’s Walking Women is on the first Tuesday of each month - at either Holkham or Wells beach or within the park - to encourage conversation, companionship and fresh air. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/blickling; www.holkham.co.uk

Young Friendly Walking Group

If you’re aged between 20 and 50 years and looking to meet new faces, this friendly walking group is for you. It meets monthly, with the circular routes varying between coastal and countryside. There’s almost always free parking, plus free tea/coffee and homemade cake at the end. https://youngfriendlywalkinggroup.com

North Norfolk Mummas

Keen to connect with other nature-loving parents, Alice Gill established this group as a supportive space to connect, boost mental wellbeing and build genuine friendships. Meet-ups are every two to three weeks for relaxed walks, coffees and brunches, with plans for beach days and mumand-dad events in warmer months.

@northnorfolkmummas

This is a chance to bond over books. The retreat, which takes place between 31 July to 2 August at Little Massingham Manor, features daily Pilates sessions, an author talk, a bouquet workshop with Wild Oak Workshops and a nourishing menu, as well as ample time to curl up and read, luxuriate in the woodland spa or enjoy the 63 acres of grounds. www.wordsandwellnessretreats.com

Letheringsett Watermill

Not one, but two regular retreats take place at I Am The Storm Yoga in Norfolk’s only working watermill. On the last Sunday of the month (except March, which is on Saturday 28th), ‘Flow At The Mill’ is a fivehour day retreat designed by Yoga With Jazzy, combining Hatha style yoga flow, lunch, a sauna and cold bathing. ‘Reclaim Your Flame’ takes place monthly on a Saturday with Clare Muncey: Yin yoga, a talk by an inspirational speaker, lunch, followed by the sauna, with proceeds going to local charity, the Pandora Project. www.iamthestormyoga.com

Godwick Hall & Great Barn

This bucolic spot isn’t just a wedding venue. The 450-year-old Grade IIlisted barn, hall and grounds also host retreats, workshops and guided sessions. From a Spring Equinox Retreat (20 to 22 March) to The Awakening (17 to 20 April) and Summer Solstice (19 to 21 June), meet likeminded people who share a love for wellbeing. www.stayatgodwick.co.uk

Discover nature and go wild

Pottering Saturdays

Potters Farm in Wighton is home to a menagerie of goats, ponies, lambs, ducks, chickens and guinea pigs. Once a month, they host Pottering Saturdays, where adults can spend time helping care for the animals, encouraging conversation and connection - with the animals and each other. Next dates: 21 March, 18 April, 16 May and 20 June. www.pottersfarmwighton.co.uk

Norfolk Wildlife Trust

NWT continues to bring nature lovers together through its events. At Cley Marshes, highlights include Sonic Illuminations (3 April), outside creative writing sessions (April, May) and a talk with garden writer Kate Bradbury (24 April).

Over at NWT Hickling Broad, join a dawn chorus boat trip (3 May) or walk (9 May) and listen out for warblers, thrushes and the booming bittern. NWT Ranworth Broad also has dawn chorus boat trips coming up (9 and 10 May). www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk

Get creative and craft friendships

Antonia Clare

Artist and writer Antonia Clare is a strong believer that creative connection is essential to wellbeing, especially in our increasingly disconnected world. She offers a Writers’ Hour every Thursday at The Glaven Bistro, as well as monthly workshops and courses in ‘Expressive Painting - how to paint loosely and with freedom’ from her studio, also in Glandford. www.antonia-clare.com

Reef Make & Do

Lend a hand and build rapport

Felbeck Trust

This small, local conservation charity helps create diverse habitats on forgotten pockets of land across North Norfolk to support a greater range of native species. The work is done almost exclusively by volunteers - you don’t need to be an expert, just interested. Contact the volunteer co-ordinator on the website for details. www.felbecktrust.org.uk

Deepdale Farm

Why not join Deepdale to help around the farm? Meeting fortnightly on Thursday mornings (9.30am to 12.30pm), volunteering tasks include planting hedges, seed gathering to create a tree nursery, managing scrub areas and dyke maintenance. No knowledge required, just enthusiasm to join in and get some fresh air. https://deepdalefarm.co.uk

Muddy Boots

Anyone over the age of 16 is welcome to sign up with the Muddy Boots Volunteers. Running across 14 sites, including Holt Country Park (Wednesday, 10am to 12pm), Sadlers Wood (every other Wednesday, 1.30pm to 3pm) and Pretty Corner Woods (Thursday, 10am to 12pm), help rangers with hands-on conservation work such as tree planting, path maintenance and pond management. www.north-norfolk.gov.uk

