Cut off from the rest of England by its lack of motorways and chugger train services, if you feel the need to keep a low profile then north Norfolk is the place to do it.
Most of Norfolk’s entertainment is of the wholesome outdoorsy variety— think horse riding, golf, long contemplative walks along some of the most gorgeous beaches in Britain wondering where it all went wrong. But there is also another side to Norfolk; a surprisingly sophisticated social scene a newcomer could tap into, much of it centred in or around the area’s many stately homes.
An aerial view of the Sandringham Estate
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Norfolk has a rich crop of local aristocrats — or turnip toffs as they are known — who open up their homes from time to time to raise a little bit of cash.
Prince William, Princess Kate and Lady Rose Hanbury at an event held at Houghton Hall in 2016
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The two couples were reported to be close friends for years — the marchioness even persuaded the future queen to attend the Houghton Festival, an annual techno jamboree held in her grounds. Relations, however, do seem to have cooled between the couples since unsubstantiated claims of an affair between Prince William and the marchioness took hold on social media.
The Houghton Festival is run by artist and DC Craig Richards, and next summer’s event is already sold out. Luckily there are other ways to get your foot through the door since the hall hosts regular art exhibitions, featuring world class contemporary artists like Antony Gormley and Damian Hirst, and you can tour the walled garden and deer park in summer. Parts of the house are also open to the public and Mountbatten Windsor, known to have a large number of teddy bears, might particularly enjoy a visit to see its impressive collection of model soldiers.
Another entrepreneurial local landowner is Lord Leicester — Thomas Edward Coke, the 8th Earl of Leicester — who owns Holkham Hall and estate. Visitors can take part in a weekly park run through the spectacular grounds, enjoy candlelit tours of the state rooms or visit the Christmas market. If that is not enough then Bear Grylls’ annual Gone Wild festival — four days of camping, music, survival workshops, and high adrenaline sports — is held in the hall’s beautiful grounds.
Holkham Hall
© Holkham Estate
Gayton Hall is another gorgeous place to visit, seven miles south of Sandringham. Its semi-wild garden is open a few days per year as part of the National Garden Scheme, and visitors can ramble along pathways through lawns and woodland. Especially lovely in springtime when the summer bulbs are out — but Mountbatten Windsor might wish to keep a slightly low profile here since the hall is owned by David, Viscount Marsham, and his wife Katherine, who count amongst Prince William’s closest friends.
Born and raised in Norwich, screen queen Olivia Colman — who played Queen Elizabeth in The Crown — returned to her roots in 2022, buying a Grade II-listed barn a stones’ throw from Sandringham. She and her husband Ed Sinclair had previously lived in Peckham but were able to sell their five bedroom house for £2.4m and spend £1.3m their country pad leaving enough money left over for a new swimming pool and other upgrades.
Olivia Colman and husband Ed Sinclair swapped Peckham for Norfolk in 2022
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Sir Stephen Fry charmed the nation on Celebrity Traitors but when not trying to escape murder in a Scottish castle, he lives in the village of West Bilney. Fry was also raised in Norfolk and often talks about his love of the region, particularly its “isolation from Home County cosiness”. He is a great aficionado of Norfolk’s traditional country pubs, notably The Dabbling Duck in Great Massingham and The Bell at Brisley
Tim Burgess, lead singer with the Charlatans, has been based in Holt for 15 years, choosing to retreat from London to raise his family on a regime of long walks, trips to the beach, and fish and chip suppers. He often pops into record store Holt Vinyl Vault for a browse and last year he dropped off an album of unheard material for Record Store Day.
Younger stars are also turning their backs on London for a quieter life in Norfolk. Actress Jessie Buckley, Oscar nominated for her role in The Lost Daughter, lives down the road from Olivia Williams, with her husband — all that is known about him is that his name is Freddie, and he is a mental health worker. The couple’s move east was inspired, in part, by its outstanding value. “Friends of ours had moved to Norfolk and bought this old place for, like, nothing at an auction, like pulled weeds out of it and just did the whole thing up,” she explained. “And then they showed us this house that we live in, which is, like, 1500s and falling down and orange. It’s a really amazing old house that’s been there forever.’
Norfolk’s pretty towns and big skies are also a magnet for movie makers. Scenes from last year’s smash hit Wicked were filmed at Belmont Nurseries, where its rainbow stripe tulip fields were used as a backdrop for Munchkinland.
The vast expanse of white sand at Holkham Beach is a big filming favourite, with Deadpool & Wolverine, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman; Annihilation, starring Natalie Portman; and Never Let Me Go, with Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, and Andrew Garfield all shot there.
The vast expanse of white sand at Holkham Beach is a big filming favourite. Pictured is the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment on a training camp
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Kristen Stewart’s magnificent turn as Princess Diana spending Christmas at Sandringham in Spencer was, appropriately enough, filmed in Norfolk too, in locations including the seaside town of Hunstanton, and the village of Castle Rising, just south of the royal estate.
