Walk from Hunstanton to Old Hunstanton and grab a coffee at one of the cafés. From here the coastal path undulates through the dunes. Return to the path to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust site at Holme, passing the site of an ancient monument: Seahenge. The wooden remains of the original Bronze Age monument are on display at the Museum in the old Hanseatic City of King’s Lynn. Continue to Thornham and have a meal at the Lifeboat – an old Smuggler’s Inn and one of many pubs along this stretch renowned for its food. 10km/6miles

Hop aboard the Coasthopper bus to the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) reserve at Titchwell, where you’ll find world-class bird-watching opportunities on the lagoons. There’s a lovely cafe and the chance to enjoy a warden-led walk. Follow the footpath through pastureland and saltmarsh onto the wide sandy expanse of Brancaster beach. Walk eastwards towards the granite blocks that protect the golf club and at low tide look for the remains of a petrified forest among the mussel beds and the wreck of the SS Vina on the tip of Scolt Head island. At the golf club follow the path inland past St Mary’s Church and into Brancaster. 10km/6miles

Spend a day exploring the many and varied delights of this exquisite Palladian mansion, set within an almost perfectly conceived English garden and parkland. Holkham is the historic home of the Coke family, Earls of Leicester. The present Earl is the keeper of one of England’s finest treasure houses.  The park ensures that every vista offers views of the splendid Italian-style Hall. Pop into the Victoria Inn for lunch or take the Coasthopper into Wells-next-the-Sea to explore this quaint seaside town: part port, part seaside resort.

Hit the trail at Burnham Deepdale, following the floodbank to Burnham Overy Staithe. The Burnhams have six medieval churches within two miles of each other, some with unusual round towers signifying their antiquity. Admiral Horatio Nelson was born at Burnham Thorpe and learned to sail in the coastal creeks on the square rigger ships that would have plied their trade here.  Continue along the floodbank, past Gun Hill and onto Holkham beach – one of the most beautiful in England. Follow the bay round to the main access point and onto the boardwalk leading onto Lady Ann’s Drive, and the Coasthopper stop at the southern end.  12km/7.5 miles

Take the charming narrow-gauge steam railway from Wells-next-the-Sea to the village of Walsingham – renowned across Europe as a major site of Christian pilgrimage in the middle-ages. In 1061, the Virgin Mary appeared to Lady Richeldis of Walsingham Manor and the priory that later grew around this sacred site became England’s Nazareth until Henry VIII ordered its Dissolution. Throughout the ensuing centuries, the fates of England and Europe were linked by North Sea maritime trade and these pretty Norfolk villages were once gateways for people, trade and ideas.