Norfolk Beach Cleans

Not only do beach cleans benefit coastal wildlife, but they’re also an opportunity to embrace a sense of community spirit. Norfolk Beach Cleans is a not-for-profit organisation with its HQ in Caister-on-Sea - with regular group beach cleans at Great Yarmouth, Gorleston and Heacham. NWT Cley Marshes also hosts beach cleans. www.norfolkbeachcleans.co.uk; www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk

Hit the right notes

Join a choir

Singing is the perfect icebreaker, so why not join a choir? Though Sheringham & Cromer Choral Society and Fakenham Choral Society are renowned for their excellent choral music, performing in concerts throughout the year, rehearsals are equally fun. Both societies are on the lookout for new members, whatever your age or musical ability. www.sheringhamandcromerchoral.org.uk; www.fakenhamchoralsociety.org

Thursdays@Three

Thursdays@Three - a series of weekly recitals featuring local talented musicians and readings by narrators performed in St Margaret’s, Cley - has become hugely popular since it started in 2021. The programme varies from week to week, though there’s always tea and chat afterwards, with the series restarting on 23 April. No charge, but donations are welcome. https://glavenvalleychurches.org.uk

Reef Make & Do runs creative workshops, courses and classes with highly skilled artists and makers. But as founder Rachael Janes points out, they’re about far more than learning a new skill. Whether block printing, baking or stitching, sessions are designed to bring people together, give them a renewed confidence and a real sense of belonging. www.reefmakeanddo.com

Connections

Connections is a social and networking evening on the first Friday of every month between 5pm to 8pm at Grey Seal Coffee in Cromer. Creatives of all kinds - artists, writers, art lovers - are all welcome to connect, collaborate and celebrate the arts in North Norfolk. There is a licensed bar, as well as hot drinks and cakes. @the.point.contemporary; @greysealcoffee

Keep it local and have fun

Norfolk’s libraries

Norfolk’s libraries aren’t just for borrowing books - they are welcoming spaces where young and old can take part in activities, most of them free. Perhaps you like the sound of ‘Knit, Stitch and Natter’, ‘Drop-In and Draw’ or a little creative writing. There’s also plenty for parents and carers too, whether Lego Club or ‘Bounce and Rhyme’ sessions. www.norfolk.gov.uk/libraryonline

Village halls

North Norfolk’s village halls are vital community spaces. At Thornham, events encourage both connection and collaboration, such as Thursday film nights and Theatre Sundays (when National Theatre productions are screened), and Soup and Sandwich lunches for elderly residents. Over at Cley Village Hall, there’s Friday Dance Club, art workshops, as well as Cley Community Cafe every Wednesday and the Friday Club, a space for cards, puzzles, colouring books and games. www.thornhamvillagehall.co.uk; www.cleyvillagehall.org.uk

Outdoor fun

North Norfolk is home to many pre-school play groups, in churches, village halls and community centres. Now the weather is warmer, take it outside at Acorns in Sheringham Park to enjoy nature-based activities (select Wednesdays, 10.30am to 12.15pm). Next are ‘Your best nest’ (15 April),

Eat, drink & be merry

The Treehouse Café

‘Colours of the rainbow’ (6 May) and ‘Buggies and beasties’ (20 May). No need to book. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sheringham-park

The Treehouse Café in Holt is open weekdays from 9am to 2pm. Pop in for reasonably priced lunches and drinks (plus there’s a community cauldron that offers free soup) or one of their adult-centred Scrabble, jigsaw or Sewing Bee clubs. They’re also launching a new singing group, as well as Rummikub club and a Silent Book Club. www.thetreehousecafe.co.uk

Mundesley Community Café

The community café and larder at All Saints’ Community Rooms in Mundesley is open every Friday morning. It’s a welcoming place to meet, where people can come for a chat - you can enjoy free tea, coffee and cakes, plus it’s a chance to fill up your shopping bag with surplus food donated by local supermarkets and community. https://trunchgroup.org

Coastal Health & Wellbeing

Coastal Health & Wellbeing in Wells-next-theSea supports the youngest to the most senior members of the local community. Regular activities include a seated exercise class; Walking for Wellbeing group; Bumble Bees Stay and Play sessions for little ones, while The Hive Café is a warm, inviting space to sit back and relax. www.coastalhealthwellbeing.org.uk