Buying into north Norfolk
While Mountbatten Windsor will be living in a home owned by his older brother somewhere on the Sandringham Estate, presumably rent free, anyone else who plans on a move to Norfolk will be pleased to learn how much bang they can expect to get for their buck.
Price growth has flagged since the pandemic so that an average home in the market town of King’s Lynn this year stands at £220,000, according to research from estate agent Hamptons.
King’s Lynn is the nearest town to Sandringham, and a handy (for Norfolk) 90 minutes by train to London.
An entrance to the Sandringham Estate
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If you can overlook the pedestrian precinct town centre filled with dreary chain stores it is actually rather a pretty town, particularly the streets of period houses and warehouses around the River Great Ouse. There’s also a surprising amount of culture with a cinema and theatre in the old Corn Exchange, GroundWork, a contemporary art gallery.
Each summer it hosts Festival Too, claimed to be Europe’s biggest free festival, which last summer featured Ella Henderson amongst other acts.
Dersingham, the closest village to Sandringham, and Fakenham, a market town some 18 miles east (say it Fake-‘n-um to fit in with the locals), have average sale prices of £318,000 and £315,000 respectively.
Sleepy is a word frequently employed by agents describing north Norfolk, “Fakenham is a sleepy, traditional market town,” said Mario Vintila, manager of Spalding & Co estate agent. “It is peaceful and quiet, and the location is superb – you are a 15 minute drive from Wells-next-the-Sea, but a house which would cost £1m in Wells costs £600,000 or less in Fakenham.”
As well as being close to the sea, Fakenham is a 40 minute drive to King’s Lynn for when you need to get to London by train. And for those who enjoy the sport of kings, Fakenham Racecourse has fast and furious National Hunt action and a more laid back vibe than, say, Royal Ascot.
If looks matter to you then Fakenham is pretty enough to be starring in a forthcoming BBC drama, But When We Dance, featuring actors Laura Linney and Rhys Ifans as a couple whose diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease brings them together. Filming began in the town in November, under the direction of Oscar-winner John Madden.
Around half of Vintila’s buyers come from beyond Norfolk, many of them from London and the Home Counties. Some are looking for second homes, others dream of retiring to the area, and yet more are resettling completely. “Some already have a little cottage here and now say they don’t want to be in London, they want to live in Norfolk where they feel safer,” he said.
Blakeney, a small village on the north Norfolk coast
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If sleepy is the last thing on your wish list then buying agent Paddy Pritchard-Gordon, director of Prime Purchase, directs your attention to Burnham Market or Blakeney, the most chi-chi Londoner hotspots in north Norfolk. Both are too small to produce reliable price data, but if you want a four-bedroom period house in either you’ll need a budget somewhere between £750,000 and £1m.
Buyers, said Pritchard-Gordon, are a mix of second homers and hybrid workers, often drawn from London or Cambridge, who want country life, proximity to the coast, and lots to do. “Both have a lovely feel with boutique shops and exceptional pubs and restaurants,” he said.
If you to be by the sea without paying these kind of premiums then you might be wise to look at the holiday town of Hunstanton. Its beach is just lovely, and while the town centre is a little too crazy golf/fish and chips for some tastes Old Hunstanton has a more old worlde village vibe. And houses are around half the price of those in Burnham Market or Blakeney, at an average £343,000.
The Georgian market town of Holt, four miles from the coast and with masses of green space, is another option, priced at an average £378,000.
All five locations have seen prices fall in the past 12 months. Over five years the best performer has been King’s Lynn and Hunstanton, with total growth of a below-inflation 14 per cent. Holt is the worst performer, with prices today only one per cent higher than in 2020.
The jewels in the north Norfolk crown
There are many excellent state schools in Norfolk including Eastgate Academy and Whitefriars CofE Primary Academy, in King’s Lynn, both rated “outstanding” by Ofsted, but the poshest spot to send your kids is undoubtedly Gresham’s School in Holt, best public school in Tatler’s latest school awards, beating Eton.
For shopping beyond the supermarket Bakers & Larners in Holt is Norfolk’s answer to Fortnum & Mason, where you can browse the chocolate counter for handmade treats or try out locally-made delicacies like apple juice direct from the Sandringham estate and Norfolk honey. Should Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s new lifestyle not include staff, it also has a sumptuous range of upscale ready meals.
For fine dining head to The Neptune, Hunstanton, a Michelin-star restaurant in an18th century coaching inn run by husband and wife team Kevin and Jacki praised for its unfussy seasonal menu and “calm confidence”, or ultra smart Meadowsweet, Holt, where you dine like a royal on a menu including quail liver and wild turbot with lobster. It also has a Michelin star.
It is also worth trying to get a table at Socius, Burnham Market, which won the AA’s restaurant of the year award in 2022 and specialises in sharing plates and which would be a lovely spot to dine with Fergie when she comes for a visit.
Prefer something more rustic? The Pigs, in the Village of Edgefield, near Holt, has a menu made for those who love meat of the porcine variety the highlight of which is a sharing board of “piggy pieces” from sausage rolls to crackling, to pork and black pudding scotch egg . There are also a couple of slightly tokenistic veggie options.