A family cottage on the Norfolk coast
Local Guide

Where we'd send our own family

Everything below is within walking distance of the cottage or a short trip along the coast — the places Alizon and Mark actually eat, walk, and send guests when they ask. No paid listings, just honest recommendations.

Eating & drinking

Fed and watered, within a few minutes' walk


The Funky Mackerel Café

Right on the promenade, close enough that you can carry your coffee back to the cottage terrace. Breakfasts, cakes, and a front-row seat for watching the weather change its mind.

Find the Funky Mackerel →

The Two Lifeboats

The seafront pub at the top of Lifeboat Plain — our nearest, about forty yards from the front door. A pint with a sea view, and a Sunday roast worth booking ahead for.

Find The Two Lifeboats →

The Lobster

A proper old pub tucked just off the seafront, known for its seafood and its beer garden. The sort of place where the crab on your plate was on the beach that morning.

Find The Lobster →

Dave's Fishbar

One side of Sheringham's great fish-and-chip debate. We won't say which side we're on — walk up the High Street, join the queue, and form your own opinion on the seafront.

Find Dave's Fishbar →

Sheringham Trattoria

A small family-run Italian on the High Street for the evening you don't feel like cooking — honest pasta and pizza, five minutes' walk from the cottage.

Find the Trattoria →

The crab stalls

Follow your nose along the seafront in season. Dressed crab from the boats you'll have watched being hauled up the shingle — take one back to the terrace with brown bread and butter.

Find the stalls →

Days out

When you've done the beach — or the beach has done you


The North Norfolk Railway

The Poppy Line runs full-size steam trains from Sheringham station — two minutes' walk from the cottage — through heath and woodland to Holt. Go for the journey, not the destination.

nnrailway.co.uk →

Sheringham Park

Humphry Repton's favourite of all his landscapes, now National Trust. Rhododendrons in late spring, sea views from the gazebo towers all year, and miles of waymarked walks.

Sheringham Park at the National Trust →

Sheringham Museum at The Mo

The town's fishing story told properly — lifeboats you can climb around, boat-building, and the families who worked this coast. It makes sense of everything you'll see on the beach.

sheringhammuseum.co.uk →

Sheringham Little Theatre

A genuine small-town theatre with a year-round programme — plays, films, and a proper summer repertory season. A lovely way to spend a wet evening.

sheringhamlittletheatre.com →

Felbrigg Hall

A 17th-century National Trust house twenty minutes away, with a walled garden, ancient woods, and an excellent second-hand bookshop in the old stables.

Felbrigg Hall at the National Trust →

Cromer Pier

A short hop along the coast — one of the last places in the world with a full end-of-pier variety show. Walk there along the clifftop path if the legs are willing.

cromerpier.co.uk →