Blend sport with socialising

Holkham parkrun

Parkruns are free community events, where people of all ages and abilities can walk, jog or run 5k, volunteer or spectate every Saturday morning. Over the past decade, the Holkham parkrun has seen nearly 20,000 different people cross the finishing line. You can also do parkruns at Sheringham Park, Blickling and in Hunstanton. www.parkrun.org.uk/holkham

Runners-next-the-Sea

Runners-next-the-Sea is a friendly EA affiliated club based in Wellsnext-the-Sea, with new members welcome. The club trains every Monday evening - and it is also actively involved in the community whether supporting Fakenham Festival of Running on 5 April or leading its popular ‘Couch to 5k’ programme which starts on 17 April. www.rnts.co.uk

Norfolk Padel

Runners-next-the-Sea

Padel is one of the most sociable sports out there due to its reliance on doubles and an enclosed, smaller court. Put your name down for Americanos at Norfolk Padel, outside Fakenham - a fun format where eight people sign up and you play a mini match with everyone as your partner, with one person crowned winner. https://norfolkpadel.co.uk

Visit websites for timings, prices and any booking requirements

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Pack your bags

North Norfolk is blessed with so many great holiday accommodation options that whatever you’re after, Sarah Hardy reckons there’s something for you

THE ONE THAT’S UBER COOL Fitters Barn, Warham

This stunning contemporary barn conversion is light and airy, with masses of space, especially for entertaining. There’s a first floor sitting room with a wood-burning stove and views over the Stiffkey River valley, a large kitchen dining area with access to a lovely outdoor dining area and an enclosed garden. The four bedrooms are all en suite and you’ll really feel like you’re staying in a movie set! Three dogs are allowed, too. www.norfolkhideaways.co.uk

THE ONE FOR DOG LOVERS

Brook Cottage, Kelling Estate

THE ONE FOR BIG PARTIES The Main Hall, Sedgeford Hall

Set in 1200 acres of unspoilt countryside, the Sedgeford Hall Estate offers plenty of holiday options, but the jewel in the crown is the Queen Anne hall itself. The Main Hall and Theatre sleeps 15 people in seven bedrooms with five bathrooms. Add in access to an indoor pool, a snooker room, a stately dining room, a modern, extremely well-equipped kitchen, a games room, a library - and well, the list continues. For a touch of Bridgerton, you’re in exactly the right spot. www.sedgefordhall.com

THE ONE FOR FOODIES

The Victoria, Holkham

This hotel and restaurant are right at the heart of the 25,000-acre Holkham Estate, home to the Earl and Countess of Leicester. Often known simply as The Vic, it has 20 beautifully decorated bedrooms and a restaurant that’s one of the best on the coast. Michael Chamberlain has been head chef for almost 10 years and makes full use of the Estate produce, from its own venison to the tasty fruit and vegetables grown in the Walled Garden. Dogs are welcome in the main building’s bedrooms and dining areas, and don’t forget that the vast sands of Holkham beach are just a brisk walk away.

www.holkham.co.uk

THE ONE FOR RETAIL THERAPY

The Railway Hotel, Burnham Market

One of several attractive cottages on the Kelling Estate, Brook Cottage sleeps six people in three bedrooms with plenty of attention given to four-legged guests. Expect an open plan kitchen/dining room and a separate sitting room while the garden has lovely countryside views. Visitors have access to tennis courts, a pickleball court and a children’s play area, and private chefs are available. Dogs will love the local walks, including ones on the beach. www.kelling-estate.co.uk

This luxury room only hotel, once the Station Master’s House, is wonderfully situated for those of us (all of us) who like quality - and being near the shops. There are seven rooms, named after London railway stations, and a converted former railway carriage; all are kitted out to a very high spec with fluffy bathrobes and slippers, Nespresso coffee machines and off-road parking. There’s also a hot tub available for guests to book their individual slots. And you are just a short trot away from all those lovely shops and restaurants.

www.barefootretreats.co.uk

THE ONE WITH COASTAL VIEWS The White Horse, Brancaster Staithe

This award-winning hotel needs little introduction especially to foodies. But the accommodation on offer is just as impressive as executive head chef Fran Hartshorne’s menu. We love one room in particular, The Room at the Top, which has a viewing balcony and telescope looking out over the marshes to Scolt Head Island. It has all mod cons, and more than a touch of luxury with bathrobes and the like, although dogs are not allowed (they are welcome in The White Horse’s eight Garden Rooms though). There are great walking opportunities, as the hotel is right next to the Norfolk Coast Path. www.whitehorsebrancaster.co.uk

