“They always come back to Norfolk,” was a saying that I scoffed at growing up in the rural village of Brooke, just south of Norwich. As a teenager, I spent an inordinate amount of time plotting my escape to the bright lights of a big city. But now I live in London, I yearn for Norfolk’s verdant fields, thatched pubs and winding waterways.
The county has often been overlooked as a holiday destination in favour of big hitters such as the Cotswolds and the Peak District. But a correction happened in the pandemic when tourists had exhausted all the usual suspects. The North Norfolk coast, in particular, drew well-heeled Londoners in their droves, so much so that the stretch from Brancaster to Cley next the Sea became known as Chelsea-on-Sea. Meanwhile, smaller inland villages such as Great Massingham were suddenly splashed across glossy supplements.