THE ONE FOR THOSE WHO LOVE GLAMPING

Top Farm Shepherd’s Lodge, Marsham

Peacefully situated on the edge of a field which borders the 288-acre Marsham Heath, this extensive shepherd’s lodge offers luxurious accommodation with a comfy living area where you’ll find a squashy corner sofa and wood burner, a subtly divided sleeping area with a king-sized bed and stylish shower room - plus lots of books and board games. It comes with a funky adjoining Grill and Chill Shack, with a bar, sink, stools and gas barbecue, where you can really cook up a storm as you watch the sun gently set over the open countryside. It’s just for two and dogs are not allowed. www.glampinghideaways.co.uk

THE ONE WITH A POOL AND HOT TUB Wensum Retreat, South Raynham

This large single storey modern holiday home sleeps 12 people in five bedrooms and has the added attractions of both an indoor heated pool (complete with plenty of water toys and floats) and an outdoor hot tub, plus a covered yet alfresco dining area with a fire pit and barbecue. There is a lot of space for people to enjoy plus a gym, games room, bar and playroomthe garden is enclosed and two dogs are permitted. www.wensumwaterretreats.co.uk

THE ONE FOR ROMANTICS New Lane Cottage, Worstead Estate

This very charming thatched cottage is set at the end of a wooded drive on the Worstead Estate. It oozes character with a wood burner, exposed beams, a narrow, winding staircase and an outdoor hot tub. Escape the pressures of every day in this secluded bolthole which offers two bedrooms and is dog friendly. And don’t forget to take a romantic walk around the 300 acres of private parkland.

www.worsteadestate.com

THE ONE WITH SCRUMPTIOUS INTERIORS The Ironmongers Boutique, Aylsham

There are eight beautifully decorated bedrooms in the former Clarkes building right in the centre of Aylsham. The Grade II listed building offers every comfort, with rooms named after the market town’s trades, say floristry or haberdashery. Expect timber beams, fireplaces and exposed brickwork. Two rooms are dog friendly, and the site is also home to a branch of Bread Source artisan bakery, a tapas and cocktail bar and a pizzeria. www.ironmongers-aylsham.co.uk

THE TWO RIGHT NEXT DOOR 1 and 2 Knights Cottages, Thornham

This pair of three storey cottages are perfect for two groups of family or friends who want their own space on a joint holiday. Both sleep six in three en suite bedrooms, boast coastal views, and have lovely, contemporary interiors, with open plan kitchens, dining and living accommodation. Bifold doors lead to their enclosed south facing gardens. If you don’t fancy cooking, Thornham is home to some great eateries, including The Lifeboat Inn, Thornham

Fish and Chips. Note these dog friendly cottages need to be booked

www.sowerbysholidaycottages.co.uk

YOUR JOINT LAWYER ON DIVORCE

Sue Bailey at FM Family Law discusses how separating couples can instruct the same lawyer

F or some, the prospect of needing a lawyer for advice about separation can be as daunting as the separation itself. “It’s going to cost so much; we still get on; lawyers will get in the way; we think we know what we want; why can’t we talk to each other” - are all things family lawyers have heard from their clients before. And who can blame people for having these reservations? When discussing issues that will have a lasting impact on you and your children’s happiness as well as your financial security, it’s essential that you feel comfortable that any third party support you have works for you.

Developments in family law has opened up a new way for separating couples to obtain legal advice and support together. This marks a significant change from the ‘traditional model’ where each person has their own, separate legal representation. Known as ‘Resolution Together’, this innovative approach is a ‘one lawyer; one couple’ method which allows divorcing or separating couples to receive advice and help from the same lawyer. The model operates so that almost all of the advice and contact with your lawyer takes place in face-to-face meetings with both of you present.

After each of you have an initial 1-2-1 meeting with your lawyer, you meet your lawyer together. At joint meetings, your lawyer will support you to share relevant information with each other to help you make informed decisions. You will receive detailed legal

advice, including information about what are likely and fair outcomes in your case, to support you in reaching decisions about how to resolve your situation.

One of the significant advantages of the Resolution Together model lies in its potential to streamline the legal process surrounding separation. You hear the same advice at the same time, reducing the potential for misunderstandings or miscommunications. Since all the discussions tend to take place face-to-face, there is no delay whilst lawyers wait to receive responses from other lawyers. These clear channels of communication may facilitate quicker resolutions, resulting in less financial cost overall. The Resolution Together model supports a less adversarial, confrontational approach. It can help preserve an amicable relationship, which is particularly important if you still need to coparent together in the future. As a process, it promotes trust and confidence rather than starting from a place where separate lawyers are instructed which can feel oppositional.

The Resolution Together model is best suited to couples who are committed to working towards amicable solutions and who are willing to be open and honest with sharing all relevant information with each other. There is also a need for both participants to be emotionally ready and able to work together without a significant power imbalance that might stand

in the way of a couple being able to discuss matters on an equal footing. It is vital that each participant is fully informed, empowered and comfortable with the arrangement and feels able to engage with the process and make decisions freely.

Sue Bailey at FM Family Law is a Partner, solicitor, collaborative lawyer and Resolution Together practitioner. If you would like to learn about how Resolution Together can help you, please contact Sue Bailey and the team on 01603 443333. The information contained in this article is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice.

DONALDSONS

A fresh taste of the sea

Seafood platters to order

Lobster & crab now in stock

Current opening times: Tuesday-Friday 7am-4pm, Saturday 7am-2pm

Austin Fields, King’s Lynn

Tel: 01553 772241

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Food & Drink The Digest

Sarah Hardy serves up bite-sized nuggets of food and drink news

Off to market

Shop Fakenham has launched a new monthly food market in the town. Fakenham Food Market is to be held in the town’s Market Place on the second Saturday of the month (March to December), so the next one will be on 11 April.

The first one, held just as the magazine went to press on 14 March, was set to include stall holders such as hog roast favourite Fire and Fork, Willie Weston’s Seafoods and Essence Foods who produce conserves, mustards and preserves. The markets start at 9.30am and will run until 1.30pm and aim to become a popular addition to the town’s foodie offering. www.visitfakenham.co.uk

A hat trick

The Old Store is opening a new outlet at the Fring Estate - not long after opening one at Drove Orchards at Thornham. Expect more of the same - a terrific coffee shop and bakery with a really laid-back atmosphere. It is due to open this spring in the Old Workshop and plans look really stylish. Expect smoothies, brunches, pancakes - and utterly delicious loaves!

www.theoldstorenorfolk.co.uk

Raise your glass

Many congratulations to Black Shuck Distillery which has won a top national award for its distillery tour - a VisitEngland Quality Assured Visitor Attraction accreditation - just a year after opening its new Hindolveston site. The family-run company is 15 years old this year and husband and wife Patrick and Sarah Saunders produce a wide range of gins, schnapps, vodkas, rums and liqueurs. www.blackshuckltd.co.uk

Summer fun

The Norfolk Tea Co Cafe at Wiveton Hall is gearing up for a busy summer with a six-week residency from Norwich-based Mysabar from 22 July. Expect a large tent, carefully positioned in the hall’s grounds, with visiting DJs, various foodie pop ups including Randy’s Seafood, craft beers, family-friendly activities and a yet to be announced collaboration with Wild Paths Festival. It certainly sounds like a fun place. Watch this space for more. www.wivetonhall.co.uk

Family affair

Welcome to mother and daughter duo, Debbie Davison and Kate Gedge, who now run the cafe at Burnham Deepdale. For a start, they’ve renamed it The Nest Café and are offering favourites from great coffee to traybakes, pastries and more, including lunches where you might try a homemade quiche, jacket potato or soup. It’s very much a place for all - walkers, bikers, and dog loversand it opens every day except Tuesdays from 8am to 4pm.

www.dalegatemarket.co.uk

Box

clever

Have you discovered the beef and lamb boxes on sale directly from the farmer at Foxburrow Farmshop at North Elmham?

The farm, run regeneratively by Charlotte Coventry and her brother Will Goff, has a flock of 1600 breeding ewe of Mule sheep plus pedigree grass-fed Red Poll cattle, a native breed. There are both pre-prepared boxes available or you can create your own bespoke number. Have a look online. www.foxburrowfarmshop.co.uk

Titbits

Look out for The Carriage, a fine dining restaurant, set in a former railway carriage, opening at Whitwell Station, near Reepham; many congratulations to The Grove at Cromer which is celebrating its 90th birthday as a family-run business; The Earle Arms at Heydon is currently having a refit and is set to reopen in the coming weeks. It’s run by the Heydon Estate and Bread Hospitality who also have Dick’s Bar in Norwich and is certainly in a beautiful spot; and we love the collection of teacups at No 57, a teashop in Wells, where the cake is great, too!

Raise a toast

Sarah Hardy serves up her favourite breakfast and brunch dishes

Thornham Deli

This ever-popular deli, shop and cafe is entering its 12th year and remains one of the most consistent foodie places on the coast. It’s fun and buzzy, has a nice outside area, and Gemma Arnold has been the chef for ever! The breakfast menu ranging from sausage baps to crumpets, to cheese on toast, overnight oats, and the delicious matcha breakfast bowl - packed with blueberries, pomegranate seeds and coconut flakes to name but a few goodieswill set you up for the day. www.thornhamdeli.co.uk

The Old Store, Snettisham and Thornham

Both these cafes, beautifully kitted with real flair, are based around a bakery and have first rate breakfast offerings with plenty of local suppliers such as Gayton butcher JE Howard and Staithe Smokehouse from Brancaster Staithe. Think buttermilk pancakes, their own bread, porridge, muffins and the very delicious truffled mushrooms on toast which is just a melt in your mouth dish. You can opt for a poached egg on top, too. Add in a freshly squeezed juice and you’re more than good to go. www.theoldstorenorfolk.co.uk

Bang in Wells

We love this laid-back cafe which is right at the heart of the town. Breakfasts are a particular strength (served every day until 11.30am), with the full English offering the jewel in the crown. Comprising Arthur Howell sausages, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, a hash brown, baked beans and eggs of your choice, it’s a belly buster and a half. Add on black pudding, if you’re really going for it! There’s a pretty courtyard, and a friendly vibe throughout.

www.banginwells.co.uk

Wiveton Hall Cafe

Now run by Mark Richmond of the Norfolk Tea Co, tea obviously features strongly at the cafe which was refreshed and refurbished last year and boasts some of the best views in the area over the marshes to the sea. So while your morning brew is guaranteed to be first rate, there’s a very cool breakfast menu, too; think smoked bacon sandwiches, eggs Benedict, granola with berries, and more. Their Wiveton breakfast sandwich is a masterpiece of Swannington Farm bacon and sausages, plus a hash brown and fried egg wedged between two very thick white farmhouse bread slices. No lunch required. www.wivetonhall.co.uk

Artisan Bistro, Alby

Located in a converted barn in a lovely craft complex just off the A140, the cafe has a solid brunch menu with all your favourites such as variations on a full English theme, different breakfast sandwiches, eggs royale and, their star attraction - fluffy pancakes. Look out for the bacon, maple syrup and pecans one - we say no more. Suppliers include Hazel’s Butchers in Norwich and Easters of Norwich, for fruit and vegetable deliveries. If you have the time and tummy space, the cheese scones are also recommended.

www.artisanbistro.co.uk

Streat Boss, Sheringham

Now this is a fun place! Right on the town’s High Street, breakfasts are taken very seriously with lots of options including breakfast buns, waffles and pancakes, and traditional full English dishes. Streat tatties made with cubes of crispy potatoes served with different toppings catch the eye, but how about smoked kippers for a real trip down Memory Lane? Served with two poached eggs and thick cut toast, it’s an old school classic which still appeals. Papworth Butchers supply the meat, with The Craft Bakery in charge of breads and pastry goodies!

www.streatboss.co.uk

These eateries are all dog friendly. Do check online for opening days and times.

Join the club

Supper

clubs are the tastiest ticket around, reckons Sarah Hardy

WHAT’S

not to like about supper clubs? For a start, menus are usually very seasonal, nearly always make good use of local producers of both food and drink, and offer something a bit out of the ordinary. With everyone tucking into the same menu, it’s a sociable evening, with diners eating the same food, at the same time, often at communal tables, which all gives a real sense of feasting!

The Copse, Raynham Estate

Set within the ancient woodland on the historic Raynham Estate, The Copse is a private dining venue offering a truly immersive countryside experience. At its heart is an open kitchen, where seasonal supper clubs and Sunday lunches are prepared and served at shared tables, bringing people together with views across the open parkland.

Menus celebrate the seasons and the Estate’s own produce, including Raynham Beef. A wellstocked bar offers a carefully selected array of wines, beers and non-alcoholic drinks to complement each menu. Keep an eye on their website for details of the next Secret Supper Club. The venue is also available for private hire. www.raynham.co.uk

White Horse, Holme-next-the-Sea

Supper clubs have become a popular addition to the White Horse, which reopened in summer 2024 under the umbrella of Anglian Country Inns who also have The White Horse at Brancaster Staithe. The monthly clubs, run by head chef Gabe Lea, are held in Bakery Barn which seats just 30 people so it’s a nice and

cosy atmosphere. The six course menus are hyper seasonal and local, with the actual dishes decided much nearer the time, and there’s the option of a paired wine flight from Burn Valley Vineyard. Future dates include 8 April, 13 May and 10 June. www.whitehorseholme.co.uk

Pop Up in the Paddock, West Bilney

Husband and wife Matthew and Caroline Owsley-Brown hold their supper clubs in a giant tipi in their garden, with guests seated at long wooden tables with deer-hide covered benches.

Menus are usually based around places the couples have visited, say Scotland or the Amalfi coast, whilst still featuring Norfolk produceoften from their own garden. It’s BYO, with no corkage charge, and you can expect a very chilled feel and terrific food - the couple worked with Rick Stein in the 1990s.

The next pop up is on 2 April, with subsequent dates being 1 May, 5 and 19 June, 17 and 31 July, 14 and 28 August, 11 and 25 September. www.owsley-brown.com

The Glaven Bistro, Glandford

Carron and James Noon run a couple of regular clubs - a jazz club and a music night club - at their friendly bistro. Both offer live entertainment and the chance to enjoy James’ carefully crafted menu which always features fresh, seasonal produce. The next jazz club is on 2 April and features the Dave Ingham Trio while the next music club night is on 27 March with The Cabin Band, a three-piece group from Suffolk. They are informal nights and reflect the pair’s own musician background - James is a composer while Carron is a jazz singer! www.theglavenbistro.com

Food & Drink

Burn Valley Vineyard, North Creake

This family-run vineyard holds its very popular ‘not-so-secret’ Secret Supper Club throughout the warmer months. Six course tasting menus are designed around the vineyard’s own wines and always feature local food and drink. Around 40 diners are seated at long tables in the vineyard and it’s a relaxed affair. Dates this year start on 24 April, then 8 and 30 May, 3 July and 14 August. www.burnvalleyvineyard.co.uk

Wolterton

Wolterton Hall, a gorgeous Palladian house set in 500 acres, stages occasional dining experiences, with one on 6 May called A Taste of Spring. Chef Loïc Malfait, a Cordon Bleu teacher who owns Satiate Artisan, a Norfolkbased cookery school, leads a demonstration lunch where guests cook alongside him and then get to tuck into their delicious creations. Dishes are set to include a roast saddle of lamb, and you can expect accompanying wines from Flint vineyard in South Norfolk. www.wolterton.co.uk

Socius, Burnham Market

Socius is one of those places that just gets on with being great. The supper clubs continue their ethos of showcasing local producethink, for example, Norfolk Black chickens and Brancaster mussels alongside superlative global wines. Owners Dan Lawrence and Natalie Stuhler run a very tight ship, with great attention to detail, and these clubs help display their undoubted talents. Menus are revealed nearer the time, with February’s offering kicking off with leek, Wells Alpine, potato and apple. Dates this year include 7 May and 2 July. www.sociusnorfolk.co.uk

VinedMe, Thornham and Walsingham

Run by Marta Mateus Bowers and Kevin Bowers, VinedMe stages regular supper clubs at their Walsingham wine store, often teaming up with local foodie outlets such as Norfolk Sardine. Dates are to be fixed for 2026. At Drove Orchards, Thornham, a Nordic Evening With Wine is planned for 10 April, with dishes on offer including cured salmon, ancient grain breads, pickles, and Scandi salads - all served with carefully selected wines. These are fun and informal evenings as Marta and Kevin are lovely hosts and their enthusiasm always shines through!

www.vinedme.co.uk

Diary date

Meg Bennett who runs The Welly Boot Bakery from Colkirk near Fakenham is planning a Cake By Candlelight event at Warham Reading Room on 13 November. This charming sounding evening includes three savoury canapes, a three-course tasting dessert menu plus a mini Norfolk cheese board - and a glass of fizz. www.wellybootbakery.com

The Assembly House, Norwich

Monthly themed supper clubs are a very successful part of The Assembly House’s offering. Held in the glorious Music Room with its minstrels’ gallery, you sit on communal tables and tuck into say a Spanish meal, a Greek inspired one or, our favourite, the Pudding Parade which needs no further description. Dates include The Amélie French Supper Club on 26 March, the Great British Classics Supper Club on 30 April and The Godfather Part II Supper Club on 21 May.

www.assemblyhousenorwich.co.uk

Lunch on local produce lovingly prepared by our team

Book at holkham.co.uk/victoria

Enjoy our scrumptious spring menu showcasing the very best locally sourced ingredients. And our ‘roast on the coast’ is a perfect treat every Sunday. 2

Preserving our heritage

The Norfolk Churches Trust celebrates its 50th birthday this year. Sarah Hardy reports

NORFOLK features the largest concentration of medieval churches in the world, with a whopping 659 plus another 300 churches and chapels from later centuries. Whilst we all agree that they are as much a part of the county’s heritage as say Nelson and farming, they take an incredible amount of preservation - which basically means cash.

Rosabelle Batt, chair of The Norfolk Churches Trust, explains: ‘Parish churches receive no direct funding from the Church of England or the Government, so it is down to a few parishioners, many of whom are elderly, to raise funds to restore their church.’

And that’s where the Trust can help. Since its formation 50 years ago by the indomitable Lady (call me Billa) Harrod, the Trust has awarded £7 million in grants to 732 churches, allowing them to tackle urgent repairs and conserve existing buildings - both inside and out.

‘Our first grant, in 1976, was for £44, while last year, we wrote a cheque for around £10,000 so it shows how much times have changed,’ says Rosabelle who joined the Trust about 10 years ago.

She adds that the Trust also looks after 13 redundant churches including ones in Corpusty, Morton-on-the-Hill and Cockthorpe. ‘It is very difficult to take on a church - the maintenance and the insurance mean a lot of money and we are a very small charity,’ says Rosabelle who first became interested in churches as her grandmother lived next door to one.

The Trust raises cash through subscriptions, donations, legacies, and fundraising activities including the ever-popular Sponsored Bike Ride, Walk and Drive in September which sees hundreds of people complete various trails around many different churches. Last year

‘Churches are places of calm, of tranquillity, away from mobile phones. A place to sit and reflect.’

Key dates

17 June at Norwich Cathedral: a celebration service with Trust vice president Emma Bridgewater giving the Address 24 and 25 June: meet The Norfolk Churches Trust at the Royal Norfolk Show

12 September: Bike Ride, Walk and Drive The next House by the Church is in 2027 and the next Stately Car Boot Sale is in 2028

Rosabelle Batt design are available.

more than £115,000 was raised.

And, says Rosabelle, who lives near Sheringham, this year sees several new initiatives. She is particularly proud of the Norfolk Primary School Art Competition where children are invited to create a drawing inspired by their own church - with art equipment worth £500 as the first prize. Judges include the BBC’s Susie Fowler-Watt, former rugby player Ben Youngs and England footballer Lauren Hemp.

A Heritage Skills and Maintenance Day is planned on 18 April, which showcases many of the talented craftspeople who care for the county’s churches. Expect workshops and hands-on demonstrations alongside practical advice on church care. It is being held across several churches with Great Cressingham Village Hall the setting for a celebration tea.

Also new this year is the inaugural Lady Harrod lecture on 24 April, where Country Life magazine’s John Goodall discusses ‘Parish Churches: The Fight for Survival’ at Bylaugh

Look out for two different Emma Bridgewater 50th Anniversary mugs now on sale via the Trust’s online shop. Only 100 of each design are available.

Hall near Dereham.

Rosabelle says: ‘We are always looking at ways of raising money and getting people involved - we have regular talks - our coffee, clean and chat sessions are a great way of getting the community together whilst cleaning a certain church, we hold carol services at Christmas, sell Christmas cards, and our House by the Church scheme, where private homes open to the public on a certain date, has been very popular as are our Stately Car Boot Sales which we run every three years.’

Apart from their heritage, from wonderful examples of everything from stone carvings to stained glass, Rosabelle feels that churches continue to offer a place of refuge in our increasingly busy lives, saying: ‘They are places of calm, of tranquillity, away from mobile phones. A place to sit and reflect.’

Norfolk Churches Trust membership is £30 a year which gives priority booking to events; www.norfolkchurchestrust.org.uk